Autumn drags on in Uji, an unpretentious town south of Kyoto. The maples, camphor trees and soap trees begin to take on fiery colors. The air is soft, the sky cerulean. If you listen carefully, you can hear the chirping of the uguisus, a type of sparrow whose delicious chirping is pleasing to the ears. However, on this Sunday, a very particular agitation reigns in the city gymnasium. In the surrounding area are yakinikus, stalls of meat soaked in soy sauce, sweet rice wine and pepper, then grilled on the barbecue. Inside, in well-stocked stands, people bellow, they gasp, they thunder, between two mouthfuls of dried seaweed.
In the center of the enclosure, a platform made of rice straw bales covered with packed clay, 6 meters on each side and 60 centimeters high. A ring where exclusively female fights take place in a sport that was believed to be reserved for severely overweight men: sumo. On this dohyo, previously blessed by a Shinto priest and on which a sacred circle 4.55 meters in diameter is drawn, hundreds of young girls of all ages and sizes compete for the unofficial Japanese women’s sumo championships. An event that only takes place once a year.
Everything is very codified. The two wrestlers first perform a chiri-chôzu: each, squatting facing their opponent, extends their arms horizontally on each side, palm up, then turns their palms down before folding their arms. Then it’s the grab, where each thrown mass tries to push the other out of the circle. “This sport is so good, quick and simple. Just a body against another body,” comments Yua Inamura, 9-year-old “Little Miss Sumo.” Very plump, she came by plane from Kumamoto, on the island of Kyushu, to win in her age and weight category. “I hope that one day I can make it my career,” she laughs in front of her dad and her great-grandmother, who are quite proud of the child.
Very violent attacks… and sometimes aerial attacks. Their body mass is not necessarily as impressive as that of men, but their power is extraordinary. At the annual Japan Amateur Women’s Sumo Championships in Uji, near Kyoto,
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Renderer’s hands, strong market size, South Sea blue suit whose buttons he struggles to fasten, Naoya Tamura, the president of the Kyoto federation and organizer of the event, is jubilant as he points out the dozens of TV crews present: “You see, women’s sumo is becoming popular. If we want sumo to enter the Olympic Games, this requires the recognition of women. » In the meantime, each Japanese champion receives a medal in imitation gold, silver or bronze and one and a half kilos of red meat, donated by the Mexican consulate. Compare to the 70,000 to 100,000 euros pocketed per victory for the 600 professional male sumo wrestlers, considered demigods in Japan.
An ancestral sport mentioned for the first time in the year 712 in the “Kojiki” or “Chronicle of Ancient Facts”, sumo, a passion of Jacques Chirac, was for a long time reserved only for corpulent males. Women are still banned from heyas, the professional sumo stables. In these circles, the wrestlers live in symbiosis, train and share, at each meal, chankonabe, a stew composed of fish, beef, tofu, chicken breast, Chinese cabbage, carrots, onions. , ginger, leek, egg yolk, all simmered in a dashi broth and sake. That’s 8,000 calories per day. Women are also banned from Tokyo’s Kokugikan, the Mecca of sumo, a 10,000-seat arena where official competitions take place. For their menses would make the holy of holies unclean.
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Ritualized fights. After a mutual observation phase, the wrestlers touch the ground with their hands, a sign that they accept the confrontation. On the right, Rio Hasegawa, crowned middleweight world champion in Poland this summer.
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But at the amateur level, the lines have moved. And not just a little. Since 1996, women have had the right to practice sumo (literally “hitting each other”) from a very young age. To be convinced, head to Kyoto and Butokuden, the great martial arts center of the ancient Japanese capital. Kyudo, traditional archery, kendo, aikido are practiced there but also, under cherry wood arbors, sumo.
At the beginning of the afternoon, there are half a dozen high school girls, their feet bound with black cord, having worn the mawashi, a band of silk tight around the kidneys and crotch, over their leotards. . And all to do shikos, warm-up exercises where each wrestler raises, vertically, the right leg then the left. An essential movement to keep your center of gravity as close as possible to the ground and create reinforced concrete thighs. Then comes the fight. Squatting, knees apart, balanced on tiptoes and hands placed on their knees, the young girls rush towards each other, releasing maximum power.
“We train hard, six times a week. I started the sport at the age of 6 and I’m already 18, assures Misuzu Harada, childish face but really strong (50 kilos, 1.63 meters). None give me as much pleasure and adrenaline. » “The look of the boys? At first, they were surprised, a little taken aback. But now, it has become part of the customs,” continues Mira Saito, 17, one of the best Japanese high school students in her category. But that doesn’t stop us from being “kawaii” [“mignonne”]to put on makeup and feel 100% girls. »
The goal is to push the opponent out of the dohyo, the fighting circle.
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Both will continue their sport at university. “Women’s sumo is different. There are weight categories. More technicality and tactics. Among professional men, brute force wins over everything,” says their coach, Yuki Takahashi.
Today, bold young girls want to go even further and break the codes of a society stuck in its traditions. like Shion Okura, 22 years old, beautiful baby (1.65 meters, 110 kilos), native of Gifu, dormitory town of Nagoya, in the center of the main island of Honshu. Her passions: Japanese-Hawaiian music, horror films, skateboarding, which she loved during the Paris 2024 Olympics, and sumo. In the dohyo of his university, Nihon in Tokyo, sit sepia photos of the “yokozuna”, the masters of the professional sumo masters who studied there. “Here we are only three girls compared to forty boys. We train together. And they don’t always have the last word,” assures Shion.
“She’s a crack,” says her coach, Ryouji Kumagai, a former professional (he went from 130 to 90 kilos once his career ended). She has exceptional pushing power, volume, strength, intelligence. Shion Okura was junior world champion against Mongolian, Polish and American competitors in her category: super heavyweight. “This sport is my passion. To live from it: my dream. I think that after university I will join a company and fight for the development of women’s sumo corpo clubs. My generation allowed women’s sumo to gain notoriety and the media. I think the next one will push the doors of sponsors. »
One of the wrestlers, injured, had to be evacuated.
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The one who best embodies, in Japan, this feminine revolution, through her charisma, her personality and her shocking mantras (“I am a game changer”, “gender is outdated”), is Rio Hasegawa, 21 years old, wise, impassioned, with a lively, sharp look and never the hint of a smile. To find her, go to the chic Minato-ku district of Tokyo. More precisely at Keio, the oldest Japanese private university. Its founder, Yukichi Fukuzawa, considered the father of Japanese capitalism, appears on the 10,000 yen (60 euros) notes.
Three prime ministers, 10% of current Japanese parliamentarians, an astronaut and a few princes studied the humanities there. In this temple of old money and traditions, sport is an integral part of education. Until 2022, his sumo club made a point of not accepting any girls. Until Rio Hasegawa knocked on the door. “I like being a pioneer,” assures the young girl, who acquired a taste for sumo as a child, fighting with her two brothers. “It was sport that chose me, inoculated me with a passion that has never left me. Of course, there was sarcasm, mockery that made me doubt. But I held on. »
All young but already the rage to win. At the Uji championships, the competition is open from the age of 6.
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To the point of going to see Fumihiko Nara, the coach of the Keio sumo team, a young retiree, former multinational executive, elegant, urban and exquisitely commercial. “She was extremely determined, very sure of herself. But hey, breaking a 130-year-old tradition… I went to see Shinto priests to ask them if it was impure for women to practice sumo. They saw no contraindication. So I gave my agreement in Rio. »
Mental preparation for combat for the Australian Gisele Shaw, a very rare Western sumotori. At the women’s sumo championships, October 13
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Today, the young girl remains the first and only to have stepped on the crushed clay of the Keio University dohyo, with its burnt sienna wood walls, where the maxim of club: “Heart. Technical. Body.” » Stocky (1.71 meters and 72 kilos), intrepid, Rio regularly beats up his male colleagues.
Champion Rio Hasegawa is the first woman admitted to Keio University’s sumo training center. In Tokyo, October 22.
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This summer, in Poland, she was crowned world champion in her weight category (less than 73 kilos) and even reached the final of all categories, where she beat opponents who weighed 50 or 60 kilos more than ‘She. A fan of English pop (Oasis, Blur), Japanese rock, pianist and violinist, she follows, in parallel with her studies, sports psychology courses, wants to have children and create her own business. In short, enjoy life. “Sumo allowed me to broaden my horizons, break down barriers and close a few mouths. I would love to move to a higher level. I would like to be the first to make a living from my sport,” assures Rio, determined to shake up the boundaries of corseted and cowardly Japanese society.
