Kazuo (カズオ, かずお) is a masculine Japanese given name.

Possible spellings

It has several written forms, and the meaning depends on the characters used (usually kanji, but sometimes hiragana). Common forms include:

• 一雄: first son, first in leadership/excellence
• 一夫: first son
• 一男: first man/male
• 和夫: harmonious/peaceful man
• 和男: harmonious/peaceful man
• かずお (hiragana)
• カズオ (katakana)

People with the name

• Kazuo Abe (阿部 一男, born 1935), Japanese sport wrestler
• Kazuo Aichi (愛知 和男, born 1937), Japanese politician
• Kazuo Aoki (青木 一男, 1889–1982), Japanese government minister during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and into World War II
• Kazuo Azuma (東 和男, born 1955), Japanese shogi player
• Kazuo Chiba (千葉 和雄, 1940–2015), Japanese aikido teacher
• Kazuo Dan (檀 一雄, 1912–1976), Japanese novelist and poet
• Kazuo Endo, Kobe earthquake survivor
• Fukumoto Kazuo (福本 和夫, 1894–1983), Japanese Marxist
• Kazuo Funaki (舟木 一夫, born 1944), Japanese Enka singer
• Kazuo Hara (原 一男, born 1945), Japanese documentary film director
• Kazuo Harada (原田 一男, died 1998), anime producer, audio director, and sound effects director
• Kazuo Hasegawa (長谷川 一夫, 1908–1984), Japanese film and stage actor
• Kazuo Hashimoto (橋本 和芙, died 1995), late Japanese inventor of Caller ID and the telephone answering machine, including the ansafone
• Kazuo Hatoyama (鳩山 和夫, 1856–1911), patriarchal head of the prominent Japanese Hatoyama political family
• Kazuo Hayashi (林 一夫, born 1945), Japanese actor and voice actor
• Kazuo Hirai (平井 一夫, born 1964), President/CEO of Sony Computer
• Kazuo Hiramatsu (平松 一夫, 1947–2020), accounting scholar, president of Kwansei Gakuin University
• Kazuo Hirotomo (弘友 和夫, born 1944), Japanese politician
• Hirotsu Kazuo (広津 和郎, 1891–1968), Japanese novelist and literary critic active in the Shōwa period of Japan
• Kazuo Ichinohe (一戸 和男, born 1941), Japanese voice actor (stage name Shin Aomori (青森 伸))
• Kazuo Igarashi (五十嵐 和男, born 1946), Japanese aikidoka
• Kazuo Ikehiro (池広 一夫, born 1929), Japanese film director
• Kazuo Inamori (稲盛 和夫, 1932–2022), Japanese businessman
• Kazuo Inoue (井上 和郎, born 1981), Japanese cyclist
• Kazuo Ishiguro (石黒一雄, born 1954), British author
• Kazuo Iwama, multiple people
• Kazuo Kadonaga (角永 和夫, born 1946), contemporary Japanese sculptor
• Kazuo Kamimura (上村 一夫, 1940–1986), Japanese manga artist
• Kazuo Kanayama (金山 和雄, born 1952), Japanese golfer
• Kazuo Kawai (川井 一男), Japanese table tennis player
• Kazuo Kimura (木村 一夫, 1909–?), Japanese high jumper
• Kazuo Kitagawa (北側 一雄, born 1953), Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the Japanese Cabinet of Junichiro Koizumi
• Kazuo Kitamura (北村 和夫, 1927–2007), Japanese actor
• Kazuo Kobayashi (小林 一男, 1908–?), Japanese diver
• Kazuo Koike (小池 一夫, 1936–2019), manga artist
• Komizu Kazuo (小水 一男, born 1946), Japanese film director
• Kazuo Kubokawa (窪川 一雄, 1903–1943), Japanese astronomer
• Kazuo Kumakura (熊倉 一雄, 1927–2015), Japanese actor, voice actor and theatre director
• Kazuo Kuroki (黒木 和雄, 1930–2006), Japanese film director
• Kazuo Manabe (真部 一男, 1952–2007), Japanese shogi player
• Kazuo Matsuda (松田 一夫, born 1941), Japanese ice hockey player
• Kazuo Matsui (松井稼頭央, born 1975), Japanese baseball player
• Kazuo Misaki (三崎 和雄, born 1976), Japanese professional mixed martial arts fighter and former judoka
• Kazuo Miyagawa (宮川 一夫, 1908–1999), Japanese cinematographer
• Kazuo Mizutani (水谷 一生, 1899–1949), Chief of Staff of Japanese Imperial Guard during the close of World War II
• Kazuo Mori (森 一生, 1911–1989), Japanese film director
• Kazuo Nagano (永野 一男, 1952–1985), Japanese fraudster
• Kazuo Nakamura (1926–2002), Japanese-Canadian painter and sculptor
• Kazuo Nakamura (basketball) (中村 和雄, born 1940), Japanese basketball coach
• Kazuo Nakanishi (中西 一男, 1922–2003), briefly the leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza syndicate in the chaotic years of the Yama-Ichi War
• Kazuo Nishii (西井 一夫, 1946–2001), Japanese magazine editor and photography critic
• Kazuo Noda (野田 一雄, 1908–?), Japanese swimmer
• Kazuo Oga (男鹿 和雄, born 1952), Japanese art director
• Kazuo Ohno (大野 一雄, 1906–2010), Japanese dancer associated with Butoh
• Kazuo Oka (岡 和男, 1948–2021), Japanese voice actor
• Kazuo Okada (岡田 和生, born 1942), Japanese billionaire businessman, and art collector
• Kazuo Okamatsu (岡松 和夫, 1931–2012), Japanese philologist and novelist
• Kazuo Okamura (岡村 一夫, 1911–1973), Japanese-American professional wrestler
• Kazuo Ozaki (尾崎 加寿夫, born 1960), Japanese footballer
• Kazuo Saito (斉藤 和夫, born 1951), Japanese footballer and manager
• Kazuo Saito (athlete) (斎藤 和夫, born 1942), Japanese racewalker
• Kazuo Sakamaki (酒巻和男, 1918–1999), first prisoner of war held by the US in World War II
• Kazuo Sakurada (桜田 一男, 1948–2020), known as Mr. Sakurada, retired Japanese professional wrestler
• Kazuo Sato (disambiguation), multiple people
• Kazuo Shii (志位 和夫, born 1954), Japanese politician
• Kazuo Shimizu (清水 和男, born 1975), Japanese footballer
• Kazuo Shimizu (wrestler) (清水 一夫, born 1954), Japanese sport wrestler
• Kazuo Shinohara (篠原 一男, 1925–2006), Japanese architect
• Kazuo Shiraga (白髪 一雄, 1924–2008), Japanese abstract painter
• Kazuo Sugimoto (杉本 和陽, born 1991), Japanese shogi player
• Kazuo Takahashi (高橋 和生, born 1969), Japanese mixed martial artist
• Kazuo Taoka (田岡 一雄, 1913–1981), Godfather of the Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza syndicate
• Kazuo Tokumitsu (徳光 和夫, born 1941), Japanese TV presenter and announcer
• Kazuo Tsukuda (佃 和夫, born 1943), chairman of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
• Kazuo Umezu (楳図 かずお, born 1936), horror manga author
• Kazuo Wada (和田 一夫, 1929–2019), Japanese businessman
• Kazuo Yamada (山田 一雄, 1912–1991), Japanese conductor
• Kazuo Yamaguchi (山口 一男, born 1946), Japanese sociologist

References