Kanazaki was born in Tsu on February 16, 1989. After graduating from Takigawa Daini High School, he joined J1 League club Oita Trinita in 2007. He played many matches as offensive midfielder from first season. Oita won the champions in the 2008 J.League Cup with young players, Shusaku Nishikawa, Masato Morishige and Hiroshi Kiyotake. Kanazaki was also selected "New Hero award". However Oita was relegated to J2 League end of 2009 season and Oita released their main players including Kanazaki due to their financial problems. Kanazaki moved to Nagoya Grampus in 2010. Nagoya won the champions in 2010 season and the 2nd place in 2011 season. In January 2013, he moved to German Bundesliga club Nürnberg. In summer 2013, he moved to Portuguese Segunda Liga club Portimonense. In February 2015, he moved to J1 club Kashima Antlers on loan. He played many matches as forward. Although he returned to Portimonense in January 2016, he moved to Kashima after a month. Kashima won the J1 champions in 2016 and the 2nd place in 2017. In July 2018, he moved to Sagan Tosu. In March 2020, he re-joined Nagoya Grampus.