Career
His highest rank was sekiwake, which he held for one tournament in 1970. After retirement he worked as a coach at his stable, Kasugano, until 1990 when he set up his own Tamanoi stable. He made his debut in November 1960, joining the then recently retired yokozuna Tochinishiki"s Kasugano stable.
He reached jūryō in May 1965 and the top makuuchi division in March 1967.
He was relatively small, standing only 177 cm tall and weighing around 110 kg. In May 1968 he was runner-up to Tamanoshima with a 10-5 record, earning promotion to komusubi.
He was runner-up once again in September of that year. He reached his highest rank of sekiwake in March 1970 but fell short with a 7-8 record.
In January 1972, ranked at maegashira 5, he took his only top division yūshō or tournament championship.
He needed only an 11-4 record to do so (13 or 14 wins are normally needed). The sole yokozuna at the time, Kitanofuji, withdrew after winning only seven matches, and the only ōzeki Tochiazuma faced was Kiyokuni on the final day. After his tournament victory he was promoted back to komusubi but pulled out of the next tournament through injury and spent the rest of his career in the maegashira ranks.
He was runner-up for a third time in May 1973, but was not really in contention for the championship during the tournament, finishing four wins behind the undefeated Wajima.
Tochiazuma retired two months later, during the January 1977 tournament. He remained in sumo as an elder of the Japan Sumo Association, working as a coach at his old stable.
In 1990, following the death of his old stablemaster, he decided to branch out and open up his own Tamanoi stable. The purpose-built heya has some of the best facilities in sumo today.
He took over the running of the stable when Tamanoi reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 in September 2009.