He would struggle for a year and a half in sandanme but on his promotion to the third division makushita in January 2011 he found his stride, taking mostly winning tournaments.

In the subsequent January 2012 tournament, he would repeat exactly the same feat, a 3-man makushita playoff, only losing the final bout to future top division wrestler Jōkōryū, then known as Sakumayama.

His first promotion to the top division makuuchi in May 2013 would be short lived, as he managed only a 6–9 record at maegashira 14 and was relegated back to jūryō.

He slowly moved up the rankings and had reached maegashira 4 by September 2016, but withdrew with a recurrence of an old knee injury on Day 11, having already lost nine of his first ten bouts.

After three consecutive scores of 7–8 he missed the November 2017 tournament with his medical certificate citing a right shoulder dislocation and an anterior cruciate ligament injury to his left knee.

He produced a 4–3 record at the rank of Makushita 1 West in November 2019, which returned him to the jūryō division for the first time in two years.

[5] Chiyoōtori's retirement ceremony was held inside a hall at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan on 5 October 2022.

[7] Like his brother, Chiyoōtori favoured pushing and thrusting techniques (tsuki/oshi) over those that involve grabbing the opponent's mawashi or belt.

Yori-kiri (force out) and oshi-dashi (push out), the two most common kimarite in sumo, account for sixty percent of his career wins.

[9] Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: ★=Kinboshi; P=Playoff(s) Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi