Female mayor forced to make speech outside sumo ring

April 7, 2018

TAKARAZUKA, HYOGO PREF.- The mayor of the western Japan city of Takarazuka was forced to make a speech from outside a raised sumo ring on Friday after being denied entry onto the ring because she is a woman.

The mayor, Tomoko Nakagawa, asked the organizer of a spring regional sumo tour on Thursday to allow her to deliver a speech on the ring at an opening event on Friday. But the organizer said it wanted her to speak from outside the ring, according to the mayor.

"I'm not allowed to make an address on the ring because I'm a woman," Nakagawa said in her speech. "I think it's important to have courage to make changes while preserving tradition."

In the male-only world of professional sumo, women are traditionally banned from the ring, called "dohyo."

The female mayor's speech came two days after women working to save a man's life on a sumo ring were told by the event organizer to get out of the ring. The Japan Sumo Association came under attack over the incident.

At a regional tour event in Maizuru in Kyoto Prefecture, western Japan, on Wednesday, Mayor Ryozo Tatami collapsed while delivering a speech on a sumo ring.

As the mayor showed such symptoms as snoring, a sumo usher thought that he needs critical care by medical professionals and asked for help by a woman who offered to provide first aid after confirming that she is a nurse, sources familiar with the situation said.

But an upset sumo referee called on her and other women coming to the mayor's aid to leave the sumo ring, causing controversy.

The mayor, 67, was later diagnosed with subarachnoid bleeding and undergo successful surgery.

On Friday, Shibatayama, the public affairs chief of the Japan Sumo Association, said in Tokyo that the Maizuru case and the request of the Takarazuka mayor are different issues.

He reiterated the association's intention to work out measures aimed at allowing it to take flexible responses in emergency situations.

Hakkaku, chairman of the association, admitted Wednesday that the referee's response was inappropriate under a situation involving human life, offering an apology. Jiji Press