Initially wrestling using his real name, Kitazakura first adopted his "shikona" in November 1987. It took a long time to get to the salaried "sekitori" ranks and he spent seven years from 1991 to 1998 in the third highest "makushita" division. He got as high as makushita 5 in September 1995 and a good performance might have got him promotion to the second "jūryō" division but he fell short with a 2-5 record. Reverting to his own surname failed to change his fortunes and he fell right to the bottom of the "makushita" division. However, after changing back to the name Kitazakura he took the makushita championship with a perfect 7-0 record in September 1997 and three more winning records finally earned him promotion to "jūryō" in July 1998, after a total of eleven years in the lower divisions.