Born , he later changed his name to . In the summer of 1930, he was scouted by Isegahama, former
sekiwake Kiyosegawa Keinosuke, his distant relative. However, he was largely forgotten due to the disruption caused by the
Shunjuen Incident of 1932, in which a large number of wrestlers went on strike. After the dispute was settled, he joined
Isegahama stable in 1934, making his debut in January 1935 with the Terukuni Manzō
shikona or ring name. He was promoted to the top
makuuchi division in May 1939, and reached the
ōzeki rank in May 1941. After two tournaments at
ōzeki, he finished in a three-way tie for the championship in May 1942 with
Futabayama and
Akinoumi, on 13–2. The championship was awarded to Futabayama (whom Terukuni had defeated in their individual match) simply because he was of a higher rank, as was the rule at the time. Nevertheless, after the tournament both Terukuni and Akinoumi were promoted to
yokozuna. At 23 years of age, Terukuni was the youngest wrestler to reach the
yokozuna rank until the promotion of
Taihō in 1961. He did well in his
yokozuna debut, scoring 14–1, although he finished one win behind Futabayama, who won his last match by default. Terukuni was a heavy wrestler for his time, weighing over . During
World War II, his weight declined due to food shortages. He changed the spelling of his
shikona given name to in May 1945, but changed it back in October 1949. Having been a runner-up on five previous occasions, Terukuni finally won his first championship in September 1950, about eight years after his promotion. He won his second championship in the very next tournament with a perfect 15–0 record. Three days into the January 1953 tournament, he announced his retirement. After the tournament,
Kagamisato was promoted to
yokozuna, and a photograph was taken of Terukuni and Kagamisato alongside the other grand champions
Chiyonoyama,
Azumafuji and
Haguroyama. As Terukuni had not yet had his official retirement ceremony, some regard January 1953 as being the only occasion on which there were five
yokozuna at the same time. ==Retirement from sumo==