he came from the same area of japan as future stable-mates sakahoko and terao. he was fond of kendo at school. he joined izutsu stable in 1977, and first reached a "sekitori" rank in july 1982 when he was promoted to the "juryo" division. he first made the top "makuuchi" division in january 1983 but posted a losing record of 4–11 and so was immediately demoted. he won promotion back to the top division in january 1984, and remained there for virtually all of the rest of his career. in september 1984 he defeated a "yokozuna" for the first time when he upset kitanoumi in one of the latter's final tournaments. he made the "sanyaku" ranks for the first time in november 1987 when he reached "komusubi," but he proved to be out of his depth and scored only two wins against thirteen losses. he made "komusubi" once more in september 1990 at the age of 30, but again struggled, winning only three bouts. he suffered from stage fright, losing weight during tournaments because of stomach upsets. this affected his performance against top ranked wrestlers – he stumbled out of the "dohyo" in a match against hokutoumi in september 1990 with his opponent barely having to touch him. he was restricted by a foot problem as well as digestive illness towards the end of his career. after 46 consecutive tournaments in the top division he was demoted to "juryo" after scoring only 4-11 at "maegashira" 15 in the july 1991 tourney, and he pulled out of the following tournament with a knee injury after fighting only one match. this brought to an end his streak of 1036 consecutive matches from sumo entry. he announced his retirement shortly afterwards.