Early Career
He was born in the former Misato, Gunma. At the wish of his father, he practiced both sumo and judo from a young age. After competing in the National Junior High School Sumo Championships at the age of 14, he met former yokozuna Kotozakura who persuaded him to join Sadogatake stable. He made his professional debut in March 1984. His first shikona or fighting name was Kotomatsuzawa, based on his own surname. He switched to Kotonishiki in late 1987 and shortly afterwards made the elite sekitori ranks, being promoted to the jūryō division in March 1988. A losing score of 4-11 meant he was demoted back to the unsalaried makushita division after only one tournament, but he returned to the second division in September 1988 and was promoted to the top makuuchi division in May 1989 after an 11-4 record at jūryō 6 in March.
Kotonishiki steadily made his way up the maegashira ranks, and in May 1990 earned his first sansho or special prize, for Fighting Spirit. In this tournament he also defeated yokozuna Hokutoumi to win the first of his eight kinboshi. He made his debut in the titled sanyaku ranks at komusubi in September 1990 and came through with a winning record. This earned him promotion to sekiwake for November. He was to spend a total of 34 tournaments ranked at either sekiwake or komusubi, which is an all-time record.
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