His sheer 235 kg (518 lb) bulk combined with 1.92 m (6 ft 3+1⁄2 in) of height made him a formidable opponent, and he was remarkably consistent and injury-free for most of his career.

An amiable personality, his fan base was helped by a surprising facial resemblance to Japanese warrior hero Saigō Takamori.

Fiamalu Penitani was born in American Samoa, the fourth son of a German Tongan father and a Portuguese Samoan mother.

Takanohana was absent from this tournament and Musashimaru won it after a five way playoff with a score of 11–4, the lowest number of wins needed to take a top division title since 1972.

In 1999, with Akebono and Takanohana both struggling with injury and loss of form, Musashimaru suddenly came alive with two consecutive tournament wins in March and May 1999 to earn promotion to yokozuna.

There was little of the controversy that surrounded previous promotion drives by foreign wrestlers such as Konishiki, and Musashimaru's record of never having missed a bout in his career was praised by the Yokozuna Deliberation Council.

His victory over the returning Takanohana in September 2002 was his twelfth and final championship and was also the last time either man would complete a tournament, making it the end of an era.

[6][7] In an interview on November 16, 2003, he revealed that he had also injured his neck while playing American football in high school and had been unable to move his left shoulder properly.

Musashimaru was the last Hawaiian wrestler in sumo, ending a dynasty that began with Takamiyama in 1964 and at one point in 1996 saw four from the islands ranked in the top division.

[13] He appeared alongside Brad Pitt (who was playing his personal assistant) in two commercials for Softbank, a Japanese mobile phone company, in July 2009.

In October 2024, it was announced that Musashikuni's younger brother, Daniel Ailua, would also take the physical test at age 18 to become a professional wrestler, with his debut scheduled for January 2025.

[18] In addition to his great size and strength, Musashimaru had a low center of gravity and excellent balance, which made him very difficult to beat.

Earlier in his career he favored pushing and thrusting (tsuki/oshi) techniques, but he also began to fight more on the mawashi, simply wearing his smaller opponents out with his huge inertia.