Tokitsukaze stable
He was inspired to enter professional sumo by watching active wrestlers Asashōryū and Asasekiryū, with whom he had practised judo as a teenager in Ulaanbaatar. He joined Tokitsukaze stable when in his second year of university, just before reaching the upper age limit of 23 set by the Japan Sumo Association. He graduated from the Tokyo University of Agriculture in March 2004.