He eventually managed to return to the "jūryō" division in March 2006, and having fallen to "sandanme" 80, he was the lowest ranking former top division wrestler ever to regain "sekitori" status. He had climbed as high as "jūryō" 4 by the November 2006 tournament. However, he was demoted back to the unsalaried ranks after the September 2007 tournament when he managed only a 3–12 score at "jūryō" 12. He continued to slide down the rankings, with four consecutive "make-koshi" scores of 3–4 from November 2007 to May 2008. After recording only one win in November 2008 he was demoted back to the "sandanme" division for the January 2009 tournament. He made an immediate return to the third division with a 6–1 score.