Kurihara was born in Yokohama on September 18, 1983. He joined J1 League club Yokohama F. Marinos from their youth team in 2002. Although he debuted as center back in 2003, he could not play many matches behind Japan national team player Naoki Matsuda and Yuji Nakazawa. In 2006, he became a regular player as stopper of three backs defense with Matsuda and Nakazawa. From 2007, he played many matches as center back with Nakazawa of four backs defense. After that, he played many matches as center back for a long time of four backs or three backs defense. In 2013, Marinos won the 2nd place in J1 League and the champions in Emperor's Cup. However his opportunity to play decreased from 2015. He retired from football at the end of the 2019 season.