Recruitment and historical promotion

At the invitation of Miyagino oyakata (the 69th yokozuna Hakuhō), Ochiai joined the Miyagino stable.^[8] He made his professional debut in January 2023 at the rank of makushita 15 to reflect his amateur success (makushita tsukedashi). He won the makushita title with an undefeated record of seven wins and was subsequently promoted to the jūryō division for March, becoming the first wrestler to earn a jūryō promotion after just one tournament in 90 years.^[9] Since the abolition of the makushita tsukedachi system for promotion to the top of the makushita division in September 2023, Ochiai is likely to be the last wrestler to be promoted to the jūryō division in just one tournament in sumo's modern history.^[10] Given Ochiai's quick rise to the second-highest division, Miyagino confessed he hadn't had the time to think of a shikona for his apprentice.^[11] Thanks to his record-breaking promotion, Ochiai began to be nicknamed Reiwa no kaibutsu (令和の怪物), meaning 'Reiwa monster', in reference to ōzeki Musōyama who was nicknamed 'Heisei monster' after he too was promoted to jūryō after being undefeated as a makushita.^[12][13]

Jūryō career

Ochiai experienced his first defeat in professional sumo on day 2 of the Osaka tournament (in March 2023) against the other newly promoted jūryō, Tamashōhō.^[14] On the 6th day of the same tournament, he announced that he had made the unusual decision to become the tsukebito of makuuchi wrestler Hokuseihō because he wanted to experience this role himself and considered it a learning experience.^[15] He finished the March 2023 tournament with 10–5 record.

Ochiai was promoted to jūryō 8 in the May 2023 tournament. He finished the tournament with 14 wins along with Gōnoyama, who defeated Ochiai on Day 11. The two wrestlers were thus competing for the jūryō championship and Ochiai would have been the first wrestler under the age of 20 to win the title since his master Hakuhō's victory at the 2004 tournament.^[16] Ochiai was however beaten again by Gōnoyama in the jūryō championship playoff. It marked the first time since 1949 that the jūryō championship was decided in a playoff between two wrestlers with 14–1 records.^[17]

After the May 2023 tournament it was announced that Ochiai received the shikona Hakuōhō (伯桜鵬) from his stablemaster. The ring name is a combination of "Haku" (伯), referring to the province of Hōki (伯耆国) which became Tottori Prefecture, "Ō" (桜) from "Sakura-zumo" (桜ずもう), a sumo tournament in Kurayoshi in which he participated when he was a schoolboy and finally "Hō" (鵬) to refer to Ochiai's master, Hakuhō.^[18]

Top division promotion

On 26 June 2023, Hakuōhō's name appeared on the July 2023 sumo tournament rankings at the position of west maegashira 17, ushering his entry into sumo's top division in just his fourth professional tournament.^[19] Hakuōhō is the sixth-youngest wrestler since 1990 to reach the top division, doing so at the age of 19 years and 10 months, as well as the second wrestler since the Shōwa era to reach makuuchi in three tournaments since their debut (the other being Endō).^[20] Upon his promotion, Hakuōhō told reporters that his goal for his first top division tournament was 12 wins and the Shukun-shō (Outstanding Performance prize), which his stablemaster Miyagino achieved in his first makuuchi appearance in May 2004. Hakuōhō said that he hadn't gotten used to his new name yet, but said that it felt fresh. He said he was satisfied with his performances in his first three tournaments, but that from now on it would not be so easy.^[21]

Hakuōhō began his tournament with a win over Aoiyama, and went on to win the majority of his matches although he also lost to former san'yaku Takarafuji (on Day 3) and Ryūden (Day 5).^[22][23] On Day 6, he overcame Gōnoyama, who had beaten him twice for the jūryō division title in the previous tournament; defeating him by hatakikomi and bringing his 5-match winning streak to a halt.^[24] In September 2023, Hakuōhō revealed to the press that during the tournament his shoulder would dislocate after days of fighting, having dislocated a total of three times during the duration of the tournament.^[25] Wishing to continue to wrestle to satisfy the expectations of those around him and the public, Hakuōhō reached a positive kachi-koshi record on Day 11, with a victory over the former ōzeki Takayasu.^[26] He then went on to defeat komusubi Abi the following day. This victory marked the first time a newly-promoted makuuchi had won a match against a wrestler currently in san'yaku since Ichinojō defeated then-ōzeki Kisenosato at the September 2014 tournament.^[27] Hakuōhō then went on to achieve back-to-back victories on Day 13 and 14 over tournament leaders maegashira Nishikigi and Hokutofuji, strengthening his own chances of claiming the makuuchi championship.^[28][29] At the end of the tournament, Hakuōhō faced Hōshōryū, both recording 11 wins to 3 losses. The winner of this match would have to challenge Hokutofuji, who, with 12 wins and 3 losses had secured a place in a playoff for the makuuchi championship. Hōshōryū nevertheless defeated Hakuōhō by uwatenage, effectively eliminating Hakuōhō from the title race.^[30] On the fifteenth day of the tournament Hakuōhō was however announced as the recipient of the sanshō awards for Technique and Fighting Spirit. These prizes, awarded in just four tournaments, make Hakuōhō the fastest prize winner in sumo history, breaking the records set by former sekiwake Ichinojō and former ōzeki Miyabiyama, who had won the awards in five tournaments since their professional debuts.^[31]

Injury and demotion

A few days after end of the July tournament, it was announced that Hakuōhō would withdraw from the summer regional tours because of left shoulder pain. On 29 August, one day after the September banzuke was released, he told reporters that he was not in very good condition. At the time he did not rule out the possibility of withdrawing from the September tournament, saying that even if he did and subsequently dropped in the rankings, his goal was not to be in makuuchi but to pursue his dream and do his best.^[32] On September 4, it was confirmed that Hakuōhō would indeed be absent for the September tournament. His master Miyagino had already raised the possibility of an absence on August 27 due to a possible operation to treat pain caused by a subluxation of the left shoulder, an old injury of Hakuōhō's.^[33] The operation in question finally took place on August 31, forcing Hakuōhō into a period of remission that could last until the end of the year to achieve complete recovery.^[34] After his first away tournament, he confided to Yahoo! Sports his frustration at not being able to take part when the others promoted at the same time as him to makuuchi (Shōnannoumi, Gōnoyama and Atamifuji) were able to participate and performed quite well.^[35]

Hakuōhō was demoted on the November 2023 banzuke to the jūryō division. Shortly after the rankings were released, it was announced that Hakuōhō would withdraw from that tournament to continue rehabilitation. Stablemaster Miyagino said that the objective was for Hakuōhō to compete in the January 2024 tournament.^[36] Five days before the start of the January 2024 tournament, Hakuōhō—demoted to the rank of makushita 5—was medically cleared to compete. Miyagino decided to wait a few more days before giving Hakuōhō permission to enter the tournament.^[37]

Return to competition

Hakuōhō was still unsure whether he would be able to compete in the January 2024 tournament, but confided afterwards that despite his master's cautious advice he decided to take part to gamble on his chances of once again being promoted to jūryō in one tournament, having been relegated to the top of the makushita division.^[35]Having resumed competition, he suffered defeat on his third match to Ōnomatsu stable's Ōnokatsu, the last wrestler to turn professional using the status of makushita tsukedachi 15 before the system was abolished in September 2023.^[38] He later cited this match as his highlight of the tournament, having lost even though he felt his performance was the best of his seven matches.^[35] Despite this defeat, Hakuōhō recorded, on the ninth day of competition, a kachi-koshi record by beating Kototebakari [ja] (younger brother of Kotoshōhō) by shitatenage.^[39] Hakuōhō continued to improve his score, ending the tournament with a score of 6–1, his last victory coming when he defeated upper-division and former makuuchi-ranked wrestler Chiyomaru on Day 13.^[40] After the tournament, he commented that he was not at all satisfied with his performance and that his results had been down to luck.^[35] Later in January, it was announced that Hakuōhō's score would be enough to promote him back into the jūryō division for the March tournament.^[41]

Hakuōhō began his return to sekitori status in the spotlight after the abuse case and the retirement of his senior stablemate Hokuseihō, making him the most senior wrestler in Miyagino stable at the time. In his first match, in which he appeared with a chonmage for the first time, he defeated Kitaharima, his senior by 17 years.^[42] Hakuōhō ended the tournament with a barely-reached kachi-koshi refusing, however, to attribute his score to the atmosphere surrounding the possible forthcoming closure of his stable.^[43] In the last week of March, it was confirmed that Hakuōhō and all the wrestlers and coaches from Miyagino stable would be transferred to Isegahama stable for an indefinite period of time.^[44]

On the second day of the May 2024 tournament, Hakuōhō suffered a torn right biceps in his match against Tamashōhō.^[45] He took the decision to continue competing, nonetheless suffering defeat against Chiyosakae [ja] on Day 3.^[46] On the eighth day he declared himself absent from the tournament due to a COVID-19 infection, the medical report prescribing five days' rest.^[47]