 In his "jūryō" debut he managed only five wins against ten losses, his first-ever "make-koshi", or losing score, and was demoted.However, he returned to the second division in May 2007 and three solid performances of 10–5, 8–7 and 10–5 earned him promotion to the top "makuuchi" division in November 2007.He was the sixth-youngest wrestler to reach "makuuchi" in the modern era.