Women ejected after saving life in sumo ring

The two women leapt to the aid of a collapsed man on the floor and began pumping his chest, both evidently medically trained. Then a voice came over the loudspeakers ordering them away - not because their skills were not needed, but because they were women.

The sport of sumo wrestling was again heaped in shame after the incident on Wednesday when a town mayor collapsed while giving a speech in the sumo ring. The two trying to save his life had to leave because of an ancient sumo tradition that bars ‘‘impure’’ women from polluting the sanctity of the arena.

Thanks in part to their swift actions, Ryozo Tatami, the mayor of Maizuru, in Kyoto prefecture, survived and is now recovering in hospital from what was found to be a stroke. Sumo officials have tried to play down the incident, the latest in a series of scandals.

Many Japanese were appalled. ‘‘This is a terrible story,’’ wrote one Twitter user. ‘‘Paying more respect to tradition than to someone’s life ... The gods of sumo must be crying.’’

Video shot by spectators at the event shows Tatami, 67, lying on his back on the dohyo, or sumo ring, as male officials mill round him, apparently unable to agree on what to do. A middle-aged woman then pushes through and immediately begins performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the man, soon to be assisted by second woman.

Then the voice of the referee can be heard over the loudspeaker, saying repeatedly: ‘‘Ladies, please leave the ring.’’ The women step away, one of them still giving instructions, shortly before paramedics arrive to take Tatami away on a stretcher.

‘‘I apologise deeply,’’ said Nobuyoshi Hakkaku, chairman of the sport’s governing body, the Japan Sumo Association, after a fusillade of criticism on social media. ‘‘I give my deepest thanks to the women who provided rapid first aid. The referee was upset and made the announcement. But it was an inappropriate response in a life-and-death situation.’’

The sumo dohyo, as well as being a sporting arena, is a sacred space blessed by a Shinto priest. The ban on women derives from ancient beliefs about the ‘‘uncleanness’’ of menstrual blood.

In 1978 a 10-year-old girl who reached the final round of a children’s sumo championship was banned from competing in the finals in Tokyo. In 1990 Mayumi Moriyama, the first woman to become a deputy cabinet secretary in Japan, was barred from entering the ring to present a trophy. Ten years later Fusae Ota, the female governor of Osaka, faced the same prohibition.

Despite the outcry over the incident, the names of the lifesaving women are not known. ‘‘We have no information about them,’’noriko Miwa, a Maizuru city official, said.