Chiyotaikai Ryūji Kokonoe stable until his retirement in January 2010 at the age of 33. He remained in sumo as a coach at his stable, and became the head coach in August 2016 following the death of Chiyonofuji. After his father's death, Chiyotaikai's family moved to Ōita, which is considered his hometown and listed as such on the "banzuke" ranking sheets. When he was eleven, his mother remarried, to a local businessman. (In May 2009, Chiyotaikai finally adopted his mother's remarried surname of Sudō as his own.) He was an enthusiastic player of baseball and soccer as well as martial arts. He
Chiyotaikai Ryūji and sat out the regional tour in April due to a fractured rib. In September 2009 Chiyotaikai withdrew from the tournament after suffering eight defeats in the first ten days. He had an injury to his left knee in addition to his elbow problem, and commented, "I have no power to fight once I get in the ring." "Kadoban" for the fourteenth time in the Kyushu tournament in November, he won his first two bouts but then lost eight in a row, his demotion from "ōzeki" being confirmed on Day 10 when he was lifted out by Asashōryū. He withdrew