 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.