ranks of this division and earned his first championship as a salaried wrestler. In January 2017, he was promoted to the top flight makuuchi division. On this occasion he chose to adopt the ring name Takakeishō Mitsunobu. The first character in his shikona surname comes from the first character in the shikona of his stablemaster, Takanohana, and the second two characters are taken from the given name of the Japanese historical figure, Kagekatsu Uesugi. In Takakeishō's top division debut he only managed a 7–8 record. However, he followed up with eleven wins against four losses in the March 2017 tournament and was awarded his first special prize, for Fighting Spirit. Another 11–4 record in May saw him promoted to maegashira 1, but he struggled at his new rank and recorded only five wins in July. Ranked at maegashira 5 in September 2017, he earned his first kinboshi or victory over a yokozuna by defeating Harumafuji, who went on to win the tournament. Takakeishō was awarded the Outstanding Performance Prize on the final day. In November he again recorded eleven wins, earning two further kinboshi with victories over Harumafuji and Kisenosato and receiving a second consecutive prize for Outstanding Performance. In January 2018 Takakeisho made his san'yaku debut at komusubi, the first member of Takanohana stable to reach this rank since his stablemaster established the stable in February 2004. He fell short with a 5–10 record, and withdrew from the following tournament in March with only three wins due to pain in his right ankle. He returned to the komusubi rank in September 2018 and secured a winning record. Shortly after this tournament his stable was dissolved and he moved to Chiganoura stable, now renamed Tokiwayama stable. First tournament championship and ōzeki promotion The 2018 Kyushu tournament in November saw many withdrawals due to injury (kyūjō). Neither yokozuna Hakuhō nor yokozuna Kakuryū competed. Komusubi Kaisei also withdrew from contention with an injury. Takakeishō started the tournament well going undefeated the first six days including wins over yokozuna Kisenosato on Day 1, and ōzeki Gōeidō on Day 2. He suffered his first loss on Day 7 to sekiwake Mitakeumi. He then proceeded to win the next six days including a win over ōzeki Tochinoshin on Day 9, before suffering his second loss to ōzeki Takayasu on Day 14, with the result that both rikishi entered the final day tied with two losses