Nineteen-year-old Sayaka Matsuo lies on the tatami mat as a personal masseur works on her neck and shoulders to squeeze out the knots.
But this is no pamper package with relaxing music or detoxifying mist. Matsuo is warming up for a head-clashing bout of Japan's national sport -- sumo.
Strapping her "mawashi" -- loin cloth -- over her lycra bike shorts, she squats into position, her 60-kilogramme (132-pound) frame squaring off against a man more than two-and-a-half times her weight.
The huge size difference is no obstacle for Matsuo, whose determination and technique shuffle her massive opponent across and out of the ring.
"I started sumo as a hobby. I feel a lot of pressure from my dad and my goal is to win the women's Sumo World Championship one day," she tells AFP.
As the daughter of a former professional sumo-wrestler, whose ring name was Sadanohana, Matsuo had a leg up into a sport not usually associated with women, and started to wrestle at just five years old.
Now she is part of a small, but growing band of female grapplers who are turning the tables on one of Japan's oldest boys' clubs.
Shintoism
Opening up the sport to women is part of an effort to legitimise sumo as a possible future Olympic event, Tokyo University’s Sumo Club coach Toshiaki Hirahara said.
But Hirahara is also quick to point out that the top-level wrestling millions of Japanese watch on television needs to preserve its religious and spiritual origins.
"I think the fact that women cannot enter the sacred national dohyo (ring) is understandable as it is the realm of the gods," he said.
"But the amateur league has nothing to do with gods, so let girls and boys do it equally."
Sumo traces its origins back 2,000 years to a time when it was an integral part of the rituals of Japan's native Shintoism, an animistic religion.
But the sport's stock has fallen in recent years with claims of bout-fixing, illegal betting and bullying, including the death of a young apprentice wrestler in 2007.
It has also struggled to slough off claims that it is linked to the Yakuza, the country's home-grown mob.
The sport's popularity among the general public has suffered because of Japan's failure to produce champions -- all three of the present "yokozuna" (Grand Champions) are Mongolian, including record-breaking Hakuho, who, in January became the most successful wrestler ever after bagging his 33rd tournament title.
Establishing a parallel amateur sport, with proper weight divisions could be a good way to help boost sumo, says Hirahara.
It might also get around the negative associations sumo wrestlers can have among Japan's image-conscious women, who balk at the idea of eating the whopping 20,000 calories a day like Hakuho, who tips the scales at over 150 kilogrammes.
"I want to remain in the under 65kg weight category so I try to eat well-balanced food," Matsuo says, although she admits she has a weakness for "chankonabe", a traditional sumo stew of vegetables, meat and rice.
Fellow grappler Anna Fujita, 21, is also happy to stay on the lighter end of the sumo scale, and wrestles in the same under 65kg category.
"If I get bigger I'll fall into the heavyweight category and have to fight against girls weighing more than a hundred kilogrammes," she says.
And eating lots is too expensive anyway.
"I’m a student and have no money,” she says, adding she lives on a diet of Corn Flakes, rice and stir-fried vegetables.
Female strength
The proportion of female sumo wrestlers remains small -- there are almost 300 boys taking part in the sport for every girl in Japan's elementary schools, according to the Japan Sumo Federation.
Despite the yawning gap in numbers, female strength reigns supreme.
"Because the girls grow at a younger age, they are stronger than the boys," coach Hideto Tsushima of Nihon University says.
Fujita, who studies Taiwanese history by day, is testimony to the fact that, with a little training, female wrestlers can remain on top -- by night she throws men twice her size at Tokyo University Sumo Club.
So far, it's a passion practised in private, and she is yet to tell her parents.
"I think they’ll be surprised... I plan to tell them after I graduate, or maybe when I get married," she said.
AFP
Thu Feb 05 2015
In a photograph taken on January 25, 2015, female sumo wrestler Sayaka Matsuo (R) fights with her teammate Shiori Kanehira (L) during a training session at Nihon University's sumo club in Tokyo. AFP PHOTO / TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA
Lebih 500,000 pengembara Singapura ke Malaysia sehari
Lebih 500,000 pengembara dilepaskan menerusi Pusat Pemeriksaan Woodlands dan Tuas di Singapura pada menjelang cuti panjang hujung minggu Good Friday.
[TERKINI] Lelaki Israel ditahan di KL bersama enam pucuk pistol
Ini laporan yang baharu kami terima.
Seorang lelaki warga Israel ditahan Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) bersama enam pucuk pistol di sebuah hotel di Jalan Ampang, pada Rabu lalu.
Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Razarudin Husain berkata, suspek yang berusia 36 tahun itu masuk ke negara ini menggunakan palsu Perancis.
Seorang lelaki warga Israel ditahan Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) bersama enam pucuk pistol di sebuah hotel di Jalan Ampang, pada Rabu lalu.
Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Razarudin Husain berkata, suspek yang berusia 36 tahun itu masuk ke negara ini menggunakan palsu Perancis.
Kumpulan Sunway kongsi nikmat ramadan melalui jelajah Sinar Ramadan 2024
Bersempena ulang tahunnya yang ke-50, Kumpulan Sunway menjalankan siri jelajah ke lima negeri bagi berkongsi nikmat sebenar ramadan kepada lebih 4,000 golongan kurang berkemampuan.
Ringgit ditutup tinggi berikutan permintaan yang bertambah baik
Pada 6 petang, ringgit meningkat kepada 4.7215/7280 berbanding dolar AS daripada 4.7320/7370 pada semalam.
Singapura rampas 1.5 tan produk segar dan makanan proses dari Malaysia
Kira-kira 1.5 tan produk segar dan makanan diproses yang diimport secara haram dari Malaysia dirampas Agensi Makanan Singapura (SFA) selepas satu operasi bersama Pihak Berkuasa Imigresen dan Pusat Pemeriksaan (ICA) awal minggu ini.
Kerajaan Persekutuan ambil alih projek LRT Pulau Pinang dengan syarat
Projek pembangunan LRT Laluan Mutiara Pulau Pinang akan diambil alih oleh Kerajaan Persekutuan tetapi dengan meletakkan syarat kepada Kerajaan Pulau Pinang.
Kerajaan juga akan mempertimbangkan kaedah pembiayaan projek yang sesuai sama ada melalui Peruntukan Pembangunan ataupun kaedah lain yang sesuai.
Kerajaan juga akan mempertimbangkan kaedah pembiayaan projek yang sesuai sama ada melalui Peruntukan Pembangunan ataupun kaedah lain yang sesuai.
Pembangunan LRT tidak ancam George Town
Pembangunan projek Transit Aliran Ringan (LRT) Laluan Mutiara, Pulau Pinang tidak akan mengancam kedudukan Georgetown sebagai Tapak Warisan Dunia Pertubuhan Saintifik, Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (UNESCO).
Menteri Pengangkutan, Anthony Loke, berkata semua pertimbangan awal sudah diambil kira termasuk kelulusan yang diperoleh daripada pelaksanaan Penilaian Kesan Alam Sekitar (EIA) dan Penilaian Kesan Sosial (SIA).
Menteri Pengangkutan, Anthony Loke, berkata semua pertimbangan awal sudah diambil kira termasuk kelulusan yang diperoleh daripada pelaksanaan Penilaian Kesan Alam Sekitar (EIA) dan Penilaian Kesan Sosial (SIA).
Tiada layanan istimewa kepada Najib - Penjara
Ketua Pengarah Jabatan Penjara, Datuk Nordin Muhammad menegaskan tiada sebarang layanan istimewa diberikan kepada mana-mana individu termasuk Bekas Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak di penjara.
Lelaki Israel ditahan di KL bersama enam pucuk pistol
Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Razarudin Husain berkata, suspek yang berusia 36 tahun itu masuk ke negara ini menggunakan pasport palsu Perancis.
Beli kondo mewah: Isa Samad, Mohd Emir diperintah bayar RM3.31 juta kepada FGV
Mahkamah Tinggi hari ini memerintahkan bekas Pengerusi FGV Holdings Berhad Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad dan bekas Presiden Kumpulan dan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Datuk Mohd Emir Mavani Abdullah membayar lebih RM3.31 juta kepada syarikat itu berhubung pembelian dua unit kondominium mewah di ibu negara.