TOKYO — Sumo is more than a sport in Japan. It’s a sacred tradition, a 1,500-year-old spectacle steeped in Shinto ritual and ceremony. But at its heart lies a long-standing taboo: women are still barred from the traditional ring, the dohyō in Japanese.

That legacy is facing quiet resistance. While professional sumo — the sumo that the world is used to seeing — remains closed to women, a small but growing group of more than 600 female wrestlers (rikishi) is making strides at the amateur level in Japan.

Their ambitions extend beyond the sumo world championships, an international men’s and women’s amateur competition starting this weekend in Bangkok.

“I want sumo to become an Olympic sport with no gender distinction,” says 27-year-old Airi Hisano, who pursues sumo alongside her day job at

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