Okamoto was born and raised in Nakano, Tokyo, although both his parents were from Saga and as he was fond of the city as well he chose to list it as his birthplace on the banzuke ranking sheets when he joined professional sumo.

[1] He initially wrestled under his own surname of Okamoto and then used the sumo name of Tochinoiwa, before adopting his familiar name of Tochisakae in January 1999.

[1] He refused to miss tournaments, and after a long period of rehabilitation with acupuncture treatment he eventually made a full recovery.

[1] He first reached a salaried rank in March 1998 when he was promoted to the jūryō division, but after pulling out with an injury towards the end of the tournament he fell back to makushita.

However, more injury problems struck him in July 2001 when he had to pull out with broken heel bones, and in 2002 he had to withdraw from three consecutive tournaments due to phlegmon, resulting in demotion back to jūryō.

[2] Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: ★=Kinboshi; P=Playoff(s) Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi