Ishiura was born in Tottori, the principal city of Tottori Prefecture, which is the most sparsely-populated prefecture in Japan. He studied at Nihon University. He nearly gave up sumo and moved to Australia to study at an English language college in 2012. While there he won the Australian Open and Lightweight Sumo titles and while staying in Sydney was cast as an adversary for Wolverine in a new X Men movie, but he withdrew from the role and decided to return to Japan and try professional sumo after being inspired by the success of some of his friends from his amateur days. At 23 he was at the upper end of the age limit to enter professional sumo and knew this was his last chance. As of 2019 he still wrestles under his real name and is yet to adopt a formal shikona or ring-name. Ishiura is of unusually small stature for a sumo wrestler: when he made his makuuchi debut at he was officially lighter than any other competitor in the division, although he outweighs Terutsuyoshi and his stablemate Enho who have made the top division subsequently.) He has also been known for his contributions on social media, posting video clips on Twitter of his fellow wrestlers playing arcade games and competing in sprint races. He is sponsored by McLaren Automotive, and on his 27th birthday he arrived at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in a sports car that they provided for him.
Career
Ishiura joined the Miyagino stable and entered professional sumo in 2013 at the relatively advanced age of 23. He made an immediate impact, winning the jonokuchi division in March and the jonidan division in May with unblemished 7-0 records and earning a third straight promotion with six wins at sandanme in July. As he worked his way up the ranks he served as a tsukebito or personal attendant to yokozunaHakuhō. He spent the next nine tournaments in the third makushita division before earning another promotion with a 6–1 record in January 2015. He was the first new sekitori from Tottori Prefecture since Kotozakura 52 years earlier. In the second division he proved himself a consistent performer, recording seven winning records in ten tournaments and clinching yet another promotion with nine wins in September 2016. Ishiura made his makuuchi debut in November, 2016 debuting at East Maegashira 15. After losing on the first day of the tournament to Chiyotairyu Ishiura won the next ten days straight putting him on the leader board for a while. However, on day 12 Ishiura suffered his second loss to Ikioi and then continued to lose for the rest of the tournament finishing off with a 10–5 record which was enough to win him his first special prize, for Fighting Spirit. In his debut tournament he was able to get ten straight victories, double digit wins, and his first special prize. His ten wins equaled the performance of Shōdai in January 2016 and was otherwise the best by a top-division debutante since Ichinojo's thirteen wins in September 2014. In the January 2017 tournament Ishiura at Maegashira 9 was only able to secure a 6–9 record. The March 2017 tournament saw him at maegashira 11, and he had mixed results. On the final day his record was 7–7, however he was unable to get the win against Takarafuji and end the tournament with a losing record of 7–8. He won only three bouts at maegashira 10 in the September 2017 tournament and was demoted back to the jūryō division, but an 8–7 record at the rank of West Jūryō 1 in November 2017 was sufficient to return him to makuuchi. Ishiura remained in the top division for the next five tournaments, but after four straight losing records was demoted to jūryō again after the September 2018 tournament. After a two tournament stint in jūryō he returned to the top division in March 2019. He dropped to jūryō in July, but is ranked in makuuchi for September 2019. This was the first tournament that he and his stablemates Hakuhō and Enhō were all fit and in makuuchi together, allowing them all to take part in the yokozuna dohyo-iri ceremony. In training at his stable before the January 2020 tournament he came to blows with a junior ranked wrestler, Hokahō, after a series of heated bouts and the pair had to be separated by Hakuhō. The incident was reported to the Sumo Association by Miyagino Oyakata, and Ishiura was docked 20 percent of one month's salary.
Fighting style
Ishiura favours a right hand inside, left hand outside grip on his opponent's mawashi or belt. His favourite kimarite or winning technique is shitatenage, the underarm throw. In November 2019, Ishiura won a victory in the Fukuoka Tournament over Nishikigi on Day Eight using what is likely the rarest winning technique in sumo. The mitokorozeme or 'three places attack' is a kimarite that had not been seen in the top division since Mainoumi used it in 1993.
Personal life
Ishiura announced in May 2017 that he had married a nursery school teacher in April after a four year relationship. The wedding ceremony was held in October 2017 with his stablemate Hakuhō among the 500 guests. Their first child was born in May 2018.
