corrective surgery in December 2005. He had not fully recovered from either his injury or his surgery by the January 2006 tournament but felt he had to compete to try to prevent demotion to the unsalaried makushita division. However, in the event he withdrew once again after losing his first two bouts. He largely remained in the third division for the next three years. In May 2008 he won his second makushita division championship, once more with a perfect 7-0 record. This performance returned him to the sekitori ranks for the first time since November 2006. His return was not successful however, as he could only manage a 5-10 score at jūryō 13. He returned to the jūryō division once again for the November 2008 tournament; a 6-1 score at the rank of makushita 4 elevating him to jūryō 8. Although he turned in 5-10 again, it was enough on this occasion to keep him in the division. However a further 5-10 score in January 2009 saw him demoted once again. He scored 6-1 in March 2009, losing a playoff for the makushita division championship, which was enough for an immediate return to jūryō. In May 2009 he not only made his first kachi-koshi at a sekitori rank in nearly four years but won his first jūryō championship with a 12-3 record. He followed up with another strong 11-4 record in July 2009, ensuring himself of a return to the top division for the first time in nearly four years. The 23 tournaments it took him to win back promotion is the fifth longest ever, behind Satoyama, Wakanoyama, Daihi and Daizen. In the September 2009 tournament, fighting from the maegashira 13 ranking, he recovered from 3-9 to win his last three matches and stay in the top division. He was forced to withdraw from the following tournament in November, his first absence since January 2006, after injuring his right ankle and he fell back to jūryō as a result. He won promotion back to the top division for July 2010 after a 10-5 score in May, but could manage only five wins on his return. Two poor performances of 5-10 and 4-11 saw him demoted to makushita for the first time since January 2009 after the November 2010 tournament, but he won promotion back to the sekitori ranks immediately. In September 2011 Tamaasuka was promoted back to makuuchi after scoring