is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Nara. He wrestles for Kise stable. An amateur sumo competitor while studying at Kinki University, Tokushōryū made his professional debut in January 2009. He reached the top makuuchi division in July 2013. His highest rank to date has been maegashira 2. He has won championships in the makuuchi, jūryō, jonokuchi and sandanme divisions. He was runner-up in the January 2015 tournament. After spending most of 2018 and 2019 in the second tier, he returned to the top division in January 2020 and recorded 14 wins to take an upset championship victory at the age of 33. Early life and sumo background Makoto Aoki first tried out sumo at a dojo outside his school when he was a fourth grader in elementary school. He continued into junior high school at another dojo then transferred to Meitoku Gijuku High School, which was well known for its sumo program. In his second year there, he took an inter-high school championship, and in his third year he was in the top 8 group of high school wrestlers. He entered a management program at Kindai University and also continued amateur sumo. He was not able to attain university yokozuna status, but did manage to win some regional championships. As he was involved in sumo much of his school life, many current and former wrestlers were his teammates during his amateur sumo years at school. At his high school, Tochiōzan was from his year, and and were his upper classmen. In university Homarefuji was an upperclassman, and Takarafuji, in his year, was in the same management course as he was. Career Early career In his fourth year in university he made the decision to join Kise stable and first stepped into the ring for the January 2009 tournament, along with other contemporaries such as Takarafuji, Kimikaze and Takanoiwa. Despite his successes in amateur sumo, he never achieved student yokozuna status so was not allowed to enter professional sumo at an elevated rank (see makushita tsukedashi) and had to start at the bottom of the ranks. His skill and experience allowed him a string of winning tournaments from his entry into sumo, and he also took the bottom division jonokuchi championship in his debut tournament, with a 6-1 score without a playoff(which is very rare in Sumo), followed by a perfect 7–0 sandanme championship in September of that same year.