Early Years
Though he played judo in his junior high school years, Katsumi had dreamed from a very young age of becoming a sumo wrestler, and eventually was able to enter a sumo competition while still in junior high. Sometime later, he had a chance meeting with then ōzeki Takanohana I on one of the ōzeki's visits to Hiroshima. Katsumi was invited to join Takanohana's heya, Futagoyama-beya (then known as Fujishima-beya). Making his professional debut in March 1982, he reached the third highest makushita division in March 1985. After winning the makushita championship with a perfect 7-0 record in May 1987 he made his second division jūryō debut that July, and entered the top division makuuchi in March 1988, just days shy of his 20th birthday.
Read more about this topic: Akinoshima Katsumi
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