Kihō Tomotaka

During his ealry career, he wrestled under his real name Kawazoe (川副). Just as he was about to begin his first tournament, Kawazoe expressed his desire to compete against the former ōzeki Asanoyama, who was climbing back to the top division after his suspension, on Day 1 of the September 2022 tournament.[7] Kawazoe nevertheless suffered a defeat but considered the match a good experience.[8] However, Kawazoe was able to bounce back and win a kachi-koshi score. For a year, he wrestled in the makushita division without ever scoring a make-koshi record but without winning a championship either, which slowed his progression up the rankings. In March 2023, when he was ranked as makushita 3, he missed out on promotion to sekitori status.[9]

Following a 5–2 record as West Makushita 1, Kawazoe earned a promotion to the jūryō division, along Yūma and Ukrainian Shishi,[10] despite a fracture in the back of his left foot.[11] On the occasion of his promotion it was announced that he would take the shikona, or ring name, Kihō (輝鵬). It was revealed that this ring name, chosen on the night of his fourth victory securing his promotion, was chosen by Kawazoe himself with the kanji for "shine" (輝) as he wishes to become a wrestler who shines ever brighter.[11] His shikona first name, "Tomotaka" (智貴), is a combination of his father's Tomonori (智徳) and mother's Takayo (貴代).[12] During the interview introducing the new jūryō wrestlers, the now Kihō expressed regret at having fallen behind the promotion records of his stablemate Hakuōhō, vowing to overtake him in the rankings.[11] Upon promotion, Kihō became the smallest active sekitori, replacing his stablemate Enhō, and complementing Hokuseihō, another stablemate, who is the tallest sekitori.[12] At 115 kg (254 lb) he was also, along with Midorifuji, the lightest active sekitori.[13]

Unusually, he took part in his first jūryō tournament with the iconic golden shimekomi of his coach Magaki-oyakata.[14] Speaking about this unusual situation, since wrestlers promoted to jūryō have their own competition mawashi custom-made, he explained that his silver shimekomi had only been delivered the day before the tournament, too late to use it. As he resolved himself to use his coach's, the observers saw it as a passing of the baton between Ishiura, who had just retired, and Kihō, who had just been promoted to jūryō; the two also sharing the same build and sumo style and Kihō declaring "I will do my best to carry on his will."[15][16] On the seventh day of the tournament, Kihō faced amateur scene rival and Nishonoseki stable wrestler, Ōnosato, who fought in makushita. Kihō had never managed to beat Ōnosato on the amateur scene, and the latter had even stolen the college yokozuna title from him at the 2022 championships.[17] Kihō nevertheless managed to defeat Ōnosato by hatakikomi and thus inflicted on him his second consecutive defeat, further delaying Ōnosato's promotion to jūryō.[18]

On the eighth day of the same tournament, he received a keshō-mawashi from his former school Buntoku High School. As he won that day against Tsushimanada, he commented that this gift, designed by his former sumo coach, was a good omen for his tournament.[19] On the eleventh day of the same tournament, Kihō, who was then recording a score of 7 wins, lost his match against Akua by the rare kimarite (winning technique) abisetaoshi, or 'backward force down'. Wounded during the fight, he had to be taken to the arena infirmary in a wheelchair,[20] before submitting a medical certificate and declaring himself kyūjō the next day; mentioning a lisfranc injury requiring a month's treatment.[21]

However, Kihō was listed among the wrestlers participating in the September 2023 tournament. In stable condition on his injured leg, he nevertheless injured his other leg on the first day of the tournament, when Ōnosato pushed his opponent Asakoryū out of the ring, the latter falling on top of Kihō. Wrestling under painkillers in both legs, he won his second match over Shimanoumi the following day.[22] On the twelfth day of the same tournament, however, Kihō had to declare himself absent for the second consecutive jūryō tournament, after suffering a right hamstring muscle tear during his match against Chiyomaru, requiring around a month's treatment. Due to his absence Kihō recorded an eighth defeat by default, increasing the risk of relegation to the makushita division.[23]