Yamazaru

Overview

Yamazaru (山猿, stylized YAMAZARU) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, lyricist, composer, music producer, actor and entrepreneur, born on March 20, 1984 in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture. His real name is Ryuji Endo. A former member of the solo project LGMonkees, he runs his own label and management company, PAC DA RECORDZ, and his official fan club is called "Aikoto BAR Ruby." He debuted in 2010 under the LGMonkees name with the digital single "Grateful Days feat Noa," and continued as Yamazaru from 2014 onward.

Career

Early life and path to music

Born the third son of six siblings, he grew up singing karaoke at "Ruby," the snack bar run by his grandmother, where he absorbed everything from enka by Hibari Misora to The Carpenters and Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi. As a junior high student, footage of AIR JAM left a deep impression, drawing him to mixture rock and punk acts such as Dragon Ash, SCAFULL KING and BACK DROP BOMB. After moving to Tokyo to work as a salaryman, he quit after two years, returned home, and began making music around age 22. Hearing 2Pac at 17 had sparked his interest in hip-hop, and he frequented clubs in Tokyo and Yokohama. Learning of the Tohoku hip-hop event "Nishikaigan" and its organizer LGY (now LGYankees), he moved back to Aizuwakamatsu, where a meeting with LGY's HIRO at a Fukushima club launched his career in earnest. His first recording was on the compilation album "NORTH EAST," supervised by HIRO.

The LGMonkees years (2010–2014)

In 2010 he emerged as LGMonkees, billed as "the mystery artist sent by LGYankees." His digital debut, a cover of Dragon Ash's "Grateful Days feat Noa," took first place in Recochoku Club Uta's 2010 annual ranking and second in Club Full's annual ranking, topped the July inquiry chart of the Can System cable radio service, and ranked first on JOYSOUND's lyric search, a three-crown debut. Performing masked with a monkey logo over his face, he followed up with "Life feat. Noa," which entered Recochoku Full's weekly chart at No. 4, and a one-week-only summer release, "Hanabi," which also charted.

Just before the March 17, 2011 release of his second mini-album "Zenkai no LGMonkees koto Yamazaru desu.", he was hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake; his home in Sendai was damaged by the tsunami and he lived in evacuation shelters. His blog post confirming he was safe reassured many fans, and his identity as Yamazaru was revealed alongside the album announcement. On April 29 he performed at the eve-of-release event for the film "Tofu Kozo," which featured his song "Takarajima" as an insert song. His performance of "3090" there drew roughly one million YouTube views, and the experience convinced him that music can save people. He went on to play 100 live shows in a single year.

His first single, "3090 Ai no Uta," came out on October 26, 2011. It reached No. 2 on Recochoku's weekly chart and was featured on programs such as "Miyane-ya" and "NEWS ZERO"; host Masahiro Nakai famously cried on "Kamisun." Downloads passed two million and video views exceeded ten million.

In April 2012 he wrote "Change my LIFE" as the theme for Ryuichi Kawamura's stage play "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" and made his acting debut as "a certain man." His first album, "Aikotoba," followed on November 26, 2012. Its lead track "Ima Ai" secured numerous commercial and broadcast tie-ups plus radio power plays, reaching No. 1 on JOYSOUND lyric search, No. 2 on Recochoku Chaku-uta Full, No. 1 on Club Full, and No. 1 in cable radio requests. Another track, "NAGISA," was used as the theme song for the film "Kyo, Koi wo Hajimemasu." After becoming PR ambassador for the original capybara open-air bath, he made a habit of tossing capybara dolls from the stage during MC segments on the national tour "Aikotoba wa Nama Zaru desu," which began in February 2013.

After the tour he entered a long production period, then appeared unexpectedly on Hisashi Yamada's Nico Radio to announce the dissolution of LGMonkees. At the farewell concert on October 6, 2014, he revealed in an emergency press conference that he would continue as Yamazaru, and launched a 12-week consecutive digital release project to make up for a two-and-a-half-year gap.

As Yamazaru

Under the Yamazaru name he has continued his "Aikotoba" album series, releasing "Aikotoba 8" (August 8, 2021), "Aikotoba 9" (November 22, 2022) and "Aikotoba 10" (April 1, 2024). Singles include "Ascent" (2021), "Otsukisama ga Warawanai..." (2022), "Kaerimichi (feat. t-Ace)," "Ano Toki no Koi ga Maigo" and "Hajimari no Uta (feat. KAY-I)" (2023), and "Zutto Boku no Kataomoi datta Hito" and "Toomawari" (2024). In 2025 he released "17-sai" (June), "Hanataba" (July), "Saiai (feat. Shinnosuke)" (September) and "Futari (feat. Noa)" (November).

Live performances

Besides album tours, he holds an irregular year-end special concert called "Kohaku Saru Gassen." He mainly plays live houses, but uses hall-class venues such as multipurpose halls and concert halls in his native Fukushima. His shows began in a DJ style and gradually expanded to full band performances.

Musical style

As LGMonkees, he built his sound on programmed, pop-leaning hip-hop. Since becoming Yamazaru, his music has broadened into pop in the widest sense, incorporating hip-hop, rock, EDM and contemporary R&B. Some songs are electronically driven, but many use live instruments, and some are full band recordings. He wrote the lyrics for every song on his first album "Aikotoba" except "Boku ga Suki na Kimi no Yume"; where LGMonkees often involved co-writing, all Yamazaru songs are credited to him alone. He has said that about 90% of his lyrics come from real experience, and his words are plain and unadorned. His wide-ranging roots, from enka to hip-hop and mixture rock, run through his work.