in the may 2019 tournament, the first to be held in the reiwa era, he was the sole leader with ten wins and just one loss on day 11. he lost his second bout of the tournament on day 12, but regained the sole lead on day 13 with a controversial win over tochinoshin. he appeared to have hit the ground first, but the judges ruled that tochinoshin’s heel had touched out of bounds. by defeating gōeidō on day 14 he won the tournament after his only challenger kakuryū was defeated by tochinoshin, leaving asanoyama two wins ahead with only one day to go. he was the first wrestler without previous "sanyaku" experience to win a "yūshō" since sadanoyama in 1961. he lost his final day match to mitakeumi to finish on a 12–3 record. in addition to the tournament championship he won special prizes for outstanding performance and fighting spirit and received the inaugural us president’s cup from president donald trump. speaking to reporters the day after his victory asanoyama said that he never imagined he could win the championship within three years of his professional debut but that the next tournament would be different and he would be seeking a winning record. he was the first wrestler from toyama prefecture to win a top division championship in 103 years, and 25,000 people attended a parade in his hometown on june 16. in the july 2019 tournament he just missed out on a "sanyaku" debut, instead being ranked at "maegashira" 1. he fell one win short of his goal of "kachi-koshi" with a 7–8 record. on the fifth day of the september tournament he earned his first "kinboshi" or gold star for a win over a "yokozuna," against kakuryū. he held a share of the tournament lead after day 10, but lost both his bouts on days 11 and 12 and finished with a 10–5 record. he was awarded his second outstanding performance prize, for defeating kakuryū and two "ōzeki".