In 2000 he moved to Michinoku stable when his old "heya" was closed down upon the retirement of its stablemaster. After over nine years in the unsalaried apprentice ranks, he finally became a "sekitori" for the first time in November 2002 upon promotion to the second highest "jūryō" division. He could only manage a 5-10 score in that tournament and was demoted back to the "makushita" division. He finally managed a return to "jūryō" in September 2005, after nearly three years away, and slowly moved up the division until an 8-7 score at "jūryō" 1 in July 2006 saw him promoted to the top "makuuchi" division. It took him 81 tournaments from his professional debut to reach "makuuchi", which at the time was the tenth slowest since the introduction of the six tournaments a year system in 1958.