toyohibiki produced a strong 11–4 record on his debut in "makuuchi" and was awarded the fighting spirit prize. he was one of seven wrestlers who nhk commentator shuhei nagao (the former mainoumi) in 2008 called the "seven samurai" and identified as "holding the key" to a japanese resurgence in sumo, which was dominated by foreigners in the top ranks. (the others were his stablemate gōeidō, kisenosato, kotoshogiku, homasho, toyonoshima and tochiozan). in the next four tournaments after his top division debut, he did not manage a majority of wins against losses. his 5–10 score in the march 2008 tournament, after losing to his first seven opponents, sent him to the bottom of "makuuchi" and placed him in danger of demotion from the top division altogether. in may 2008 he won six of his first seven bouts and though he stumbled rather through the rest of the tournament he did finally record a winning score of 8–7. in july 2008 he was on the tournament leaderboard into the second week and finished on 10–5, winning his second fighting spirit prize. in november 2008 he reached his highest rank to date of "maegashira" 2, but he had to sit out the tournament due to a detached retina in his left eye.