Society

Sumo: Female mayor barred from giving speech on sumo ring in wake of furor

Apr 07 (Kyodo) - A female mayor was forced to give a speech outside a sumo ring on Friday after being refused entry because of her sex, just two days after the Japan Sumo Association drew heavy criticism for telling women to leave the ring even though they were trying to rescue a collapsed man.

The raised ring, called dohyo, is regarded as sacred and women, considered "ritually unclean" in the male-only sport of sumo, are forbidden from entering.

"Female mayors are also humans. I am frustrated that I cannot give this speech on the dohyo just because I am woman," Tomoko Nakagawa, mayor of Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, said in her speech from a platform set up beside the ring at a sumo event in the western Japanese city.

Nakagawa, 70, saw on TV that the collapsed man -- also a mayor -- was giving a speech on the dohyo in a similar sumo event on Wednesday when he suffered a stroke, and told the JSA she would like to speak from the ring. Her request was turned down, as the JSA has done so over the past 30 years when approached by female politicians.

Source: Kyodo

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