However he did not fulfill his great potential at sumo's highest rank, missing many matches because of injury and winning no tournaments.

Born Yokoyama Takeshi (横山 武) in Kohoku ward, he came from a poor peasant family and entered local sumo tournaments to provide for them.

His rapid rise was considered miraculous in an era when it was not unusual for new recruits to take several years to even progress from the lowest division.

[1] Fighting alongside other popular rikishi such as Tamanishiki, Minanogawa, and his stable mate, sekiwake Tenryū, Musashiyama was expected to become a figurehead of the sumo world for years to come.

[1] Then in January 1932 he was promoted from komusubi to ōzeki, but in the same month Tenryū and many other top wrestlers went on strike against the Japan Sumo Association, demanding reform of the organization, in what was to become known as the Shunjuen Incident.

[3] In addition, several people insisted that the reason for Tenryū's walkout was his jealousy of Musashiyama's fast promotion to ōzeki while he remained at sekiwake.

[1] He tried his hand at farming, running a restaurant and operating a pachinko parlour in Tokyo, before returning to his home town to work in the real estate business.