Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is planning to skip the award ceremony for the winning sumo wrestler at the New Year’s tournament, as the ring is traditionally off-limits to women, a government source said Monday.
The decision by Takaichi, a conservative who became the country’s first female prime minister last year, reflects her wish to uphold the Japanese traditional culture of sumo, according to the source. The ban on women entering the ring, however, has drawn criticism that it is discriminatory.
It is customary for the prime minister to award the Prime Minister’s Cup to the winners of the New Year’s and summer sumo tournaments at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan arena.
During the November Kyushu tournament last year, Takaichi, who was traveling abroad at the time, sent close aide Takahiro Inoue to present the cup to champion and Ukrainian sensation Aonishiki.
She is similarly expected to designate a representative for the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament, which ends on Jan. 25, the source said.
“The prime minister wants to respect the traditional culture of sumo,” a government official said.
The ban on women from entering the ring, deemed a sacred place for male wrestlers, has come under fire over the years. Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Mayumi Moriyama in 1990 and former Osaka Gov Fusae Ota in 2000 previously expressed their desire to present the trophy to the tournament winner, but the Japan Sumo Association expressed reservations.
The restriction was further scrutinized in April 2018 when women who had climbed into the ring to administer first aid to a then-mayor who had collapsed were told by an official to get off the dohyo.
The Japan Sumo Association said in a written statement to Kyodo News, “We will continue to preserve traditional culture.”
