July 2005 when he injured his right thigh on the second day and missed the rest of the tournament. During his long stay in the top division Tochinonada earned twelve kinboshi or gold stars for defeating yokozuna while ranked as a maegashira, which places him equal second on the all-time list, level with Takamiyama and behind only Akinoshima. His first kinboshi came in January 1998 when he defeated Akebono, and he earned his next three in three successive tournaments from May to September 1998. In November 2003 he defeated two yokozuna on two successive days, and was awarded the Outstanding Performance prize as well. He defeated all the yokozuna he met at least once, with the exception of Hakuhō (his victory over Takanohana was at sekiwake rank, meaning he was not eligible for a gold star on that occasion). His twelfth and final kinboshi came nearly four years after his previous one, in July 2008 against Asashōryū. Although Tochinonada touched the ground first, Asashōryū had already gone out of the ring, and was therefore shini-tai. ' In November 2005 Tochinonada dropped to the juryo division, breaking a run of 52 consecutive tournaments in the top division since his entry in May 1997. However he immediately won the jūryō championship in January 2006 and was promoted straight back. He won his 500th career match in July 2007, producing a strong 10–5 score. He was promoted up the rankings to maegashira 2 in September 2007 and fought his first yokozuna bout since May 2005 when he met Hakuhō on the 4th day. He had a win over ōzeki Kotoōshū but finished the tournament with a 4–11 record. In March 2008 he recovered from losing his first six bouts to win eight in a row and achieve kachi-koshi. He was demoted to the jūryō division for the second time after the September 2009 tournament, and he moved back and forth between the top two divisions a number of times after that. In the January 2011 tournament, Tochinonada managed a 7–0 start after 7 days, his best ever, although he finished on 9–6. Following the retirement of Kaiō in the July 2011 tournament he became the active wrestler with the most wins in the top division (556), but could not avoid demotion to jūryō. In September he recorded his first ever make-koshi in the [jūryō division, scoring only 4–11. Retirement Following a performance with