Often regarded as a sport only for Japanese men, sumo wrestling does have burgeoning women's participation and popularity with non-Japanese competitors However, it’s still uncommon for women to practice sumo in Japan.
Jyuri Beniya is a female sumo wrestler who has won the top title both in Japan and competes on the world stage. Jyuri started doing sumo in her fourth year of school. Now in her fourth year of university, she is nine members of the Asahi University’s women’s sumo club, the largest of its kind in Japan.
“My teacher suggested that I do sumo because I was a big kid,” says Jyuri, who visited Australia this month to speak at the Japan Foundation Sydney. “I had been doing Judo from Year 1 so the transition wasn’t hard for me.
"All students had to choose one sport from swimming, athletics or sumo. I didn’t like swimming and athletics. I just thought that sumo was easier than swimming or running.”
Jyuri Beniya (second from the left in the back row) holding a trophy Source: Jyuri Beniya
'Most girls quit when they start junior high school'
As sumo is a national sport, some Japanese schools teach sumo as part of their curriculum regardless of a student’s gender. Sometimes local sports clubs also offer kids sumo classes and local children's competitions are culturally important in some communities. According to Jyuri, the number of primary school girls who do sumo has been increasing in recent years.
The number, however, falls off sharply when girls start Year 7. Jyuri thinks that there are two reasons for the drop off. One is a deeply ingrained idea that sumo is for men and the other is that “teenage girls don’t like being thrown on the ground and getting injured, so they simply avoid contact sports like sumo.”.
Jyuri herself says she was teased at school because she was big and did sumo, but she never took it too seriously.
“I thought, what is wrong with being big? I’m a sumo wrestler, I have to be big,” she says.
Training in a male-dominated sport
Jyuri was the only female member of the sumo clubs she joined in school and as such practiced with male students. There was no difference in their practice routine, except the size of the workout weights.
As Jyuri attended training on weekdays and weekends, there was no time for her to hang out and have fun with her peers.
“My female friends would ask me repeatedly why I do sumo, saying it’s painful and hard," she says. "But for me, maybe the fact that I had done judo before sumo helped. The life with sumo was normal.
"I don’t have any bitter experiences from being the only female member of the sumo clubs. I was quite lucky. My fellow members were all supportive.”
But a tough blow hit Jyuri when she was a high school student. She was struggling to gain weight and also trying to figure out how she could beat an opponent heavier than her, yet she had nobody to turn to.
“There wasn’t any female sumo wrestlers around me. The advice from other members were based on their experience in men’s sumo. The closest female was my mum but she didn’t know much about sumo."
Regarding the sumo diet, Jyuri says that keeping balance is important, even though you have to eat enough to gain weight. Jyuri recalls feeling sorry for her family as she struggled to gain weight because she thought that she ate so much that the cost of food put pressure on family finances.
Jyuri says she considered quitting and her teacher told her to take one week off to consider it. Jyuri enjoyed the freedom, but the life she has been secretly longing for failed to satisfy her. She went back to sumo and, in the same year, she won the top title in Japan, then represented Japan in a team competition at the world championship, where the team won the top spot.
Women’s sumo goes global
Women’s sumo wrestling has a long cultural history, but it was established as an official sport only about 20 years ago, with the first national championship held in 1997.
In women’s sumo, the wrestlers wear leotards under a mawashi (loincloth) and the duration of a match is three minutes instead of five minutes for men’s matches. Except that, all rules and techniques are the same as men’s.
“Women’s sumo is more technical I think,” Jyuri says. “Compared to men’s sumo, more small wrestlers beat heavier opponents.”
Sumo is gaining popularity globally. According to the Japan Women’s Sumo Federation, 87 counties have joined the International Sumo Federation.
Australia is not an exception. The Australian Sumo Federation was founded in 1992 and will hold the Australian National Sumo Championships this june in North Sydney, NSW. Competitors of the national championships can represent Australia at the Sumo World Championships in Osaka, Japan this year. Both men and women are competing.
Jyuri thinks that the important factor for a good sumo wrestler is an ability to be polite and friendly to your opponents.
“I admire my sumo peers who are friendly to anybody including foreign competitors. I’d like to be a sumo wrestler with good communication skills. I think this applies to other sports as well."
