He studied under his father Takashi YAMAMOTO (a Noh actor and Otsuzumi-kata [a knee-drum player] of the Okura school) and Tadao KAMEI (a Noh actor, a knee-drum player of a deputy head of Kadono school, and a living national treasure).
父である山本孝（能楽師・大鼓方大倉流）および亀井忠雄（能楽師・大鼓方葛野流宗家代理・人間国宝）に師事。