 After a poor 3–12 showing in January 2007 Rohō was demoted from "komusubi".Back in the mid-"maegashira" ranks for March, he surprisingly failed to achieve a winning tournament, falling to his eighth defeat on the final day.Controversy continued to follow Rohō into the 2007 May tournament, where after a day one loss against Miyabiyama, Rohō claimed that he was not ready to start the bout and that it should have been declared a false start.