Hōzan Yamamoto began playing the shakuhachi at nine, trained first by his father and then by master Chozan Nakanishi, and went on to graduate from Kyoto Junior College of Foreign Studies (1958) and Seiha Music College (1962). In 2002 the Japanese government named him a Living National Treasure — one of the country's highest honors for a living artist, reserved for those who possess and actively transmit an important intangible cultural property. He also received the Medal with Purple Ribbon (2004) and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette (2009).

That formal recognition as a keeper of tradition ran in parallel with, rather than in place of, one of the more genuinely adventurous jazz-crossover careers to come out of Japan. In 1964 he recorded Music for Zen Meditation (and Other Joys) with American clarinetist Tony Scott and koto player Shinichi Yuize — a landmark record recognized decades later as an early forerunner of new-age and world music. By the late 1960s he was cutting bossa nova sessions and jazz big-band dates with Nobuo Hara's Sharps and Flats. In 1966 he formed the "Shakuhachi Sanbon Kai" trio with Reibo Aoki and Katsuya Yokoyama, three shakuhachi players finding a modern voice for an instrument most associate strictly with tradition.

His free-jazz and world-music catalog widened further from the 1980s on. World Music Meeting (1985) put him in a large ensemble alongside Charlie Mariano, Karl Berger, Peter Kowald, and tabla player Trilok Gurtu. He recorded with bassist David Friesen in 1980, Breath (1984) with Masahiko Togashi and Yosuke Yamashita, Silky Adventure (1986) with Masahiko Satoh, and Mugenkai — Ginkai II (1996) with bassist Gary Peacock. His range extended into the classical-music establishment too: The Vintage Melodies of Japan (1978) paired him with violinist Isaac Stern.

He died in Tokyo on February 10, 2014, at 76.

Yamamoto's career rests on a genuine dual mastery: the traditional shakuhachi repertoire that earned his Living National Treasure designation, and a jazz/world-music practice built on the instrument's capacity for breath-driven, non-tempered pitch — qualities that made him a natural fit for the free-improvisation and world-music circles he moved through from the 1970s on, rather than a novelty crossover act.