When the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament concludes in Tokyo next month, a second confrontation will follow, not between rikishi, the professional sumo wrestlers, but between modern optics and ancient aesthetics. The victor of the Hatsu Basho, the first of the six annual Grand Sumo tournaments, will receive the Prime Minister’s Cup. And for the first time in history, the hand presenting that cup could belong to a woman: Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
The pressure on her to step across the tawara, the rice-straw bales that rim the sumo ring, and enter the male-only dohyō, the ring itself, is mounting. For many in the international press the moment is charged with symbolism. They argue that a female prime minister merely governing the nation is not enough; she should also shatter “anachronistic traditions.” To them, the dohyō is just another glass ceiling, albeit one made of clay, awaiting the shattering heel of progress.
But for the sake of sumo, Takaichi should refuse.
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