#Mma commentator for japan wrestleimg professional

She says traditional women’s sumo wasn’t just a form of entertainment but highlighted a belief in the wrestler’s superwoman-like qualities. Sumo wrestlers try to push each other out of the ring or 'dohyo' during a training session at a stable in Tokyo. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/AFP via Getty Imagesĭespite the barriers, women’s sumo has been around since the sport’s early days, according to Eiko Kaneda, a professor at the Nippon Sport Science University in Tokyo, Japan.įor instance, in the second-oldest book of Japanese history called “the Chronicles of Japan,” an eighth-century account describes how Emperor Yuuryaku called on minor female officials to perform sumo, Kaneda writes in a study published in the International Journal of the History of Sport.Ī well-known literary work known as the “Ukiyo-zoushi” published in the Edo era (1603 to 1867) even alludes to a sumo bout between a woman and a blind man.Īnd though women’s sumo was briefly banned in 1873, it was revived a few years later and even went global in the 1930s when an event geared to show off female sumo wrestlers’ strength went to Hawaii in the 1930s, according to Kaneda. Sumo wrestler Tochinoshin of Georgia (right) battles Takayasu of Japan (left) during the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo on May 26, 2019. Women can’t enter this ring as they are considered impure in Shinto belief because they menstruate. The actual bouts often last mere seconds, and much of the time, the two wrestlers face off in the dohyo – a raised clay dais. A practice exclusively for men and traditionally performed at shrines in Japan to pray for bountiful harvests, the sport’s rigid ceremony has remained largely unchanged for centuries.

#Mma commentator for japan wrestleimg professional

Professional sumo or Ozumo is an ancient practice dating back over 1,500 years. Many read the incident as a reflection of the treatment of women in patriarchal Japan, which is ranked 120 out of 156 countries in the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Gender Gap Index.ĭespite the challenges, experts say changing attitudes in Japan are paving a future for girls and women in sumo. Professional sumo still excludes women from competition and ceremonies, and in recent years, several scandals have tarnished the sport’s reputation.įuror erupted in 2018 when female medics trying to help a collapsed mayor were ordered out of the sumo ring in Kyoto prefecture. If you want to do sumo, you should do it,” she said.īut for women that’s easier said than done. “There are some people who don’t get why I do sumo, but I’m not bothered by what they think. As a defending champion of an inaugural national tournament held for girls in 2019, she’s determined to keep her title and go as far as she can with in the sport.

Senna Kajiwara (center) started practicing sumo when she was eight years old.Ī soft-spoken, bespectacled 12-year-old, Kajiwara started practicing sumo alongside judo four years ago.