“My parents couldn’t understand why I would want to return,” he said.

Mr. Padilla’s decision comes amid an intense debate in Spain over bullfighting, attacked as a barbaric ritual by animal rights activists but defended by its supporters as a central component of Spanish culture.

His goring, which followed another accident a year before when Julio Aparicio was pierced through the throat, has done little to alter the debate. Mr. Aparicio has also returned to the ring, and Mr. Padilla insisted that his comeback was not about raising the general level of sympathy and admiration for bullfighters.

Mr. Padilla had been wounded before, notably to the neck in 2001 during a fight in Pamplona — although that injury took less than a month to heal. This time, the left side of his face had to be reconstructed with titanium plates and mesh.

“I’m somebody who has always accepted the risks of my profession, as well as its rewards,” he said.

While matadors like Mr. Padilla have been unbending in their commitment to bullfighting, the larger fortunes of the profession have undergone turmoil in the last several years.

Since 2007 and the start of the financial crisis, bullfighting has come under pressure in Spain because of public subsidy cuts, slashing the number of fights by more than a third. Catalonia stopped bullfighting in September, after its regional Parliament voted to ban it.

But in November, the conservative Popular Party, led by Mariano Rajoy, returned to power after almost eight years of Socialist government. Mr. Rajoy is himself an aficionado of the sport and his party has long spearheaded efforts to enshrine bullfighting in the national cultural patrimony.

As evidence of the political swing, Spain’s national television announced last month that it would again show bullfights, after abandoning its coverage in 2006 under the Socialist administration.

“I’m here to promote bullfighting and not to get involved in politics,” Mr. Padilla said, “but it’s obviously good to have a government that defends our interests.”