Sumo tournaments have always been great spectacles: the Shinto ritual, the colourful parades of wrestlers, the face-offs and, after 15 days of gruelling bouts, the trophy presentation. But when the annual Osaka tournament begins next Sunday, some will wonder whether Sumo’s traditions are threatening its future. Sumo tournaments have always been great spectacles: the Shinto ritual, the colourful parades of wrestlers, the face-offs and, after 15 days of gruelling bouts, the trophy presentation. But when the annual Osaka tournament begins next Sunday, some will wonder whether Sumo’s traditions are threatening its future.
One of Sumo’s less likeable traditions is that, because women are deemed to be “unclean”, they may not enter the dohyo, the sacred ring where wrestlers grapple.The rule was challenged this year when Fusae Ota, the newly elected governor of Osaka, declared that at the March tournament she would fulfil the gubernatorial duty of presenting the trophy to the champion This involves stepping into the dohyo. A tense stand-off ended last week when the sport’s ruling body, the Japan Sumo Association, prevailed on Ms Ota to respect its traditions and send a male representative this time. But the issue will return next year.Ms Ota’s climbdown has left many women disappointed. “She should have told them that if she couldn’t give the prize herself no one would,” said Kiyomi Tsujimoto, an MP from the opposition Social Democratic Party.But Ms Ota has never been a radical feminist.

As her spokesman put it: “It’s not so much that the governor wants to step into the dohyo as a woman. It’s that, as governor, she wants to hand over the governor’s prize.” Ms Ota’s most notable contribution to women’s rights is that she is a senior politician and Japan’s first female governor in a country where female graduates can still end up serving the tea at work. Japan’s political parties have done little to improve the overall position of women.However, the main object of women’s anger is the Sumo Association. “They argue that it’s about tradition, but it’s based on the idea that women are unclean,” says Ms Tsujimoto. “There are good and bad traditions and the Association should change the bad ones.”The Sumo Association denies sexism “We’re protecting a traditional culture.

We’ve inherited it and it’s our job to pass it on to the next generation. Sumo is ancient and Japanese,” said a spokesman.Many Japanese, however, see it as an anachronistic and secretive male organisation. Polls showed Ms Ota had more popular backing than the Association – overwhelmingly so among the young Even many male Sumo fans disagree with the ban on women. “The dohyo used to be surrounded by pillars and that was a tradition. But they got rid of them because people said they blocked the view.