To watch Hakuho work a noon buffet line at Shanghai Bistro is to find it hard to believe that he was once considered unfit for sumo because he was too skinny.

It is an irony much of the sport is left to ponder in a month when the 6-foot-4, 341-pound Mongolian has been promoted to the sport's highest rank of yokozuna.

Indeed, the memory of being rejected as a prospect by a handful of stables brings a smile to the 22-year-old's face as he prepares to make his yokozuna debut in the Hawai'i Grand Sumo Tournament tomorrow at Blaisdell Arena coming off consecutive tournament championships in Japan.

When he arrived in Japan at age 15, a veteran of Mongolian wrestling and an aspiring sumotori, Hakuho said he stretched a mere 143 pounds on a 6-foot-2 frame. Barely enough to cast a shadow. Not enough, a series of sumo stable owners said, to attract much interest in a sport where girth is prized and Lean Cuisine is disdained.

Had it not been for the intervention of another Mongolian sumotori made good, Kyokushuzan, Hakuho might be reading about sumo instead of making headlines. Legend has it that Hakuho was about to give up the dream and return to Ulan Bator when the Miyagino stable agreed to take him on conditionally.

Hakuho chuckles as he recalls the transition, saying that when he looks at old photos of himself even he is surprised at the remarkable transformation. One accomplished at the dinner table as much as in the ring. Under orders, he piled on the sumo staples, rice and chanko nabe, the omnipresent, bulk-building stew. "My (seniors) pushed me to eat a lot," Hakuho said. "It was harder than (sumo practice)."

But he managed to make sumo-sized strides in both. "He's become a very good, technical sumotori," said Maui's Jesse Kuhaulua, who operates and coaches the Azumazeki stable. "He has a chance to go far if he keeps it up."

"It is like he's riding a wave right now," said former yokozuna Fiamalu Penitani of Wai'anae. "He should be the favorite (in the Hawai'i Grand Sumo Tournament)."

For sure he is the favorite of the Davaajargal clan, his family from Mongolia, three members of whom have come here to watch his yokozuna debut. And, reflect on just how big of a deal the once skinny teenager has become.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.