His parents were farmers. He began sumo at Kochi junior high school. He was an amateur sumo champion at
Nihon University, coming third in the All Japan Sumo Tournament in his third year. He made his professional debut in 1972, beginning as a
makushita tsukedashi entrant, and reached the top
makuuchi division the following year. He was a member of
Hanakago stable and a stablemate of
yokozuna Wajima, a fellow Nihon University graduate. He once wore a cream-coloured
mawashi, or belt, in a tournament, the only wrestler so far to do so. He fought under his family name of Arase, although he changed the second part of it from Hideo to Nagahide in 1975. He was involved in an unusual incident when in a match against
Tamanofuji the
referee was knocked out of the
dohyo having failed to get out of the wrestlers’ way, and had to be told who was the winner. He fought in the top division for 48 tournaments, with a win/loss record of 351-367-2. He won four
sansho or special prizes and two
kinboshi or gold stars. He defeated
yokozuna Kitanoumi in January 1980 having previously lost to him 27 times in a row (the second worst record ever for a wrestler against the same opponent, after
Kaneshiro who lost 29 consecutive bouts to Kitanoumi). In a match against
Wakamisugi on the 8th day of the July 1976 tournament there were eight
matta or false starts, and both wrestlers were criticized by the chief
judge. Arase had a reputation for regularly engaging in false starts, and there was a suggestion from the
sansho committee when he was up for the Fighting Spirit Award in March 1975 that this should disqualify him from receiving the prize, although he was given it in the end. He held the third highest rank of
sekiwake for nine tournaments in total, including four straight from September 1977 to March 1978. However he only once had a double-digit winning record at the rank and so never seriously challenged for
ozeki promotion. Hampered by a right knee injury, he announced his retirement in September 1981. ==Retirement from sumo==