But along with the rise of amateur sumo abroad, women’s sumo in Japan has been making strides.

“A growing number of women are involved, certainly in the hundreds,” said Katrina Watts, president of the Australian Sumo Federation and a stadium announcer for sumo events, including the world championships. “I’d say it’s a good sport for women because it’s a body contact sport without being violent.”

Nowadays, girls can even go to high school or college on a sumo scholarship. And there are women-only tournaments, like the All-Japan Women’s Sumo Championships, which took place this month in Osaka.

Forty of the top sumotori in the country gathered for the 15th edition at the Ohama Park Sumo-jo. Shinsaku Takeuchi, the event’s organizer and head of the Women’s Sumo Federation, said that in recent years women had been getting better and tougher.

“Women’s sumo is becoming even more vicious than the men’s,” he said.

Takeuchi explained that what set amateur sumo apart from professional was the inclusion of gender and weight classes and the removal of the religious ceremonies, which are still very much a part of men’s professional sumo. Amateur sumo has also been spared the recent scandals that have tainted professional sumo in Japan, including a baseball betting scandal that laid bare the professional sport’s link with organized crime.

Originally performed as a Shinto ritual to entertain the gods so they would bestow a good harvest, the game dates back well over a thousand years. It is a trial of strength in which 48 techniques may be used to throw an opponent off balance so that he steps out of the ring or falls to the ground. A match begins with a head-on collision, followed by a wild fit of shoving, lifting, throwing, tripping, slapping, yanking or any combination thereof. It is often over in less than 10 seconds but can last a minute or more.

An 18-year-old high school senior from Tottori, Yuka Ueta, was the strongest wrestler of the tournament. At 275 pounds, she plowed her way through five matches in the open weight class, dispatching each opponent within moments to earn her first gold medal in the senior group.