In March 1996 he produced a poor 3–12 record, and facing certain demotion to "jūryō", he announced his retirement after 21 years in the sport, just short of his 37th birthday. He was the oldest wrestler in any of the professional sumo divisions at the time of his retirement, and was the last active wrestler born in the 1950s. As well as a loss of physical strength and an accumulation of injuries he had lost about 10 kilos in weight since his "ōzeki" days. He at first borrowed his stablemate Terao's Shikoroyama elder name, then when that was needed by the retiring Kotogaume he used Tagaryū's Katsunoura name before securing the Michinoku name and becoming the head of the Michinoku stable in December 1997. He has produced several wrestlers with top division experience, including Jūmonji, Toyozakura and Hakuba. In February 2010 he was elected to the Sumo Association's board of Directors, but was forced to step down from his post in April 2011 when four of his wrestlers (Jūmonji, Toyozakura, Hakuba and Kirinowaka) were ordered to retire after being found guilty of match-fixing. The stable absorbed Izutsu stable, Kirishima's old "heya", in October 2019.