Female mayor loses fight to speak from sumo ring

男女共同参画局 is the gender equality bureau in the cabinet office. Their role is to coordinate government policies on equality, which is exactly what this situation is.

The “Private entity” excuse doesn’t hold water.

If there are women only train cars there can be male only Sumo rings. Equality

There are all sorts of rules in all religions that don't make sense to outsiders. Appears she is an outsider to not have understood.

But if the location is owned by the govt, does that mean that equal rights are required? If it is private, that's tough for her.

Its sumo. It has this very old tradition. Grandstanding politicians aside, whats the harm?

We may have a female prime minister some day... I want them to think about whether they would hold her back," she said.

NOW THAT I would LOVE to see.

If there are women only train cars there can be male only Sumo rings.

I tend to agree. It's ridiculous and pathetic that sumo still has these rules, but it's also a free country. Rather than demand change, if this bothers people, simply stop attending sumo tournaments. They will eventually get the message. Likewise, those who pay for NHK should demand that NHK stop broadcasting sumo. Nobody should be forced to pay for something that discriminates against them.

Sumo is a scandal ridden sewer of a sport anyway. It needs a serious overhaul.

If there are women only train cars there can be male only Sumo ring

Because sumo wrestler are prime victims of groping...

Two sides to this, change is just not going to happen old men don't adjust so well. So the flip side ignore them let them beat each other sence less. And die out naturally. To survive at all requires tax exemption and NHK broadcasting. It's not a "sport" it's a ritual apparently that is above social norms.

Female sumo wrestlers next.

old world misogyny, it's tradition

It’s an old Japanese tradition to not allow females to speak and it should be reconsidered.

Sumo is a scandal ridden sewer of a sport anyway. It needs a serious overhaul.

Women are traditionally banned from sumo rings, which are sacred spaces in the Shinto religion from which the sport emerged, because they are considered "ritually unclean".

Who is unclean? It's a male run sport that has committed all the assaults corruption and scandals while its reputation goes down in flames, and Shinto priests are perfectly fine with that because of their tax exemption.

More to do with the size of their wallet than any pretend piety

Reading that the ban on female Shinto priests was lifted in 1945. Are they any today? Seems a simple enough task to have any purity rite done by both. It would solve the problem

Or are spirits only male?

Message to Madam Mayor: ban sumo events from your city. Case closed.

This is something for the Sumo association to work out, not the government. They are a private entity so no government interference.

Although I think it’s probably time to allow women to enter the ring

Do The Rite Thing. Add a woman Shinto priest to the default-settings

As domtoidi clearly pointed out - the govt cannot wipe their hands of this using the argument, " it's a private entity."

Gender (in)equality, so we are lead to believe , is one of the govts leading social reform agendas, and the govt through it's equality agency by definition and law must act on cases of discrimination. If not to act on, at least in the first instance, they must make a comment, as they are the legal representatives of the people and their rights.

Hiding behind "it's private" is beyond weak. Most of the dealings with the agency are with "private entities", whether they  be trading companies, train companies, banks, bookstores, sports groups or any of millions of other businesses. Sumo is no different.

What happened to Abe Incs "Womenomics"? I believe his and the govts official slogan was -

SHINE  ―全ての女性が輝く日本へー　SHINE - for All Women to Shine in Japan. 

A society where all Women can Shine.

This message was repeated by him on stage recently at the World Assembly for Women in Tokyo last November 2017. 

So it's all ok to get international applause when it suits, but when a "Real Life" situation evolves, and his conservative support base may get their noses out of joint - it's No Comment.

This case of the women "intruding" on sacred male space, surely sends a very mixed message out to all citizens, and the govt needs to step up and enter the discussion if it really values women as equal beings.

Female Mayor removes Sumo Ring.....

Absolutely no reason to drag other countries in to this, it's a Japanese problem. That needs a Japanese solution. A panel of experts should be formed and given an open end time limit to decide that another panel should be conviened to discuss this anomaly. Resulting in a begrudgingly phasing in of change by 3000ad.

But the government declined to comment Friday, citing the sumo association's status as a "private entity".

BULL, the Sumo association falls under the jurisdiction of MEXT and sumo is partially funded with tax money as well.

Traditions change. It's time to respect women, in the workplace, in sport, in all walks of life.

This isn't the middle ages anymore.

I actually do support this decision. The sumo association is a private entity, and as such can decide on these matters. I'm sure not many people know, but females are banned from entering various places in EU, specifically some Ortodox Christian monasteries, etc... These are also privately owned, so there's nothing the state could, or should do.

On Japan there are female only train cars. There can be male only sumo rings as well.

ebisen - i think you missed the point most are trying to make. I won't identify it for you.

And what customs an orthodox monastery in Europe has bears little relevance to the current situation.

Sumo is a public event, sponsored by major companies and govt bodies.

They just need to start a female sumo organization. I'd go and watch.

It’s tradition, deal with it.

Excellent point. Only a couple of centuries or so ago Japanese who left Japan and then returned were killed. Plus, foreigners who dared enter the sacred ground that is Japan were also killed. But, hey, it’s tradition. Deal with it. i.e. I’m a foreigner, I should be killed. My wife left Japan and returned; she should also be killed. Deal with it. No Change is Possible! Never!

browny, I think you and others also missed my point as well... It's a tradition that should not be changed as politicians that come and go wish.

It's stupid comparing "women are not allowed on the ring" with "get out of Japan and get killed on return", or "be a foreigner and get castrated" (taking artistic liberties here).

If she wants so badly to step on a sumo ring, she should make her own, female sumo championship, and step on it as her hearth wishes...

Excellent point. Only a couple of centuries or so ago Japanese who left Japan and then returned were killed. Plus, foreigners who dared enter the sacred ground that is Japan were also killed. But, hey, it’s tradition. Deal with it. i.e. I’m a foreigner, I should be killed. My wife left Japan and returned; she should also be killed. Deal with it. No Change is Possible! Never!

Aye. Japan's not the only country that has traditions. Some that were changed and some that remain.

When it comes to excluding women and treating them as less than equal, unclean and so on, you sometimes have to pinch yourself and ask what century we're living in.

I say this as someone who enjoys sumo. It won't be the end of the sport if they ease up a bit on the misogyny.

This is a tradition, she shouldn't be trying to stir the pot. All people should respect traditions, especially a mayor

I decree that the sumo ring be split in half with one half given to each sex.

I do not want to interfere with Japans ancient traditions, but banning a nurse dealing with a medical emergency flies in the face of all common sense.

Since its a religious event, they should not charge spectators a fee for watching. A donation jar may be used after the "service."

The sumo association is a private entity, and as such can decide on these matters.

THe sumo association falls under MEXT so technically speaking they are NOT a private entity. In fact the sumo association receives tax money as well, so, connect the dots!

Women used to be banned from mountain climbing in Japan--e.g., from Mt. Fiji or Mt. Hiei. Now we are allowed to go there. The religious banning in that case was a conviction that the deity of the mountain, being female, might get jealous and harm the ladies. The notion of uncleanness is slightly different. Yet, I do not think it should be dismissed out of hand as ancient and THEREFORE to be discarded. It is not an insulting reference to untidiness or anything like that. It is rather a nod to the power female reproductive capacities. The very holiness of woman's birthing power in religions that revere fertility may set special limits to the entrance of these very women into sacred space right after birth and at certain other times or, in some cases, at all. If we have lost this sense of conflicting powers of creativity/reproduction/holiness, we are like tone-deaf people judging a song fest if we dismiss this limitation as "superstitious" and irrational.

I personally feel that if the Sumo board of directors wants to ban the mayor based on gender, then the retaliation is simple.

Tell the Sumo board to piss off to another town.

Why does the speech need to be within the ring? Have non sumos stand outside the ring and make their speech. And if anything is dirty, it's sumo.

If I were her I would have stepped in anyway

Takarazuka is famous girls opera. The city does not get rid of male tourists. There are male only and female only events in Japan. Sumo-tori is man.Takarazuka acters. are all young girls.

@ Christina Tsuchida

Amen. Thx for your contribution :)

It is natural that women with medical qualifications rise to the sumo ring to save lives, but this mayor confuses tradition with women discrimination.Sumo originally started as a religious rite.There are various theories why women can not go up to the sumo ring, but all of which are unrelated to women discrimination (there was also a women's sumo competition in the past). In the prevailing theory it is because the god who is responsible for the grain richness is an woman, and she gets angry when other women go up to the ring. In other word,originally the rite was held for the female god.In Takarazuka city, there is a very popular show company named Takarazuka Revue Company where actresses play all roles, and no male actors are allowed to play on the stage. Normal people take it tradition, and accept it, but as mayor Nakagawa calls sumo women discrination, she should stop male discrimination being carried out in her city to be fair enough.