As with many sumo wrestlers, he initially competed under his family name, Kogawa, but upon reaching the second highest jūryō division in November 1997, he was given the fighting name of Wakanosato, reminiscent of his stablemaster, former yokozuna Takanosato.

He won consecutive jūryō championships upon his comeback, in May and July 2000, and was promoted back to makuuchi in September.

He quickly made the titled san'yaku ranks, making komusubi in November 2000 and recovering from 2–6 down to finish 9–6.

In his early top division career, Wakanosato was considered a promising candidate for ōzeki.

However, he was never able to break through the "great barrier" (the literal meaning of ōzeki), just failing to attain the necessary 33 wins over three tournaments.

In later years, on the dohyō he again had injury problems, being forced to withdraw from his final san'yaku-ranked tournament in September 2005 and missing all of the next.

He withdrew from the March 2009 tournament after breaking a metatarsal bone in his right foot during his 11th day bout with Kotoshōgiku.

After that he comfortably maintained a position in the mid-to-upper maegashira ranks until he was injured in the November 2011 tournament, resulting in yet another fall to jūryō.

After a poor 4–11 record at maegashira 15 in September 2013, Wakanosato was once again demoted to jūryō, but for the first time for a non injury-related reason.

Following a 4–11 result in jūryō in July 2015, which guaranteed a further relegation to the makushita division, Wakanosato announced his retirement on 3 September.

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