Japan has reached a historic milestone with Sanae Takaichi becoming the nation's first female prime minister, yet she faces an unexpected barrier that highlights the country's ongoing struggle with gender equality. Despite holding the nation's highest political office and representing Japan on the global stage, Takaichi remains barred from entering one of Japan's most iconic cultural spaces: the sacred sumo wrestling ring.
The Dohyo Dilemma: Tradition Versus Progress
The recent Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament in Fukuoka concluded with Ukrainian wrestler Danylo Yavhusishyn, competing under his Japanese ring name Aonishiki Arata, receiving the Prime Minister's Cup inside the ring. Takaichi missed this ceremony as she attended the G20 summit in Johannesburg, but the question remains whether she will eventually challenge the long-standing prohibition against women entering the dohyo.
The sumo ring represents more than just a sports arena in Japanese culture. Its origins trace back to Shinto, Japan's indigenous belief system, where early sumo bouts served as rituals for kami (spirits) with prayers for good harvests. The elevated clay platform, marked by a circle of rice-straw bales, is considered a pure sanctuary separate from the impure everyday world.
Hidenori Ukai, chief priest at Shokakuji Temple and religious studies professor at Taisho University, explains the historical religious context: "In Shintoism, where death and blood are taboo, women were considered impure because of menstruation and bleeding during childbirth and were banned from sacred settings." This religious framework has persisted even as sumo evolved into a modern national sport with imperial patronage and commercial appeal.
Historical Challenges and Modern Controversies
The ban on women entering the sumo ring has faced numerous challenges over decades. In 1978, Mayumi Moriyama, then a senior bureaucrat at the labour ministry, protested when the Japan Sumo Association prevented a girl who won a local qualifying event from competing in the final because it was held on a real dohyo. Later, as Japan's first female Chief Cabinet Secretary in 1990, Moriyama requested permission to present the Prime Minister's Cup in the ring but was refused.
The most dramatic confrontation occurred in 2018 in Maizuru when female medical professionals rushed to aid a collapsed mayor on the dohyo. Announcements repeatedly ordered them to "leave the ring," and sumo officials later performed purification rituals by scattering salt. The international backlash prompted the Association to form an expert panel to review the exclusion rule, though seven years later, no decision has been announced.
Tomoko Nakagawa, former mayor of Takarazuka, experienced similar exclusion when she was barred from stepping onto the dohyo to give a speech. She now frames the issue broadly: "I see the issue of women and the sumo ring as part of the larger struggle against gender inequality in our society."
Political Realities and Cultural Hypocrisy
Takaichi's political positioning complicates the situation. Described as a staunch conservative who supports traditional family values and opposes married couples having separate surnames, she appears unlikely to challenge the sumo establishment. Her Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara recently stated that Takaichi "values Japan's sumo culture and wishes to preserve its traditional aspects," signaling she probably won't demand entry to the ring.
The Japan Sumo Association maintains that the rule isn't rooted in Shinto notions of female impurity. Chairman Nobuyoshi Hakkaku stated in 2018: "We have consistently denied sexist intentions. The rule that makes the dohyo a serious battleground for men is only natural for wrestlers."
Historical evidence contradicts the notion that women have always been excluded from sumo. Seventh-century documents record female court members performing sumo at an emperor's request, and sixteenth-century texts refer to female sumo wrestlers, suggesting the current prohibition may be more recent than claimed.
The Association's consistency has been questioned when foreign male leaders received special treatment. In 2019, President Donald Trump walked into the ring to present the "President's Cup," sitting on a chair while wearing slippers rather than following traditional protocols. Former French president Jacques Chirac created his own trophy in 2000 that continues to be presented to champions.
Priest Hidenori Ukai highlights the inconsistency: "They're not Shinto. So why are nonbelievers allowed but women are not?"
The Future of Tradition in Modern Japan
The question will resurface at the upcoming New Year Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo, where Takaichi must decide how to handle the Prime Minister's Cup presentation. She could follow precedent by sending a male representative, present the trophy from outside the ring, or make history by stepping onto the clay platform.
The stakes extend far beyond a single ceremony. For traditionalists, the sumo ring represents a last bastion of Japanese cultural purity. For progressives, it symbolizes the country's struggle to reconcile ancient traditions with modern values of gender equality.
As Japan has lifted historical bans on women accessing sacred mountains like Mount Fuji and numerous shrines, the sumo ring remains one of the few explicitly male-only spaces in Japanese public life. The spectacle of Japan's first female prime minister watching from the margins while male foreign leaders comfortably enter the sacred space continues to raise uncomfortable questions about tradition, equality, and cultural evolution in contemporary Japan.
