Photos show women in Japan working to break down barriers in ancient, tradition-bound sumo

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TOKYO (AP) — For centuries, sumo's deep links with the Shinto religion barred women from entering the ring, let alone allowing them to participate.

While women remain excluded from professional sumo, more than 600 now compete at the amateur level. The Associated Press documented some of them in training, including wrestlers preparing for the Sumo World Championships this weekend in Bangkok, Thailand.

Since 2016, girls from across Japan have traveled to Tottori Jōhoku High School, about 600 kilometers (370 miles) west of Tokyo, to attend weeklong training camps at the nation’s largest girls’ sumo club.

Participation has more than doubled in recent years, 24-year-old coach and alumna Nana Kakuda said.

Kakuda, who began wrestling in elementary school, remembers being unable to enter a national tournament, even after winning her prefectural title, because the venue in Tokyo allowed only boys. That exclusion, she said, strengthened her will to promote women’s sumo.

At the Keio University Sumo Club, women and men train side by side. Among them is 22-year-old Rio Hasegawa, the 2024 middleweight world champion and the first female member since the club’s founding in 1919.

Men compete bare-chested in a mawashi, the traditional loincloth, but women wear it over spandex shirts and bodysuits. That's a reflection of both cultural modesty and body image expectations. Girls in sumo often face teasing, sometimes enough to push them out of the sport.

“I hope for a world where there’s no distinction between men and women in sumo, where girls can train freely and continue into adulthood," said 2023 world champion Airi Hisano, 27, who trains while working full-time.

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

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