Sadogatake stable
At elementary school he was a softball player and at junior high school he excelled at baseball. After his graduation he was recruited by Sadogatake stable, and made his professional debut in March 1993. Initially fighting under the "shikona" of Kotonoyama, he progressed to the "sandanme" division in 1995, and first reached the "makushita" division in 1997. He adopted the name of Kotokasuga in 1999, in honour of his hometown. In November 2004 he finally made the elite "sekitori" ranks when he was promoted to the "jūryō" division. He was ranked in "jūryō" for four further tournaments in May, July and September 2005 and January 2006, but then struggled again in "makushita". After injuries to both his elbows he considered retiring, but he won promotion back to "jūryō" in September 2007 at the age of 30, and then four consecutive "kachi-koshi" or winning records saw him promoted to the top "makuuchi" division in May 2008. It had taken him 91 tournaments from his professional debut to get there, the second slowest ever at the time. He could only manage a 4–11 record in his top division debut and dropped back to "jūryō". However, he made a return to "makuuchi" in September 2010, and on this occasion came through with a winning score of 9–6. This saw him promoted to his highest rank of "maegashira" 7 for the November 2010 tournament.