The weather was cold and rainy in Osaka yesterday, where temperatures hovered in the low 40s. But for Jesse Kuhaulua, the feelings were nothing but warm.

Forty-five years of nostalgia can do that for you.

The Maui-born Kuhaulua is in the final months of a trailblazing sumo career mandated to end in June, and his last official sumo visit to Osaka, more than most places he visits these days, evokes emotion-choking memories.

It was Osaka in 1964, as a debuting aspirant in Japan's national sport, that he first shivered in the public scantiness of a mawashi in winter, following his arrival from Hawai'i.

It was there, with the force of 300-pounders plowing into him, that Kuhaulua began to fully grasp the term "gaman" (perseverance) that would define his remarkable career. It was there, knowing little of the Japanese language or the nuanced culture of sumo, that he wondered if his stay would be numbered in weeks or months.

To his enduring surprise, it has instead been measured in decades and historic milestones. "I remember the hardships at the beginning," Kuhaulua said as the sumotori in his Azumazeki stable went through workouts in preparation for the Haru Basho. "I never thought I would be here this long. At first, I came to see what sumo was like."

He stayed, carving out a career that has been the stuff of records as the first foreign-born winner of the Emperor's Cup, symbolic of a 1972 tournament victory. He was the first foreigner to climb to the sport's third-highest rank, sekiwake, and the only one to open his own stable after retirement from the ring.

But for all the spine-rattling ferocity that he brought to the straw-encircled ring in an ironman career as Takamiyama, Kuhaulua shook the foundation of the centuries-old sport by opening the door for others from Hawai'i. Salevaa Atisanoe, who competed as Konishiki, and Chad Rowan, whose ring name was Akebono, climbed even higher. Akebono becoming the first foreign grand champion.

If Kuhaulua has a regret these days, it would seem to be that none of them will be there for him to hand the stable over to. Konishiki built a successful career as an entertainer and Akebono went on to mixed martial arts after retirement.

By sumo rule, Kuhaulua's last day of official employ in sumo will be June 15, the day before his 65th birthday, by which elders in the sport must retire. He will likely stay on as an adviser to his successor but will no longer have a say in the ruling Japan Sumo Association or an official position in the sport that provided the only full-time jobs he has ever known.

He is expected to eventually sell his stable and stock in the association to one of his sumotori, Ushinomaru, though no announcement has yet been made.

"It is hard to believe it has gone this fast," Kuhaulua said. "But it has, very fast."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.