Yūzō Kayama

**Yūzō Kayama** (加山 雄三, *Kayama Yūzō*, April 11, 1937 - ) is a Japanese popular musician, singer-songwriter and actor. His father, Ken Uehara, was a film star during the mid-twentieth century and his great grandfather, Iwakura Tomomi, was a statesman during the Bakumatsu and Meiji period. Yuzo Kayama became a star in the 1960s in the Wakadaishō ("Young Guy") film series.

## Yūzō Kayama

### Occupation

Actor
Singer
Songwriter
Talent
Guitarist
Pianist
Ukulele player
Painter

### Family

Iwakura Tomomi (great grandfather)
Ken Uehara (father)
Yoko Kozakura (mother)
Ryoko Ikehata (younger sister)
Nobuhiro Ikehata (eldest son)
Toru Kayama (second son)
Mayuko Azusa (eldest daughter)
Emi Ikehata (second daughter)

He showed his ability for drama when Akira Kurosawa cast him for his 1965 film *Red Beard* starring Toshirō Mifune.

As a guitarist, he took inspiration from the American instrumental group The Ventures, and performed a form of psychedelic surf music in the 1960s with his Mosrite guitar. One of his best-known instrumentals is "Black Sand Beach". "Kimi to Itsumademo" ("Love Forever"), another of his compositions, sold over two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc in 1965. At that point it was the biggest selling disc in the Japanese recording industry's history.

In March 2016, Kayama made a special art piece to commemorate 2,500,000 million downloads for the mobile game Terra Battle, that is featured as the background for the game's title screen.

## Career

He was born in 1937 as the son of actor Ken Uehara, a star of Japanese cinema in the middle of the twentieth century. Kayama carried out a rich activity in the field of music. As a guitarist, he was inspired by the American instrumental group The Ventures and performed a form of psychedelic rock music in the 1960s, playing a Mosrite guitar. One of his best known instrumental compositions is "Black Sand Beach". Another composition, "Kimi to Itsumademo" ("Love Forever"), sold over two million copies and won a gold record in 1965.

At that time it was the best-selling record in the history of the Japanese music industry. Although known as a singer, Yūzō Kayama followed in his father's footsteps and, pushed from behind by his own father, starred in films, becoming a film star in the 1960s. He made his acting debut in 1960 in Senkichi Taniguchi's Otoko tai otoko as Toshio, an ambitious singer and naive son of a cabaret owner. His popularity has grown significantly as a performer of student athlete Yuichi Tanuma in the Wakadaishō ("Young Guys") film series. The character he played was the kind of popular boy, passionate about sports and a talented singer, whom the girls loved and the boys wanted to imitate.

The attractive physical appearance of the actor brought him many fans, making Kayama an idol of Japanese youth.

Kayama then starred, alongside Toshirō Mifune, in two of Akira Kurosawa's films: Sanjuro (1962) and Red Beard (1965), proving a great acting talent. If in the first of the two films he played the role of a young and naive samurai, in the second film he had a much more consistent role: the trainee doctor Noboru Yasumoto. He later appeared in numerous films, both in film and television, combining his career as a singer with that of an actor. In March 2016, Kayama made a special artistic drawing to commemorate the 2,500,000 million downloads of the Terra Battle mobile video game, a drawing that is presented as a background for the game's title screen.

## Family

* Iwakura Tomomi (1825-1883)
* Iwakura Tomosada (1852-1910)
* Iwakura Tomoaki (1870-1953)
* Yoko Kozakura (1918-1970)
* Ken Uehara (1909-1991)
* Yūzō Kayama (1937-)
* Megumi Matsumoto (1947-)
* Nobuhiro Ikehata (1973-)
* Tetsu Kayama (1975-)
* Mayuko Azusa (1976-)
* Emi Ikehata (1978-)