 Ōnokuni missed the following tournament in May due to a fever resulting from a skin infection, and upon his return in July he was defeated four times in the first eight days.He announced his retirement from sumo at the age of just 28 after being beaten by Akinoshima on Day 8, leaving a disappointing record of just one "yūshō" and two runner-up performances in his 23 tournaments at "yokozuna" rank.He never managed to obtain the highest rank on the "banzuke" of Yokozuna East in any of those tournaments.