When he was 14 years old, he became a pupil of Kusazuri Iwanosuke (草摺岩之助) in Osaka-sumo, and took the shikona, or ring name, Sagamigawa (相模川).

Onogawa was promoted to the top makuuchi division in March 1781 and began to wrestle for the Kurume Domain.

[6] A popular story holds that Onogawa studied jujutsu with renowned Kyūshin Ryū Sōke Inugami Gunbei after being thrown down twice in a casual match with that master outside a teahouse.

[7] Another story tells that, after Onogawa became an official rikishi of the lord of the Kurume domain, he exterminated the ghosts that plagued the lord's domain at night by his boldness, as depicted in an ukiyo-e woodblock print produced by Yoshitoshi in his series on the 'One Hundred Ghost Stories of China and Japan'.

[2][8] Onogawa was much shorter than Tanikaze at only 1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in) but he had a speedy, crowd pleasing sumo style which helped him overcome his small physique.

[1] Onogawa makes an appearance in the Record of Ragnarok manga series, where he cheers on Raiden during his fight.