https://japantoday.com/category/national/japan-bullfighting-lifts-'men-only'-rule
Japanese bullfighting, which is non-fatal (at least for the bulls) is a sacred Shinto ritual. It's like sumo wrestling for bovines. Until recently only men were considered pure enough to enter the fighting area, but the organizers have now lifted the ban, allowing women to participate. (Note: In addition to bulls, the Japanese also have sumo wrestling for dogs and spiders.)
Sumo wrestling for humans is not so enlightened. A couple of weeks ago, a local mayor in Kyoto was giving a speech in the sumo ring before the start of a tournament when he collapsed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage. As male officials tried to suffocate the mayor by huddling around him a panicked mob, a woman doctor pushed through and started to do CPR. A couple of nurses followed her. Then you hear a sumo boss over the loudspeaker ordering the women out of the sacred ring.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/05/world/asia/women-sumo-ring-japan.html
I don't know where the Japanese got the idea that women are unclean. I've seen very few dirty people in Japan, and all of them were men.
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Japan has some of the least progressive views of women's rights and gay rights among "first world" countries. They also have smarter kids, less crime, and better socialized medicine schemes than most other countries. So, you know.... shoganai...
If it makes you feel any better though, there's an outstanding video out there of Watanabe Mayu having a butt sumo match with another girl from AKB48 that's fairly entertaining...
Someone has to explain this.....
http://deturl.com/play.asp?v=wC97n9iS0Ak
I'm not going to try to explain that..... I don't think there's enough sake in the world for me to even understand it.
But I suspect that referee spends every waking minute wondering what the hell went wrong with his life.