Grand Sumo, the official tournament system, stretches back to the 17th-century Edo period. Women are banned from entering the dohyo, the sacred sumo ring, because they are considered ritually polluting. There is no professional structure for female wrestlers, and Grand Sumo's governing body, the Japan Sumo Association, "intends to continue preserving the traditional culture of Grand Sumo."
The first All Japan Women's Sumo Championships took place in around 1997, 28 years before the 2025 edition. Though the championship has contributed to the growing popularity of the sport among women, about 1,000 women practise sumo in Japan today, mostly through school and university clubs. The lack of a professional pathway means that many give up after graduation.
The exclusion of women from the ring reflects a broader pattern in Japanese society. Women were long prohibited from tunnel construction sites, owing to the belief that their presence would make the female mountain god jealous; that prohibition began to ease in the 2000s. Women are still banned from climbing some sacred mountains. Japan ranks 118th out of 148 in the World Economic Forum's gender-gap index—better than Saudi Arabia but worse than Bahrain.
It is the prime minister's job to award the championship cup at the close of a Grand Sumo tournament, which requires stepping onto the dohyo. Takaichi Sanae, Japan's first female prime minister, was unlikely to break the taboo: she is a social conservative who opposes allowing married women to keep separate surnames or letting a woman ascend to the imperial throne.
Do more than anyone expects, and pretty soon everyone will expect more.