Japan elected its first female prime minister last month. But, despite becoming the country’s most powerful person, there is one place Sanae Takaichi is not expected to tread — inside a sumo ring.
Professional sumo, the national sport of Japan, is steeped in ritual, tradition and, critics say, gender discrimination — because the sumo ring, a clay platform encircled by rice-straw bales, is considered a sacred space where women are prohibited to enter.
Despite being considered a religious space in Japan’s Indigenous faith, outsiders have entered the sumo ring before — including President Donald Trump, who entered the ring in 2019 to present a trophy.
Now, with Japan being led by Takaichi, the issue of women being barred from the sumo ring has become a hot topic of discussion again — particularly as the sport’s final major competition of the year, the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament, is underway, with the Prime Minister’s Cup due to be awarded to the top-division champion on Sunday.
The trophy is awarded inside the sumo ring or “dohyo,” and while it is typically presented by a high-level dignitary on behalf of the prime minister, some past prime ministers have opted to present the cup personally.
While Takaichi may have broken Japan’s glass ceiling, the prime minister — a security hawk known as a “Japan First” nationalist, who calls former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher her role model — is not expected to argue the case for her entering the sumo ring.
“Takaichi will not go up — never,” Hidenori Ukai, chief priest at Shokakuji Temple and visiting religious studies professor at Taisho University, said in an interview. “She’s conservative, traditionally minded … reviving religious or ideological debates wouldn’t benefit her politically.”
Asked during a news conference whether Takaichi would present the trophy, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters that no decision had been made, but that Takaichi “values Japan’s sumo culture and wishes to preserve its traditional aspects” — words widely taken as an indication that she has no desire to step into the sumo ring.
Asked by The Post whether they would consider changing their policy in light of Japan being led by a female prime minister, the Japan Sumo Association, which operates and controls professional sumo, said it was “committed to preserving and carrying on the traditional culture of professional sumo.”
Ukai noted that Takaichi is not seen as “a gender advocate — rather the opposite.” For example, Takaichi has opposed allowing married couples to use different last names, and has fought against allowing members of the imperial family’s maternal line to ascend the throne.
Despite this, some women have argued Takaichi should take the opportunity to push for an end to women being excluded from the sumo ring.
“I see the issue of women and the sumo ring as part of the larger struggle against gender inequality in our society,” Tomoka Nakagawa, a former mayor of Takarazuka City who was prohibited from entering the ring during a 2018 promotional event, told the Japan Times. She said she hoped the national debate around Takaichi’s decision would push sumo — and the country — in a more progressive direction.
And the Japan Sumo Association has come under fire for its exclusion of women before.
In 1990, Japan’s first female chief cabinet secretary, Mayumi Moriyama, sparked national debate when she requested and was denied the opportunity to present the Prime Minister’s Cup on the dohyo — a decision she described as “discriminatory,” Japanese media reported.
And in 2018, a sumo judge repeatedly asked female nurses to “leave the ring” while administering first aid to a mayor who collapsed while giving a speech — an incident that drew widespread global criticism. The Sumo Association later apologized, saying the announcements were “inappropriate” and stated that when it comes to women entering the ring, “exceptions apply in emergencies.”
Ukai said that sumo’s exclusion of women stems from the fact the sport originated in Shintoism, the Indigenous faith of Japan, more than 1,500 years ago as a ritual to pray for good harvest. In Shintoism, where death and blood are taboo, women were considered impure (“kegare”) due to menstruation and bleeding during childbirth and were banned from sacred settings, Ukai said, while wrestlers were likened to gods.
Driven by the need to modernize and open up to foreign influences, the Meiji government lifted the ban on women in sacred spaces in 1872. But some temples, mountains and traditional professions, such as Kabuki theater, continue to practice female exclusion, and the Sumo Association is no exception.
In 2019, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was joined by President Trump at the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo, where he presented the champion with a custom-made trophy featuring an eagle — dubbed the “President’s Cup.”
One widely shared article in the Japanese media at the time accused the Sumo Association of hypocrisy and “anachronistic traditions” in prohibiting women from the dohyo while allowing Trump to sit on a seat and wear slippers in the ring, rather than following sumo custom of sitting on the floor ringside and stepping onto the sacred ring barefoot.
Ukai noted that “sumo is international now,” and various dignitaries have gotten involved in the festivities. As French president, Jacques Chirac, well-known for his sumo obsession, created the “President of the Republic of France Cup” (or the “Chirac Cup”) in 2000, which has since been awarded to sumo champions in Japan. At last year’s New Year Grand Sumo Tournament, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, a Christian, presented the trophy. “They’re not Shinto,” Ukai said. “So why are nonbelievers allowed but women are not?”
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