Ōuchiyama's ōzeki career began well, with a memorable bout on the final day of the May 1955 tournament against Tochinishiki which went to a re-match, and an 11–4 record in the September 1955 tournament won by his stablemate Kagamisato. However he injured his foot in January 1956 and was also hampered by acromegaly and diabetes. He managed to stay at ōzeki for only eight tournaments in total, as two consecutive make-koshi or losing scores saw him demoted from the rank after the January 1957 tournament. He was unfortunate in that the tournament in which he was kadoban he had to withdraw shortly before his match on Day 5 due to injuring his knee doing shiko stamps in the training area. He was the only yokozuna or ōzeki since 1950 to have won only one sanshō in his career – the Outstanding Performance prize in the tournament that led to his promotion. He did not get a Fighting Spirit Prize in March 1953 despite a 12–3 record as a maegashira. This was because the makuuchi division was a great deal larger in his time and maegashira wrestlers fought largely amongst themselves and did not face yokozuna or ōzeki. There was also no sharing of prizes amongst more than one wrestler in those days.
