Takamiyama's goal had always been to fight until the age of forty, but a serious elbow injury sustained in November 1983 caused him to fall to "jūryō", and in May 1984, facing certain demotion to the third "makushita" division, he announced his retirement after twenty years in sumo. He was just a few weeks short of his fortieth birthday. He became a member of the Japan Sumo Association, with the name "Azumazeki". To do so he had taken Japanese citizenship in 1980 and adopted the Japanese name Daigoro Watanabe, his wife's family name.