After some mediocre results he fell back to the makushita division in January 2008 but made an immediate return to jūryō after just one tournament's absence.

His record of 10–5 at the low rank of jūryō 12 would not under normal circumstances have been enough to win promotion, but due to six makuuchi wrestlers (Toyonoshima, Miyabiyama, Toyohibiki, Goeido, Okinoumi and Wakakoyu) being suspended from the tournament because of a baseball betting scandal and being demoted, there were a large number of vacancies on the banzuke for the Sumo Association to fill.

It had taken Kyokunankai 105 tournaments from his professional debut to reach the top division, which is the second slowest in sumo history after fellow Kagoshima Prefecture native Hoshiiwato.

Kyokunankai scored only four wins against eleven losses in his makuuchi debut from the rank of maegashira 16, and was demoted back to jūryō.

On April 28 he was invited by Antonio Inoki of the IGF professional wrestling organization to visit the GENOME 15 event, but he decided not to participate, declaring that he would move to his wife's parents home in Fukuoka.