Scandals & Feuds ·
Women Ordered Out of Sumo Ring While Helping Collapsed Mayor
At Maizuru in April 2018, women provided first aid as announcements told them to leave the sacred, male-only ring. The Japan Sumo Association apologised.
In April 2018, Ryozo Tatami, the mayor of Maizuru in Kyoto prefecture, collapsed while speaking in a sumo ring. Women entered to help him, and a nurse performed CPR. As first aid continued, announcements repeatedly instructed the women to leave. “Ladies, please get off the ring,” a referee said. “Only gentlemen go up.”
Two women had begun treating Tatami as several male sumo officials stood around him. When two more women climbed into the ring to join the effort, the announcements demanded that the women get out. In sumo tradition, the ring is considered sacred and women are prohibited from entering.
Tatami had suffered an acute cerebral haemorrhage. He underwent emergency surgery and was in stable condition the next day, city officials said.
Video of the incident spread on social media and was shown on major Japanese television networks. Critics accused sumo officials of putting tradition ahead of a person’s life.
Later on the day of the collapse, Japan Sumo Association chief Nobuyoshi Hakkaku apologised and thanked the women. He said the official making the announcements had panicked after seeing them in the ring, but his statement did not address the male-only tradition. “It was an inappropriate response in a life-threatening situation,” Hakkaku said.