Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, is confronting an unexpected dilemma: whether she will be allowed to enter the country’s most sacred sporting arena – the sumo ring – to present the winner’s trophy that bears her office’s name.
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Just days before the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament opens on Sunday in Fukuoka, the all-male Japan Sumo Association (JSA) is reportedly weighing what to do if Takaichi wishes to perform the long-standing prime ministerial duty of handing over the Prime Minister’s Cup on the final day.
The ceremony is routine for her predecessors. But the idea of a woman setting foot on the dohyo, or clay ring, defies a centuries-old Shinto taboo that bars females from what is considered a purified, male-only space.
Sumo’s rituals – from the throwing of salt to purify the ring to the ceremonial stomping before a bout – reflect Shinto notions of spiritual cleanliness that have also been used to justify barring women from the ring. While female wrestlers compete in amateur tournaments, professional sumo has never permitted them into the ring, even for ceremonial purposes.
That prohibition, once rarely questioned, is now colliding with Japan’s political reality under Takaichi, who has shattered the country’s highest glass ceiling but must still navigate one of its oldest traditions.
“It is a difficult situation because the sumo association should, on the face of it, permit the prime minister to award the Prime Minister’s Cup,” said Megumi Komori, a campaigner with the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism.