He did, however, share this record with his rival, Wakakōyū having lost to him on the final day of the tournament. In February 2012 Aoiyama's stablemaster died and Tagonoura stable was dissolved, with Aoiyama moving to the affiliated Kasugano stable. After an 8–7 score in the March tourney, he reached his highest rank to date of "maegashira" 6 in the May tournament, where he produced a fine 11–4 record. In the July tournament he faced all the top ranked wrestlers for the first time. Although he was 1–6 down after seven days, he recovered to clinch his "kachi-koshi" on the final day. In September he made his "san'yaku" debut at "komusubi", which was just 18 tournaments after his professional debut, the seventh fastest since 1958. However, he could only win four matches. He was forced to withdraw from the November 2012 tournament on Day 9 with a knee injury. He picked up his first "kinboshi" or gold star for defeating "yokozuna" Harumafuji in September 2013. He earned promotion to "sekiwake" with a strong 10–5 performance in September 2014 in which he went 4–3 against wrestlers ranked in the "san'yaku". He then secured a winning record in the subsequent November tournament to remain at "sekiwake" for the start of 2015. A 5–10 record in January 2015 saw him lose his "san'yaku" status was followed by another ten losses in March, but he showed some return to form to post winning records in May and July. Between September 2015 and March 2016 he recorded four consecutive 7–8 records at the top end of the "maegashira" rankings before a 6–9 in May. He remained in the upper-to-mid "maegashira" for the next few tournaments but a 4–11 in May 2017 saw him drop to "maegashira" 8, his lowest rank for three years. Aoiyama responded to the less challenging schedule by producing a career-best performance in July 2017 – he entered the final day as the only wrestler left in a position to deny Hakuhō his 39th championship. He defeated "komusubi" Yoshikaze in his last match but was denied the chance to take part in a play-off for the "yūshō" when Hakuhō also won his final match.