Early career

Ōnoshō made his professional debut at the age of sixteen in the Osaka tournament in March 2013. He quickly moved through the lower divisions and reached the third highest makushita division in November of the same year. Seven consecutive winning records (kachi-koshi) saw him promoted to the second division (jūryō) for the January 2015 tournament. This promotion makes Ōnoshō the 10th youngest juryō promoted since the Shōwa era.^[12] This promotion also makes Ōnoshō the 128th sekitori of Aomori Prefecture and the first since Homarefuji in 2012.^[13] Yokozuna Hakuhō also commented when referring to Ōnoshō that he was one of the most promising young talents in sumo at the time.^[12] Competing against more experienced opponents he however made relatively little impact in his first jūryō run but looked to be maintaining his place in the division before sustaining an injury in November 2015.^[14] A 5–10 record in March 2016 saw him relegated for the first time in his wrestling career. He rebounded by winning all seven of his bouts in makushita in May and was promoted back up to the second division despite losing in a play-off for the championship to Oyanagi.^[15] Over the next six tournaments, Ōnoshō worked his way up the ranks of jūryō and a 9–6 result in March 2017 clinched his promotion to sumo's top division (makuuchi) for the first time.^[16]

Makuuchi career

Ōnoshō in September 2019

In his first tournament in the top division Ōnoshō was assigned the rank of maegashira 14. He recovered from an opening day defeat to Daishōmaru to record a 10–5 result, with his defeated opponents including other promising young wrestlers such as Hokutofuji, Ishiura and Kagayaki, as well as more experienced foes such as Kaisei and Myōgiryū.^[17] His efforts saw him being rewarded with the special prize for Fighting Spirit as well as promotion to maegashira 6 for the next tournament.^[18] In the following July tournament he was one of only two wrestlers to defeat the eventual runner-up Aoiyama,^[19] and he finished with another 10–5 record. In September 2017 at the rank of maegashira 3 he earned a kinboshi by defeating the eventual yūshō winner Harumafuji on his way to a second Fighting Spirit prize and a third 10–5 record. He thereby became the first rikishi since the 38th yokozuna Terukuni (and thus the first wrestler in the era of the six tournament system) to achieve double-digit records in each of his first three makuuchi tournaments.^[20] He was promoted to the san'yaku ranks at komusubi for the November 2017 tournament, becoming only the second wrestler ever from his stable after Wakakōyū in 2012 to achieve this feat.^[21] After losing six of his first seven bouts in November, he recovered in the second week of the tournament and secured his majority of wins on the final day.^[22] He withdrew from the January 2018 tournament on Day 10 with a posterior cruciate ligament injury to the right knee.^[23] The injury kept him out of the following tournament in March and saw him relegated to jūryō.^[24] In May, however, he returned to action and secured his promotion back to the top division as he won the jūryō title by defeating Tsurugishō and ending the tournament with a 12–3 record.^[11] In November of the same year, Ōnoshō ended the tournament with an 11–4 record and won his third Fighting Spirit prize after defeating Yutakayama, who was also competing for the prize and would have won it had he won the match.^[25] This performance saw him being promoted to east maegashira 6 for the next tournament in which he got an 8–7 score. He had an unremarkable 2019, not being able to mount a serious challenge for promotion back to san'yaku. In March 2020 he earned his second kinboshi by defeating Hakuhō for the first time. He finished the tournament with a 9–6 record and the Outstanding Performance prize.^[26]

Ōnoshō withdrew from the May 2022 tournament after fracturing his left rib in his Day 5 loss to Takakeishō.^[27] In the January 2023 tournament he led the field outright on Day 12 with ten wins and two losses.^[28] However he had a disappointing end to the tournament, losing his last three matches and missing out on the Fighting Spirit Prize on Day 15 after being disqualified for a hair-pull on Hōshōryū.^[29] In the March 2023 basho Ōnoshō withdrew on Day 9 following injuries to both of his knees two days earlier.^[30]