Background
Born in Himeji, he was the son of former ōzeki Masuiyama Daishirō I. He was a talented swimmer at school but wanted to follow his father into sumo. Initially turned down because of his size, he eventually persuaded his father to let him join his Mihogaseki stable in January 1967.
Career
In 1980 he became the oldest man to be promoted to the rank of ōzeki in the modern era (since 1958). After retiring from active competition in 1981 he became a sumo coach and an elder of the Japan Sumo Association under the name Mihogaseki and produced several top division wrestlers as head of Mihogaseki stable before stepping down upon reaching age 65 in 2013. He began at the same time as Kitanoumi, a future yokozuna.
He began fighting under the name Suiryu, adopting the Masuiyama shikona the following year.
He was demoted after only one tournament and mostly remained in the maegashira ranks for the next few years. In May 1974 he scored 12 wins and was a tournament runner-up behind stablemate Kitanoumi.
In July 1978 he finally earned promotion to the third highest sekiwake rank, but once again was unable to maintain it, dropping back to maegashira level At the end of 1979 he returned to sekiwake and scored 11 wins.
In January 1980 he was again a tournament runner-up, this time to yokozuna Mienoumi, and after the tournament he was promoted to ōzeki.
lieutenant had taken him 60 tournaments to get there from his top division debut, a record, and at thirty one years two months he was also the oldest to reach the rank since the introduction of the six tournaments a year system in 1958 (The latter record was broken by Kotomitsuki in July 2007). His ōzeki career was brief, and he announced his retirement during the March 1981 tournament. Masuiyama remained in the sumo world as an elder initially under the name Onogawa, and in November 1984 he succeeded his father as head coach of Mihogaseki stable, when the latter reached the retirement age of 65.
His father died in 1986.
He inherited ōzeki Hokuten"yū, and has produced four other top division wrestlers: Higonoumi, Hamanoshima, Baruto and Aran. Now known as Mihogaseki Oyakata, he ran the stable until October 2013, when he dissolved the stable and moved his wrestlers to Kasugano stable.
He was also formerly on the board of directors of the Japan Sumo Association. He reached the Sumo Association"s mandatory retirement age of 65 in November 2013.
Masuiyama is also an enka musician.
He did a debut with "Iroha koiuta"(いろは恋唄)in 1974.His musical career was in parallel with sumo wrestling. His notable songs are,"Sonna Yuko ni horemashita"(そんな夕子にほれました)(1974), "Sonna onna no hitorigoto"(そんな女のひとりごと).(1977),"Otoko no Senaka"(男の背中),""Hisoyakani Hanayakani"(秘そやかに華やかに)(sing a duet with Naomi Matsui)(2012),"Yuko no Omise"(夕子のお店)(2013),"Fuyuko no blues"(冬子のブルース)(2013). In 2013, he retired from sumo business, and restarted exclusively as an enka musician.