he made his professional sumo debut in march 1979 at the age of 15, after leaving junior high school. he was recruited by kokonoe stable. in 1980 he adopted the "shikona" of fujinomori, before switching to takanofuji in 1984. he first reached "sekitori" status in march 1985 upon promotion to the second highest "jūryō" division, but could manage only 4 wins against 11 losses and was demoted back to the unsalaried "makushita" division. after winning promotion back to "jūryō" in january 1986 he made his debut in the top "makuuchi" division only two tournaments later in may 1986.