This success would have allowed him to enter professional sumo at a higher rank (known as makushita tsukedashi) but he chose to give priority to graduating, and passed up this chance.

Upon graduating he joined Kitanoumi stable, adopting the shikona of Sakumayama Takayuki (佐久間山 貴之) to distinguish himself from an active wrestler who already had the surname Sakuma.

He won his first tournament championship or yūshō in the jonokuchi division with a perfect record and a playoff win against stablemate and fellow rising star Sasanoyama [ja].

After a 10–5 score in July, he won promotion to the makuuchi division by clinching the jūryō championship in September with a playoff win over Ikioi.

In the July 2014 tournament he had his best finish in the top division at 10–5, which earned him promotion to the san'yaku ranks for the first time at komusubi for September.

In January 2015 he suffered an injury to his right knee in a bout against Endō but continued to fight and picked up his first kinboshi or gold star for the defeat of a yokozuna, upsetting Harumafuji on Day 7.

Although he returned to the top division in January 2016 he was not fully healed and he was forced to withdraw after only two wins because of ligament damage to the same knee that he had injured a year earlier.

He was forced to withdraw with a foot injury on Day 14 of the January 2019 tournament, and with only five wins he was demoted back to the makushita division.

After six consecutive losing records in the makushita division, Jōkōryū announced his retirement after his sixth loss in the September 2022 tournament.

A this occasion, he declared he aimed to become a high school teacher through a correspondence course at Nihon University, with the goal to develop amateur sumo in the future.

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