He was born in Kurobane, a town in the Nasu District of Tochigi Prefecture. Hokutōriki made his professional debut in March 1993, joining Kokonoe stable. In October of that year he transferred to the newly created Hakkaku stable run by former "yokozuna" Hokutoumi. It took nearly nine years for him to achieve "sekitori" status by gaining promotion to the second "jūryō" division in January 2002. However, it took him only two further tournaments to reach the top "makuuchi" division. On his debut outing in "makuuchi" in May 2002 he made an immediate impression, finishing as runner-up with a strong 11-4 record and the fighting spirit prize. He was also a runner-up in the March 2003 tournament.