8-7 at jūryō 1in the preceding July tournament. He thus became the second wrestler (after Wakanoyama) to twice achieve the feat of returning to makuuchi after dropping to makushita. Once again he lasted only one tournament back in the top division. He won his second jūryō championship in May 2012 with a score of 12–3 and secured promotion back to makuuchi, but produced his worst performance in the top division to date in the following tournament, winning only two bouts. However, he responded by earning a sixth promotion to the top division for January 2013, but was demoted after only one tournament. After two more tournaments in jūryō he received his seventh promotion to the top division and this time was able to remain there for his longest stint yet of three tournaments before being demoted again. He did not manage to reach makuuchi in 2014 and had an even less successful year in 2015, losing sekitori status after the November 2015 tournament for the first time in five years. He won promotion back to jūryō after the March 2016 tournament. He said that his ambition for the remainder of his career was to earn another kachi-koshi or winning score in the top division, something which he only achieved once, in his makuuchi debut in 2005. However May 2016 turned out to be his final tournament at sekitori level. Retirement from sumo Tamaasuka retired after the September 2016 tournament, after a record of 4-3 at makushita 9. His career record was 580 wins against 569 losses, with 29 absences due to injury. His top division record was 54-109-17. Of his 111 career tournaments 51 were at sekitori level, with 12 in the makuuchi division and 39 in jūryō. He became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association, initially known as Araiso Oyakata. In April 2018 he switched to the Kumagatani name. He works as a coach at Kataonami stable. Fighting style Tamaasuka was proficient in both yotsu-sumo (grappling) and oshi-sumo (pushing and thrusting) techniques. He used oshi techniques at the beginning of a match to set up his preferred yotsu position, a basic sumo style. His favoured grip on his opponent's mawashi was hidari-yotsu, a right hand outside, left hand inside position. His most often used winning kimarite was yori-kiri (force out), followed by oshi-dashi (push out). Personal life Tamaasuka is married with three sons. He has said that he