WRESTLING AGAINST ALL ODDS: PERCEPTIONS OF WOMEN’S SUMO AFTER WORLD WAR II

Abstract

Sumo wrestling, also known as Japan’s national sport, is typically fought among men. Due to Shinto beliefs that women are impure, women are banned from professional sumo within Japan, and they can only participate in amateur sumo or compete overseas. Existing scholarship focuses on how women’s sumo has been viewed merely as a spectacle in Japan since the eighth century. However, female wrestlers today are serious about pursuing it as a sport, as seen from the advent of women’s sumo tournaments held internationally since the 1990s. This paper examines these contrasting perceptions towards women’s sumo and how it continues to affect their fight for recognition for their sport. By comparing how female sumo wrestlers are portrayed in Japanese and international media, I demonstrate the different views toward women’s sumo. I argue that while the Japanese media portrays women’s sumo as a spectacle, foreigners support female wrestlers’ advocacy of sumo as a sport by giving them a platform to share in media. As women’s sumo wrestlers fight against structural barriers for their sport to gain recognition, international media recognises their cause and helps to amplify them while the Japanese media continues to ignore them. Beyond women’s sumo, I hope that this thesis sheds light on the fight for gender equality in sport as well as within Japan that continues today, so that we can push for positive change in the future.