 Though Hagiwara was a fan of watching sumo from a young age, he was on his schools' baseball teams as a pitcher in primary and junior high school.He eventually gave up when he realized he was only excelling because of his size.On a chance meeting with then head of Naruto stable, the former "yokozuna" Takanosato, the head of the stable convinced Hagiwara's initially skeptical parents that he was a great candidate for sumo.