He had loved sumo since elementary school and had the full support of his parents in turning professional, although his father wished him to complete his education first.

He returned to the makuuchi division for the next tournament, however, and results of 11–4 and 10–5 in May and July saw him rewarded with two special prizes for Fighting Spirit and Technique and promotion to komusubi, his highest rank so far.

He missed four days of the November 2009 tournament, producing only a 7-5-3 record, and a 4–11 score in January 2010 sent him towards the bottom of the jūryō division.

[2] To make matters even worse for him, he was suspended for the July 2010 tournament (along with about a dozen other wrestlers) after admitting involvement in illegal betting on baseball.

[1] Coming from Tensui village, he had wanted to use the kanji "ten", so his father combined "futen", meaning "everything in the universe", with "teno", from a traditional story about a boy who works hard to protect a mountain.

It had been thought that he would taker over the running of that stable when its head coach, former sekiwake Masudayama, reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 in April 2016, but the job went to the former komusubi Takamisugi instead.

Futen'ō had a straightforward fighting style, winning nearly 60 percent of his matches by yori-kiri or force out, the most common technique in sumo.

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