Female reporters preparing to take their trade to sumo dressing rooms

On April 4, 2018, during a sumo jungyo (regional tour), Ryozo Tatami, the 66-year-old mayor of Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, collapsed from a subarachnoid hemorrhage while greeting the audience.

Two female medical professionals who happened to be in the audience rushed onto the dohyo (straw ring) to assist Tatami, upon which the referee ordered, via the public address system, "Women, please leave the ring."

Sumo tradition adheres to the old proscription of nyonin kinsei (females prohibited) and the incident in Maizuru rekindled an ongoing debate about where to draw the lines between "gender separation" and "discrimination."

Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku subsequently apologized, conceding that "the referee … made an inappropriate response because the situation could have been life-threatening." He also thanked the women for giving first-aid treatment.

Mayor Tatami recovered, and was well enough to be reelected the following February.

Five years later, the subject of women and sumo has come up again, this time in a slightly different context.

A writer for a sports newspaper explains the situation to Shukan Shincho (June 22). 

"It appears that the ban on reporters entering the sumo dressing rooms, which was initiated due to the coronavirus pandemic, will be dropped from the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament next month."

In sumo terminology, the dressing rooms are referred to as shitaku beya, literally a preparation room. Before their bouts, this is where the wrestlers put on their mawashi (belly band) and after the bouts they bathe in a communal tub before exiting the venue.

Since the dressing rooms are the ideal place for sports reporters to obtain remarks immediately after bouts, it's no wonder they flock there to interview the wrestlers.

The rules banning reporters have been gradually released, and during the Tokyo grand tournament held in May, reporters were permitted dressing room access to all but the two highest ranks.

"From the Nagoya tournament next month things will pretty much return to normal," the reporter noted, adding, "At the same time, the word is going around that women reporters, who had been banned up to now, will also have access to the dressing rooms."

At least some of the wrestlers appear opposed to this move.

"Actually in past times, female reporters were permitted entry to the shitaku beya to interview the wrestlers," said Nobuaki Omi, a friend of the Tokyo Sumo Reporters' Club. "But about 30 or 40 years ago, complaints began arising from the wrestlers' side that they felt 'flustered' when women entered, and after that, the rule was changed to ban women.

"When wrestlers put on their mawashi (belly band), this work is entrusted to their assistants," Omi continues. "Some of them wrap a beach towel around their lower body, but others regard such maneuvers as inconvenient and bare everything. 

"In the back of the dressing room is a large communal bath the wrestlers use," Omi adds. "After leaving, they wrap themselves in a beach towel and sit on a raised tatami platform in their briefs."

It's times like these when a large portion of wrestler epidermis gets bared.

A veteran sumo photographer tells the magazine he's seen them fully exposed "Any number of times."

"The lower ranked wrestlers in particular are busy attending to their seniors and don't always have time to wrap them in a beach towel," he says. 

You might as well consider it the same as the changing room at a public bath, the writer quips. 

According to the above-mentioned sports reporter, relaxation of the no-female rule was initiated by Reiko Yokono, a sumo reporter for Fuji TV.

"Since we're now in an era of gender equality, the leaders of the sumo association are obliged to heed various voices," he said. "However, the reaction among some younger wrestlers has been 'I feel embarrassed.' A lot of people are waiting to see what the association decides."

When approached by the magazine, Fuji TV's Yokono hotly denied having initiated the request, saying, "I haven't raised this topic with the Sumo Association.

"But if the association is viewed as discriminatory it will spur criticism, and will the reporters' club tolerate it? You say that some of the wrestlers claim to be embarrassed? Among the ones I've talked to, nobody has ever told me that. But since we're supposed to be in a genderless age now, we have to think about why it's okay for only male reporters to be allowed access."

In both the past and present, the writer concludes, a sense of shame is a common human attribute. Even if we reassure people they should feel at ease, it's just never that simple, is it?

© Japan Today