He was born in a small fishing village in
Sannohe District. He came from a poor family as his father had died when he was very young, and he had to support his mother when his older siblings left the house. He was already large as a teenager and soon spotted by a wrestler named
Kagamiiwa and invited to join sumo. More interested in
basketball, and with his mother also reluctant, the young Okuyama initially refused, but after his family was provided with financial assistance he eventually travelled to
Tokyo to repay Kagamiiwa's kindness. In the summer of 1940, he joined the now retired Kagamiiwa's Kumegawa stable. He made his professional debut in January 1941 and was given the
shikona or ring name of Kagamisato Kiyoji. When the
yokozuna Futabayama established his own stable, Kagamisato followed his stablemaster there, and it was later renamed
Tokitsukaze stable. Kagamisato was promoted to the top
makuuchi division in June 1947. In October 1949 he defeated two
yokozuna and produced a fine 12–3 score, also becoming the first wrestler to win two
special prizes in the same tournament. He was promoted from the
maegashira ranks to
sekiwake, third from the top. He reached the second highest
ōzeki rank just four tournaments after that. Having been a runner-up on four previous occasions, he reached the top
yokozuna rank after finally winning his first top division championship in January 1953. There had been four
yokozuna competing in that tournament, but all had performed badly, with
Terukuni announcing his retirement. Keen to have a strong
yokozuna, the
Japan Sumo Association overrode the initial objections of the
Yokozuna Deliberation Committee and promoted Kagamisato. During his
yokozuna career he won three more tournament titles, all with 14–1 scores, but also had some less impressive results. A somewhat reserved figure, he was perhaps less popular with the public than some of his higher profile
yokozuna rivals such as
Tochinishiki and
Wakanohana I. He also had a difficult relationship with the press. In the January 1958 tournament, his rival
Yoshibayama retired from being an active sumo wrestler. Kagamisato announced that if he failed to win at least ten bouts, he too would retire. He finished 9–6 and kept his word by announcing his retirement on the final day. He had had a chronic knee problem for many years and felt he had reached his physical limit. ==Retirement from sumo==