 Once again he was denied a "san'yaku" debut, with the "komusubi" positions going to Kakuryū and Tochiōzan, and was ranked at "maegashira" 1 for the fourth time in the May 2009 tournament.However, he performed very badly in May, losing his first fourteen matches before managing a solitary win on the final day.He recovered to score 10-5 in July.