Kokonoe stable
Kitanofuji remained in the Japan Sumo Association after his retirement, initially under the name of Izutsu. Shortly after retiring he branched out and set up his own Izutsu stable. In 1977, however, he became head of the Kokonoe stable of wrestlers following Chiyonoyama's death, and merged his stable back into Kokonoe. He gave the Izutsu name to former "sekiwake" Tsurugamine and adopted the Kokonoe name. During his tenure as head of Kokonoe stable both Chiyonofuji and Hokutoumi reached the rank of "yokozuna", and he produced a number of other top division wrestlers such as Takanofuji and Tomoefuji. He handed over control of the stable to Chiyonofuji in April 1992, but he remained an "oyakata" under the name Jinmaku. In September 1993 he left Kokonoe stable and joined his former wrestler Hokutoumi’s newly established Hakkaku stable. In February 1998 he failed to be re-elected to the Sumo Association's Board of Directors, and citing the lack of support from his fellow "oyakata" in the Takasago "ichimon" or group of stables, he decided to leave the organisation several years before the mandatory retirement age. However, he still often appears on television as a sumo analyst for NHK. In 2002, he performed his "kanreki dohyō-iri" or '60th year ring entrance ceremony' to commemorate his years as "yokozuna". In January 2017 he took a break from sumo commentary in order to recuperate from heart surgery.