UNESCO World Heritage status for religious island in Japan

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algebe's picture
UNESCO World Heritage status for religious island in Japan

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-40549909

Okinoshima, an island in Japan, has just been declared a World Heritage Site, but you can't go there, especially if you're a woman. The entire island is considered to be a kami, or divine natural phenomenon.

Another place in Japan that women can't go is a dohyo, which is the clay platform used for sumo wrestling. Sumo is also a religious ritual, and the referee is a shinto priest. A couple of years ago a woman in the audience at a Grand Sumo tournament suddenly pulled off her shirt and rushed topless toward the dohyo. However, she was stopped by a couple of 300lb wrestlers who bravely tackled her before she could commit sacrilege.

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MCDennis's picture
Religions ruin everything

Religions ruin everything

xenoview's picture
Shame on the Japanese for a

Shame on the Japanese for a men's only island in this day and age.

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