 The following year, he defeated "yokozuna" Taihō, scoring the first of his two "kinboshi".He was a runner-up in three top division tournaments, in March 1969, November 1969 and September 1970.His 1970 rise to "sanyaku" was followed by a 1971 torn achilles tendon, as a result of which he missed three successive tournaments and was demoted from "makuuchi" all the way down to the third "makushita" division.