Yutakayama remained at "ōzeki" for the rest of his career, and was ranked there for 34 tournaments, eighth on the all-time list. He was runner-up on five more occasions, but never won a top division championship. He was perhaps unlucky to be fighting in the same era as the dominant Taihō, whom he was able to beat only four times in 32 meetings. There were a number of other strong "yokozuna" around as well, such as Sadanoyama and Kashiwado, with whom he also had a poor head-to-head record. After finishing as runner-up to Wakanami in March 1968 and Tamanoshima in May, he then had two "make-koshi" (losing scores) in a row, managing only a poor 4–11 record in September. He announced his retirement at the end of that tournament at the age of 31.