in his first tournament in the top division asanoyama was assigned the rank of "maegashira" 16. he stood at only 3–3 after day 6 but then went on a five-match winning streak and was on the leaderboard towards the end of the tournament, trailing gōeidō by just one win on day 13. he finished with a 10–5 record and was awarded the fighting spirit prize. after his final match asanoyama commented, "i have fought with the spirit of a challenger over the 15 days and that has led to my finishing with double figures in wins. i am really happy about that." he was less successful in his second top division tournament, scoring only five wins against ten losses and barely avoiding demotion back to "jūryō." in january 2018 he produced a 9–6 record from the rank of "maegashira" 16. in july he was on the leaderboard for much of the tournament and finished with an 11–4 record and a share of the fighting spirit prize. for the next few tournaments he remained in the middle of the "maegashira" ranks, mostly alternating between 8–7 and 7–8 records.