WHAT HAPPENED?

[Takanorappa]

A woman touched it and immediately afterwards rikishi fought on it . There was no repurification. Now what can be the justification for now allowing women on it?

Maybe the woman tought she was a man... (Whatever above, it is funny...) So... if Gov. Ohta was out of her mind it'd be okay? :-/

[Kuramarujo]

Actually, this is not as silly as it seems. When a rikishi bleeds on the clay practice dohyo (which is not raised but is a dirt floor) they purify with salt and scrape or dig out the offending area. They could do the same with the bits the woman got on and then through salt around liberally.

Would that be 7-bit or 8-bit bits? I'm guessing that, being in Japan, it was encoded in UTF-8 so that makes it 8-bit bits. If she had fallen on it, though, would that mean scraping out bytes or many, many bits?

K-jo, who is speaking useless techno-babble in a humorous way (not Ironic nor Sarcastic, just Lunatic)

[Kintamayama]

yeah, i was referring to any media coverage of potential impurity of the ring as a result of this.

Nikkan alludes to this this morning in a roundabout way, noting it's the first time in 1400 years that a woman has mounted the dohyo, and wondrin' aloud what this means, mentioning Governor Ohta and her legal struggle to enable female dohyo-mounting.

[Kintamayama]

[Jakusotsu]

Perhaps if Governor Ohta had worn blue jeans...

[Otokonoyama]

Another view

[Sasanishiki]

...noting it's the first time in 1400 years that a woman has mounted the dohyo...

Well that is a fallacy...and not just one that the media is putting across. It is one that ozumo likes to project as well, thus legitimising their position as the most important manifestation of sumo.

[ilovesumo]

Wow.........3 days away from home...and then that.

:-)

I remember a female, drawing the moves of the bouts on tons of paper sheets. She never sat on her zabuton, she sat on the pure floor.

@Fay: was it her?

[Takemi]

The most detailed report so far described a middle-aged woman attempting to climb onto the dohyo during the Goeido-Kakizoe bout. She got both knees and hands on the edge of the dohyo when a gray-haired spectator grabbed one of her legs and prevented her from going further.

At that point, Nishikido Oyakata, who was in his shimpan seat, rushed over as did Takamisakari from his on-deck position. The two of them along with several yobidashi managed to pull the intruder away from the dohyo towards the hanamichi. In her hands was a stack of flyers with a lot of mumbo-jumbo written on them. The only decipherable message was a plaintive "Help!" that was scrawled across the sheets of paper.

The woman apparently purchased a masu-C ticket for ￥9,200 and waited for an opportunity to make her move. There were six female guards along the hanamichi but the intruder ignored their "Please stop!" warnings. Shimpan are normally not allowed to leave their duty station, but Nishikido said, "I made eye contact with Hanaregoma Oyakata and then went to stop the woman. She was close to being on the dohyo, so I thought I better do something quick. [When I grabbed her] she was making some kind of moaning sound."

As for Robocop, he was his usual self. "[That kind of thing] is bad for the heart," he said still agitated. "I was wondering what the commotion was when I saw this "older fellow" [sic] coming at us. My immediate thought was what the heck was [this person] doing at our [place of battle]?"

The woman was first taken to an empty room at the KK and then handed over to the local police. Throughout, she was muttering incoherently. The police later released her to the custody of her relatives. Isenoumi Oyakata, NSK Chief of Security, said, "We have no intention of pressing charges. I'm just glad that security was not breached. Everyone took proper action right away." The article mentioned that the oyakata was relieved that the intruder did not enter the center ring of the dohyo where the actual bouts take place.

Security not breached? what the blip!? she passed six guards and climbed half away up to the dohyo before some random ojisan grabbed her leg and prevented her from completely mounting the dohyo.

Maybe its me that dont understand the meaning of "security breach"? :-)

[Fay]

Wow.........3 days away from home...and then that.

:-)

I remember a female, drawing the moves of the bouts on tons of paper sheets. She never sat on her zabuton, she sat on the pure floor.

@Fay: was it her?

No she isn't guilty, she was sitting next to me on the floor as usual.

[aderechelsea]

last time i was in the kokugikan there were 2 old women that touched the dohyo with their hands in the morning (around 8:00).

a yobidashi run to lead them away from the dohyo but they had already touched it. No rebuilding took place and Hakuho won his first Yusho. Had Miya won it i would have accused the old ladies ... :-)

[ilovesumo]

Wow.........3 days away from home...and then that.

:-)

I remember a female, drawing the moves of the bouts on tons of paper sheets. She never sat on her zabuton, she sat on the pure floor.

@Fay: was it her?

No she isn't guilty, she was sitting next to me on the floor as usual.

Ok. Just wondered. (Applauding...) (happy sigh) The NOT guilty woman made me curious and I asked around.

Would have been sad if it was her, cause one told me, that she makes art out of her notes at home. Would love to see that. (Applauding...)

[Kintamayama]

...noting it's the first time in 1400 years that a woman has mounted the dohyo...

Well that is a fallacy...and not just one that the media is putting across. It is one that ozumo likes to project as well, thus legitimising their position as the most important manifestation of sumo.

Why? Were there prior cases of mounting that were kept secret?

[Otokonoyama]

last time i was in the kokugikan there were 2 old women that touched the dohyo with their hands in the morning (around 8:00).

a yobidashi run to lead them away from the dohyo but they had already touched it. No rebuilding took place and Hakuho won his first Yusho. Had Miya won it i would have accused the old ladies ... :-)

...noting it's the first time in 1400 years that a woman has mounted the dohyo...

Well that is a fallacy...and not just one that the media is putting across. It is one that ozumo likes to project as well, thus legitimising their position as the most important manifestation of sumo.

Why? Were there prior cases of mounting that were kept secret?

Apparently no mounting, just some fondling (Applauding...)

[Fay]

Today an older man came down to the dohyo and clapped it during the Makushita bouts, some shouting from Kasugao Oyakata, but nothing more. Well of course as a man he can't impurify anything (Sign of approval...)

[Hananotaka]

After his bout Takamisakari told the hanamichi reporter that he was shocked until he saw Nishikido Oyakata (former Mitoizumi) get up and move to the stop the woman. He thought, "If the oyakata is up, then I should do something!"

[Asojima]

FWIW, There hasn't been anything posted here giving the identity of the woman, and all of the online pictures showing her face have had the face fuzzed out. The mainline Japanese media seem to be showing sympathy with her problem. US media would have posted her life history by now.

[Jonosuke]

She was not charged and the police asked her relatives to come in and take custody of her. I believe that's the end of the story until some publication comes out and wants to disclose her identity.

As far as I know she bought a ticket legitimately (Masu C) and broke no law. She was taken in to a room in the Kokugkan until police arrived. Then the police just took her to their nearest station. I am not even sure if there was anyone in the Kyokai who found out her identity. The police has not disclosed any other information.

As for her getting up to the dohyo (I guess she did not cross the tawara), I am not even sure there is any written code that says they have to rebuild and destroy the dohyo right away as they often do between the basho at the Kokugian and elsewhere when the basho is over.

I believe the Kyokai's point on this is that they want to carry on preserving the customs and traditions of sumo which considers the dohyo to be sacred and holy. To violate the traditions is basically like committing a religious blasphemy of sort. It's like in certain churches where women may need to cover their head but they won't view the whole building needed to be condemned if someone enters it without a head covering. However the officials make sure no one does enter there without properly attired.

[Otokonoyama]

There are some photos that show her face.

[Guest tsukan]

The live video

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=l0O3uqJSRTE

A funny re-enactment of it on the news.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=TliWNSo3sy0

[Johnofuji]

[

Ok. Just wondered. :-) (happy sigh) The NOT guilty woman made me curious and I asked around.

Would have been sad if it was her, cause one told me, that she makes art out of her notes at home. Would love to see that. :-)

It must have been Lyn Matsuoka trying to give away more of her artwork

[Torideyama]

It must have been Lyn Matsuoka trying to give away more of her artwork

Hee Hee!

[Peterao]

A funny re-enactment of it on the news.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=TliWNSo3sy0

This story claims that she was the first woman to make it on the dohyo in the 1400 year history of sumo! (Neener, neener...)

[Otokonoyama]

One 1400-year-old tradition down, one 1300-year-old tradition to go!

Ban on Women

Traditionally, women in Japan were not allowed to climb mountains sacred to either the Shinto or Buddhist religions. At first, these areas were banned to unclean people, such as those who had recently had a death in the family, but eventually came to be called Nyonin Kekkai (如人結界) and were off-limits to women only. The origin of this tradition is unknown, but is believed to be linked to Shinto concepts of impurity, specifically the "blood impurity" brought on by menstruation and childbirth. It is also believed that the reason for the ban is to remove thoughts of temptation from the monks who are supposed to practice strict self-denial while climbing.

The gender bans on most sacred mountains, such as Mount Fuji, were abolished in 1872 by government decree. Mount Ōmine is the last mountain in Japan to maintain the traditional custom of forbidding women to climb. A sign at the entrance to the mountain proclaims "No Women Admitted," written in English and Japanese.

The ban has been challenged many times, but with no success. Supporters note that the ban is traditional, citing an unbroken 1,300 year tradition.[5]

Mount Ōmine's designation as a World Heritage site ended most debate on the gender ban, as it was seen to have been given a stamp of approval by UNESCO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Omine

Edited September 22, 2007 by Otokonoyama
added link

[Sasanishiki]

...noting it's the first time in 1400 years that a woman has mounted the dohyo...

Well that is a fallacy...and not just one that the media is putting across. It is one that ozumo likes to project as well, thus legitimising their position as the most important manifestation of sumo.

Why? Were there prior cases of mounting that were kept secret?

Well, ozumo didn't exist 1400 years ago for starters!! It has only emerged in the last three centuries. If the 1400 years refers to sechie-zumo as the precursor to ozumo (a slightly tenuous link anyway) then sechie-zumo did not have a dohyo that the sumo was performed on! The dohyo is thought to have come in around the time of Oda Nobunaga and the sumo that was performed with rikishi representing different daimyo. The sacredness of the dohyo is a far more recent construction that is justified by Shinto ritual and religiosity.

By the way, anyone ever heard of onna-zumo, that was performed for entertainment during the Edo period? Sumo was also performed for the masses by men as entertainment (freak show, not necessarily about the results, and prior to the construction of ozumo), and women performed exactly the same sumo.