 At school he did judo, but after a sumo tournament in the area, he was recruited to Hanakago stable by wrestler Kaiketsu Masateru and fought his first bout in March 1978 aged 15.When Kaiketsu set up his Hanaregoma stable in 1981, he took Aoki with him.He reached the second "jūryō" division in March 1982, and the top "makuuchi" division a year later in March 1983.