A Fat Chance, Says Sumo Tradition of Females Inside Ring

A Japanese women’s rights group is asking the question: Why are women excluded from the sumo ring? The answer they’re getting: Because it’s always been that way.

Saying sexism no longer has a place in Japan’s national sport, the Women’s Action Group has challenged the Japan Sumo Assn.

The group is not asking that women be able to wrestle sumo’s giant grapplers, but it only wants to present a “Women Fans’ Award” in ceremonies held in the ring for tournament winners, said member Michiyo Inobe.

But even so much as stepping into the ring is strictly forbidden.

“I don’t know why, it’s just been that way since long, long ago,” said an association official, who spoke on the condition he remain anonymous. “It’s always been against the rules for women to get into the ring, simple as that.”

Inobe said her group of 500 members, mostly women, decided against calling flatly for the rule’s abolition because they were afraid public sentiment could go against them.

“I think it is a kind of miniature of Japanese society in general, but many people in Japan accept sumo as a man’s world, as a special society of its own,” Inobe said. “In the end, though, I hope the rule will be abolished.”

The ban on women is believed to come from beliefs in Shinto, Japan’s native religion, that treat women as impure.

“At the very least, we are more pure than the dirt and straw ring,” a statement from the group said.

The rule became an issue last December when then Chief Cabinet Secretary Mayumi Moriyama informed the sumo association of her intent to present the Prime Minister’s Cup to the winner of the New Year’s Tournament.

Moriyama, a member of Parliament and the first woman ever to hold the important Cabinet post, said she would present the government award from within the ring, not from below.

Sumo officials, however, refused to part with their males-only tradition, saying the sumo ring, a raised mound of clay about 15 feet across, is sacred.

The association also pointed out that the award was generally presented to the winning wrestler not by the chief cabinet secretary but by a non-cabinet level vice minister.

After a flurry of media coverage, Moriyama said she had made her point and dropped the request.