post injury debut and narrowly losing the sandanme championship in a playoff loss to his upperclassman from his former university, Chiyozakura. In the following tournament, on his re-promotion to makushita he would top this feat, posting 6 straight wins after losing his first bout, and going on to take the championship after a 4-man playoff. After two more convincing kachi-koshi tournaments in makushita he was back in jūryō, the division in which he had only fought two bouts. Undeterred by his first brush with bad luck at this level, he posted an 11–4 record and beat Masunoyama in a playoff for the championship. In his second full tournament at jūryō Myōgiryū racked up an even more convincing 13–2 record and a consecutive championship. This would secure his entry into the top division in the 2011 November tournament. Coincidentally, he entered in the same tournament as senior wrestler Tsurugidake who 8 years before had entered sumo under the same ring name of Miyamoto, the surname they share. Myōgiryū managed a winning record of 10–5 and advanced in makuuchi to maegashira 5 for the January 2012 tournament. He produced another strong performance there, scoring 9–6 and winning his first sanshō or special prize, for Technique. He won his second Technique Award in the May tournament. In the following July tournament he made his san'yaku debut at the rank of komusubi, and came through with a winning record and his third Technique Award. He was promoted to sekiwake for the September tournament, the second from his stable to reach sumo's third highest rank after Gōeidō. He won ten bouts and his fourth Technique Prize in the last five tournaments. After a losing record in November Myōgiryū was ranked at maegashira 1 for the January 2013 tournament. He earned his first kinboshi for a yokozuna upset by defeating Hakuhō on Day 3, but missed out on a special prize as he could only finish with a losing record of 7–8. In May he defeated another yokozuna, Harumafuji, and two ōzeki, and was rewarded with his fifth Technique prize for the tournament after a strong 11–4 score. His success continued, with two sekiwake appearances in the following July and September tournaments. He would fall back to maegashira 1 in November 2013, but a winning tournament would put him back in san'yaku at komusubi for the January 2014 tournament. He lost his first four bouts in