Wrestling with Gender: Coverage of the Olympic Games in Japanese Media

Wrestling

with

Cender

Coverage

of the Olympic

Games

_{in Japanese}

Media

ANovn

P.

vRN

orn

VEe

Rr

Introduction

Current studies analysing gendered representations of athletes in

the

media focus pri-marily on Anglophone or European countries. This paper attempts

to

expand

this

scope by adding female athletes and media in Asia

to

the small body of

work

in English-lan-guage research.

lt

does so by focusing on gendered depictions of athletes in Japanese media

during

the largest sporting event in the

world:

the Olympic Games.

Although media in Japan are

stlll

heavily influenced by hegemonic discourses

of

what

is considered feminine and masculine, the consistent success

of

severalJapanese

athletes

in

sports ranging

from

track and field to volleyball has already challenged the

ideal

of

the _Japanese

woman

as

a

physically

_'fragile'

homemaker

in

the

past. Cover-age

during

the

2012 London Olympics

and zot6

Rio Olympics,

heavily

influenced by

the

success

of

individual athletes, shows

continuity in

this

regard. Gendered aspects are often superseded. This is evidenced

b¡

for

example, the significant amount

of

me-dia

attention

that _Japanese female

wrestlers

received

during

both

of

these Olympic editions,

outperforming

male

wrestlers

by

a

large margin. Also,

in

qualitative

terms, female athletes are

still

distinctly

differentiated

from

male athletes,

with

their

success

indirectly attributed

to

external factors, such as male guidance, The depiction of female

athletes _{in Japanese media is} congruent

with

the

marginalisation

that

female athletes

face

in

European and Anglophone media, as has been explored

in

existing literature.

However,

this

article argues

that

it

is incorrect

to

assume that women are considerably

marginalized in 'masculine' sports in Japan, as they frequently are

in

cases outside

of

Japan. Significantly, the cons¡stent success of Japanese female wrestlers in the Olympic

Games has overshadowed the results

of

their

male colleagues. This problematizes the

notion

that

female athletes are mostly gaining ground

in

more

'attractive'

sportsl and

that

they are rnarginalized when they devlate from what is perceived as appropriareþ fernlnine by particlpating ln sports requiring 'rnasculine' physical capital such as

mus-cularity, arguably viewed as _{'distasteful and} inhumane'-'

Starting

with

a short overview

of

medlä,'gendef and the Olyrnpícs

in

existlng rçsearch,

this

artic{e shows holrl

rports

coveqgê

ln

European and Anglophone rnedia

malnly focuses on male athletes. Although wolnen athletes are galning ground ln cov* Érage

in

ccrtain i¡spÊÉts¡ such ss quantitatlvely

in

photographic coverage,

thesr

are

stlll

frequentþ limited

to

monÊ'attractive'

sports,

wlth sstuallntion

as

a

recurrlng

theme resulting ln a conslstent underæpnesêntåtlon of women. The paper continues b¡r

describirrg how fernale athletes faced consistent rnãrginali¿ation when modern sports were inrroduced in Japan ln the late ninetee*th century and developed throughout the

earþ twentletlr

century" This ls

followed

by an cxploration

of

how women and sport in Japan have developed, using e¡€mples

of

athletes who have defincd and rudefined

female atlrleticism in Japan throughout

the twentieth

century and carly truenty-ñrct c€ntury.

lt

becomes clear tåmugh these ournpfes

that

female athletes have been able

to push thc boundaries of

wharis

considered'appropriare'fsrwomen inJapan through sp€rts" The fqllowing seetion deafs

with

gendarcd deplctlons in msdia ìn _Japan during the London Olympic.ûames in 101¿.

fxploringan

existingJapanese study on tÊlevision covÊrãge of the 6ames, this sectiûn rhows how wom€n athlete¡ in Japån are also gain'

lng ground in rnedla from a guantitative percpectlve.

rhis

is slmllar

to

earl*er studies

of

Earopean,and ,{nglophone media. However, the articlc alco shor,ys thar women are

still

described as moru €motlonal, showing a ctear

diftrentíation in

dæcrlptions

of

fernale and male athletes. Subsequentl¡ this article continues

with

a study of'gendered deplctions

of

athfctes in.fapanæe

print

media durlng the Zo16 Olympic Gamer

ln

Rio deJaneiro, showing that fem¡le ¿thletæ are g¿lning ground in terms of lnçreased

ph*

tographic coveÍege, cspeclally in the case of wrestling" This is interestlng, as wr€st¡ing reguirss

mu$culailre,I

ptqrsical

¡ttribute

mostly framed as m¿scullne. The article then concludes

with

its main

ñndlngl,

describlng how cGnåin aspects

of

gendercd deplc:

tions

of

female _{athletes in Japanese} media are Ëongrueru

to

axistlng cases covering European and Anglophone cases, However, as the artlcle also concludes,

it

is

problem-atic

to

as¡ume thatJapanese womên athletes are slde-lined ln sports

that

are deerned masculine, as ã rnore

in{epth

exploration of Olympk wrestling coverâge ln Japanese

print

medla shows.

Medlo, gertder, and theCIllmpict

It

has been

well

established

that

people are lnfluenced by

the

rnedia they consume. This has signlficant effeets

on

how gender is percelved, as these mediã

crnstruct,

ln

the words

of

Eoin Trolan, rnarrativeg of

what

it

¡neans

to

be a woman

or

man, and

more

specificalþ

the gender lmbalance bctw¿en men and women', something

that

is especially apparent in thq wOrld

of sptrLr tor

_{example, Dlanne Jones' $tudy about}

online covêrage of several mafgr news network¡ shon¿s

that'the

achlevements of rnale

athletes were

the

focus

of

coverage t...1 rO

out of t8

days'

during the

zOOS Olympic

Games.¿ Similarly, Andrew C. Billings concludes

in

a longitudinal study

on

the

Olym-pic Games between 1996 and 2006

'that the

gaps between coverage of men's Olympic sports and women's Olympic sports' have

not

improved towards the late zOoos,

with

a

noticeable preference

for

male athletes.s Even where

the

focus was

shifting

more towards female athletes this appeared to be centralized'around 'attractive sports, such as beach volleyball [...]',6 Raymond Boyle and Richard Haynes aptly describe

this

phe-nomenon when they argue

that

in the media

ltlhe marginalization of women's sport is perhaps the clearest manifestation

of

patriarchal ideologies

in

sport. The gendered values

of

sport are acutely real-ized when

the

physical capital ascribed

to

men and women's bodies differs so

greatly. Female muscularity is viewed as distasteful and inhumane. Masculine strength and bravura are celebrated and viewed as herolc. Success and power in sport come to represent the iconic symbol of manhood. Women's boxing, for

example, clearly disrupts and challenges such stereotyPes, attempting to co-opt

the

quintessential male sport

for its

own

celebration

of

women's power and physical ability.z

The ideological entrenchment of dominant masculinity ¡s seen throughout media out-lets.

ln

non-sport magazines

in the

United States,

for

example, there is a visible

con-trast

between female athletes

who

are 'encouraged

to

achieve a synthesis

of

beauty and physical fitness'and men

who'are

encouraged to achieve a compet¡tive record in power and performance sports', despite any actual progress of female sport.s Even dur-ing the 2012 London Summer Olympics, wh¡ch were described as the 'Women's Games' because for the first time all participating countries sent female athletes, photographic evidence from

print

media shows a persistent preference

for

depicting male athletes.g This is also the case

with

televised news in the United States,

which

has seen a measur-able decline in the coverage of women's sport over the past 20 years.ro However, there are difierences between media outlets. Christopher King, for example, points out

that

women

received more photographic coverage

in

British newspaPers during the 2004 Athens Olympics compared

to their

male counterparts when considering

the

overall

participation rate. Nevertheless, also here 'female coverage was sexualized, and

im-ages of women were placed in

the

latter pages of the sport section

or

below pictures

of male athletes', resulting in an overall underrepresentation of female athletes.tl Amy Godoy-Pressland and Gerald Griggs state that portrayal of female athletes is affected by a cascading variety of influences. ln their study on the 2012 London Olym-pics they argue

that

nationalism, patriot¡sm and the scale

of

specific sporting events can heavily affect the gender bias in different media.rz This artícle follows Allen McKee's approach by analysing the 'evidence left of

the

practice' by examining

the

media pro-duced and the context in which this takes place to investigate the 'normativeness of [al narrative'.1, Several scholars have even argued that the success of media relies on how existing sources

of

knowledge are utilized

in

the production process.ll Consequently,

a more inclusive understanding

of the

underlying dynamics of gender balance

in

the media neerJs to expand the scope of research cases.

Sport in japan

þlo¿le

rn

sports in _{Japan developed alongside}

the

country's growing idL¡carional

in-frastructure

in

the

seceind

half of the

nineteenth centilry/ and

into

the twentieth

century. Âlthough

tprrts

were already practiced in _Japan, it was only in the

latter

half

of

the

ninetee*th

century

tlrat

'sport'

in

its

rnore contemporary

form

started

protif-erâting

in

fhe country. Ðue

tc

rhcir

popularity among students, especially baseball and terrnis developect.'5 Following the

introduction

of baseball in

r87r

at Kaisei"õakkÕ

{university), d¡fferent sports were gradually inrroduced

into

schoolr inJapan, mCIstly

at. th€ university leve l" These included boating (a general tcrm for bÕãt sports such as

rowing)

_{t87t},

foo,tbalf and çoftbalf _{1S74}, and hockey _{lSZI), -l'his tre ncl continued

into

rhe twentíeth

cen[urywith

tracf<and field, basketballanrlrugby (1933], handl¡all,

volieyball and sumo (1926), Furtherrncre,

the

development of capitalism _{in Japan} re-sulted in an increase in educational

institutions,

in

turn

produclnga

largernumberof

students engaged in these spcrts. lnevítabiy, throughout this process,

jt

became clear

¡o _{several key acrors in Japan}

lhar spcrts

nee¡led

to

be codified alongsidÊ

the

regu-lar

curriculum

in

orderto

Facilita¿e the increased

participatirn

and compet¡tioß

be-tween students and athletef"r6 üne

of

these key actors wasJigorõ Kanõ,

the

faunder of

contemporaryiudo

and one of the mÕst inflüeneial figures in

the

prornulgation of

mass-sFlort inJapan. He was

the

ñrst member of the lnternational Olympic Comrni!-ree _{from Japan, and} in 19rl hecame the

first

president of tlre Japan Sporus Association, leading _Japanese pärticlpat¡on in international spÕrl.s cûrnpetitions.r? Kðnõ useel judo

to

introduce a new approach to sports inJapan towards morc liVestern-style rational"

i¿ed methods of practice.lr ln aeldition, newly impcrted sports started proliferating in

this

period,

with

a growing nurnber

of

sporting associations (undo-bu, rnostly

affili-a¿ed ro schools) organieing cûmpet¡tioils,le However, although experiencing an

uplift

in the rgros the deve tropment of sport for

wome*

remained of peripheral importance

throughour

a large part

of

its

early developrnent _{in Japan.} Although the

actual

par-ticlpation

rates

for

female athletes

frorn the

late nineteenth

to

rhe early

twentieth

century

remain largely unknown,

the

lack in

growth

rf

wöm€n's sports is visible in

the marginalized position they occupîed in local, regional, natiûnal and even inte

rna-tional

co m petitiCIns.?s

Women and spart in _Japan

From the lale nineteenth century onwards, women's role wirhin _Japanese society was

!ustified

pedagogically and eduçationally forn'rulatecl

with

the concept of 'good w[fe,

wise mother' _{ryosai kernba}. Âppropriating this dual role to women was not unique to

Japan,n but did have a significant effect on the conceptualization of women in relation

to sports in the

country

as three examples show.

Judo presents a

first

example. Kanõ, the founder of modern judo, was worried about what he considered

the'fragile'

bodies of women and adjusted exercise routines

to

better

fit

his ideas, and going as far as

to

separate judo practice between men and

women in his own school (Kadokan)." ln

this

sense, juào serves as a good example of how female sports participation developed in _Japan. While male participation rates were skyrocketing in the rgzos and '30s, examples of female practitioners (both female and male practitioners.of

judo

are called judoka) are rare to*come by and are mostly

limited

to

Kanö's

own

special section

for

women (joshi bu). Even

in this

section fe-male judoka faced consistent challenges. They were largely excluded from compet¡tíon

throughoutthe

growth of the sport, both in Japan and internationally. Remarkably, not

Japanese women but female judoka from the West eventually forced their way through

a

ban

from

competitions,

with the

lnternational Judo Federation

lifting

it

as late as

1974. Th¡s suggesrs that the position of female judoka inJapan, judo's countly of origin,

did

not

progress at the sâme pace as

that

of their foreign counterparts.

ln

fact, Japan

first

had to sign rhe United Nations Convention on

the

Elimination of

¡ll

forms of

Dis-crimination against Women and change

the

law before judol<a _{were gradually allowed}

to participate in competitions. A few decades later, the success of _{iudoka such} as Ryõko Tamura (Tani), a seven-time

world

champion and two-time gold medallist at the Olym-pics between 1g92 and zoo8,

would

suggest

thatthe

position of female _iudaka

within

the sporr in _{Japan had improved. However,}

to

this day female iudaka in _Japan still face sexism

in

a variety of ways. The eventual expectations

of

marriage and rnotherhood

remain primary focus points;

this

is exemplified by

the

fact

that

Tamura's marriage and the birth of her child were heavily publicized events and showcased a return to the

conservative 'good wife, wise mother' values in Japanese media.zl

Another example of the ambiguous position of female athletes in _Japan is track

and field and particularly the case

of

Hitomi Kinue, the firstJapanese woman to win an

Olympic medal at the 800 meter sprint during the 1928 Arnsterdam Olympics.'{ Her

suc-cess became a media sensation inJapan. She contributed to this by'delivering speeches about her achievement throughoutJapan', resulting in contemporary nationalists

turn-ing her Olympic achievement into a _{testament to the Japanese} sp¡rit'.25

lt

is possible to interpret Kinue's success as a

form

of resistance to a perceived Western dominance in both (internaríonal) sports and global politics at the time, as some scholars do.26 How-eveq she also deviated from the roles she was expected to

fulfil

as a _Japanese woman.

This became obvious

in

the

public

debates about

the

value

of

sports

for

women

ín

Japan sparked by her early death at the age

of

24 in 1931. These included opposing and support¡ng arguments about the health values of sport for women. Although such de-bates had existed earlier,

Kinuet

death served to

further

gender

the

sports discourse. Female athletes were now labelled 'victims' whenever they encountered injuries.2T This consolidated

the

idea that women's bodies were fragile and needed extra

attention

if

they were to partic¡pate in sports. Kinue's passing also fuelled discussíons regarding her biological gender when ¡t was speculated

that

an assumed 'masculine' behaviour

lng her chlldhood showed her betng elther a man or at least '40 or 50 percent mele'. ln line

with

thls dlscourse therÊ were also publÌc dellberations on her seruaì preferences, comparl$ons of hÊr body to _{menb bqdies iespecially} hei 'unr.¡sual' helght), and, the fact

that

she had not been marrled, all suggesting

that

both she arrd her btographeru'had been fernlnÌzllngl her athletlc [mage'

to

make p¡i for. a percelved lack"'e

The dual role of ryõsal kembo that

ffied

the basis for these dehates was effec:

tively prornulgated through educational institUtions, evidenced by the'ðpþoritlon from

educational circles and parents qf fernale'students to'wo¡nen partlc¡pating in sports

at

the

tirne. Despite

the

popular essociation of sports

with

unfeminine behaviour,

how

ever, and sirntlar

ïo

countries

ln

Europe, growlng nationallsm in Japan leadÌng up

to

Wortd

War

ll

resultgd

In an

lncreaslngly strong co-nviction among natlonalists

that

wrmen

actually needed $ports

to

become stronger and healthler than

their

Western

counterparts, encumberlng wornen

with

the obligat[on

to

bear a strong nÊur

gerr€ra-tlon ofJapanese chitdren.n Simultaneousl¡ rnale dorninst€d sport wäs asserted

coniln-trously, reinforcing already exirling ambivalenies towarils the:role of fAmale atftletes.¡ù t"lale hegemony in sports was

nüt

only expressed

in this

ambivalent s¿ãnce, Å thir.d and later exampie in thls regard is that of the 'Orienm'l Witchûsi (cð¡6'no ma¡'o), a

celebr.ated t*arn of JapsnÊsÊ fernale volleyball players who

won

?a con$eÊutlve games

ln Europe:in 196r and went on to'win a gçld medal durlng the tg64 Tokyo olympics,

Sirn-llar

to,l(lnue, these athletes werË,halled as 'natlonal heroesr and they are

stlll

'pr:aised

for

thelr gklll and athletlc performance'. However, ar lwona MerkleJn showsi hy ineor-porating the social and cu{tural context lnto our understanding of the phenomenoni

it

heçornes clear that.the presentation of thesê 'tiatisnaJ heroest'was conxtruCted parallel

to a reliance on çonservative gender values.t¡ ln the volleyball final the

Ori€nþl

Vlitches faced the Soviet Russian [earn

rhat

consisted'of players

taller

than themselves. Thls ph¡rsicality becarne a focal potnt in the mediatized atternpt

to

preserve the

femininity

of theJapanese players. Domertlc medla dichotomlzed the tal[ 'mesculine' players from Russia who were framed as representing 'the Wesf and the 'littleJapanese

playrn'as

p€t¡te and

lmplicitþ

more feminine.¡¡

ln

addition, the erpeÇtetlonq çJ mar.r'iage and

motherhood were recurrlng themes in the reports on the players' llves. ln an attempt

ts

subdue the extern¡l relfication of the conservat¡ve role that _Japanese women wÊrc expected

to fulfil,

some elæn had

to justlfy thelr

contlnued participatton as a

'sacrl-fice tc thé stâte'.,i Telllngly, one player'r decision

to

postpofle marrTage untll after the

olympic Games became a topic of natïonal debate.t MerkleJn also *hows how the team

was'portrayed

es a harmonious

familg

obedient to the

f¡ther

lthe team coach,

Hlr+

bumi

Daimatsul,, thus upholdlng male hegemony ln Japan. tmposing a

strlet

reglme, Daimatsu was presênted ln public discourse as an ldeal 'father.lllce, charismatlc coach'. Despite his strlcmess, the players rememb¿rcd hlm as a 'lovlng father',r¡ This framlng

refleets

the

perslstent ldeology of

the

male head

of

the famiþ.te Daimatsu's

treinlnf

methods and

the

teamt

eventual success did pose a challenge to contemporary dis-coursgs of the _{'fragite and weak' female body. However, by} inrpþing

the

psychological weelcness

sf

wont*n

in

need

of

¡trict

mal+imbued discipllne,

it

also rrinfo.rced the

a I rrady p revatent,gendered hiera rchy-rt

A'rnbivalent partrayals

All rhree hlstorical examples signify what Margâret Carllsle Duncan and Cynthia A. l-ias-brook call rhe ambivalence of 'positive portrayals stressing women's streflgth, skill,

or

expertise along

with

nrgative suggestions

that

[trivlal¡sel the women's effnrts or [im-plyl

thet

they [arcl unsuited

to

sport].rt By daing

st,

the

media do rtot only maintaln

rhe gender blas but alço actively construct barriers

for

fernale sports _{FartitiPation,!e}

also called 'symbolic annihilatlon'.tr Tsrrl Bruce aptly formulates

this

position when she explains that thls pr.ocess results in the idea that'Sportsryom€n dofl't

matter',s

Research focuslng

on

Eurcpe,

the

United Kingdom and

the

Unlted States has

shown

how

female athletes were perpetually lgnored and

their

$uccesses

marginal-.ized. Sueh soncr€te as

well

as symbollc

annihilation

r:esulted

in

persisting barriers for

women

ln sport. Simultaneously, as the cases

of

Klnuç, Tamura and the Orie-ntal

Wltches show, female atkleæs

were

pushing

the

boundaries

of

hegemonlc gender dlscourses. ln.Japan they frequently did so under the aegis

of

a strongly

natlonalis-tic

discourse.

ln

fact, as Robin Orlansky argues, Japanese female athletes oftentimes ,recÊive _{significant rnedla attentiÕn', and}

_{utilirinS this attçntion}

_they

_{have already} broadened 'the ways "sutcessn can be defined forJapanese women', maklng

that'not

all wornen in Japan are invariabNy entrapped ln the

parltion

of the submissive

home-makeç a,steTectypical image

th¡t

still

perslsts todayt'rt The success

of

Kinue serves aç an example, as she opened up a national debate on the value

qf

women in spot'ts, The cholce of several Oriental Witches to psstpone marríage" again sparkirig naÈisnal debates, is another case

ln

po¡flt.

Hqweveï Orlansky also e:cplains

that the

amount of media anenfion rnlght increase during times of success but

that

post-f€al frarning

stlll

frequantly reverts

to 'a

more con$ervãtlve gender discourse by privlleging

thelr

achievemen* f n

tradltionally

feminine roles of

wife

end rnother over

their

indiv]dual

sport¡ng ruccess'.{l Despite this post-feat reversal, Michelle H.s" Ho concludes

in

her study

on femininity

and athletlclsm

on

morning television

that

there is an

'increas-ing tolerance

fsr

alternatlve roles

for

women

in _{Japanese societ¡r'.} Ho argues

that

Japanese women âre more than eyer able

to

mov€ awây frorn roles considered morc

'appropriate'

whlle

audlence psrceptisns

of

the

presentation

of

female

athlttes

are influenced by fnterventions of tnationalistlcdlscourse; athletic pro\ryess, and appropri-ate

ferninlniry'.ll pup'"tions

are also lnfluenced by

the

popularity

of

individual

ath-letes and different sports, and even the lmprobability of success ln sports where

other

countrles'

athletes

might

be dorninant.+¡ Älthough domlnant gender discourses

still

strongþ

influence

the

rcpresentation

of

fêmale athletes

in

the

rnedia, Suecess Êan

significantly affect what is deerned "appropriate' for wornen,

¡llowlng

fb.male athletes

to slowly detach themselves frorn

the

conseruafive ldea

of

the Japanese women äs a

fragile homemaker, mother and wlfe.

Ëloser exarnination of the representation of fernale athletes in Japan

wlll

deep-en our understanding of the underþing dynarnics 1n gendered ldealogies. Thc Olympic

Games offer a valuable

opportunity to

study how these media utilize gendered

fram'

lng,

it

being

the

largest media eveñt tn

the

world

and

widely

covered

in

_Japanese

dornestic rnedia, The

following

section therefore delves deeper into the gendered rep-resentation of female athletes in Japanese media during the zotz London and zo16 R¡o Olympic Games.

ûendered representstians in _{Japanese-medisr} the l"andon z.otz Qlymptc 6ames

The Olynrpic GðmÊs a¡Ê ân lmrneRse media erËnt and Japanese med¡a contribute

to

thls

predominance. To

e€mine

how

cornpeting ath{etes were gendered

ln

domestTc media covÊrege Haoml l(obayashi explored gendered aspects

in

media portrayals fo-cusing on televised nÊws progrãmmes afred during the London Olympit Games ln

znr.

One of rhe main cortclusions

of

her study is that

the

rnajority of Japanese news cover-age of th¿ 20t2 0ames concemed ltself wlth _Japanese athletes (g?.t percent].{ó Success

wâs a strong deter.rnining factor in gaining more covÊrage,

with

8t'6 percent dedicated

to

medal winners. Kobayashî also showg that femaie âthletes received more roverage

than their male colleagues when considering overall succsss, Japanese fêmale athletes

won

t7

medals, receiving 5F,u percent

of âlrtims,

whlle

male sthletes

won

ä

med. als, recelving 43.5.Fcrcent.

Thi¡

was related

to

the suûcess

of

the

tndlvtduaf athletÉf, For example¡

in

wrestling both

fe¡nale and male athletes.won three medals

but

þ

rnafe wrestlers got 7 percent of total telcvision nerrús covêri¡ge and tnale wresders only 1.4 percefit"{7 An overriew of tl"¡e rnedal rankings indicates

that

fernale wrest[ers werç rnore succÉssful than

theh'mele

counterparts,

winning

three gold meda[s,

whlle

the rnen wûn only one gold and

two

bronze rnedats. ln addition,

two

female wres¡lërs from

Japan successfulþ defended

úeir

previous Olympic titles: Saorl Yo¡hidä (2004 and loo8 gald medalllst ln the

5I

kg _{women's freestyle event) and Kaori lchð {zool and}

rool

gold

medallist

in

the 63 kg women's freestyle event), Ëhowing

that

female wrcstlers wËrc consistently successful at

the

Olympics.

Although

the

total

coverage

of

female athletes exieeds

that

of

¡nale athletes,

further

analysis

of

the

cover¿¡ge shows

this

does

no[

reflect the

whole

picture. For example,

in

televlsed nÊws coverage

of

the zotl,

Garnes female

athlrtes

were more

likely

to

be deseribed

as'happy'

_çnrokobl,t4 percent); 'sad' (rtanaråimi, 83.3 porcentli

'spirited'

_|tklhaku, r0o p€rcentl; _{and 'nervousftense' {ftincåõ, 100 perceot},} wh¡le rnalÊ arhletes

were

more

often

dscribed

as 'angry'

(iluri,85.7

pÉrcent). Sîmilarþ, toplcs such as marriage, chlldren,

famtl¡

love interest,

or

_{Fersonality were more} frequently

used to describe female

than

male åthlëtes.¡t 5o,

while

in

the

total coverage

it

seerns

that

fernale athletes were gaining ground ln comparigon

to

their

male counterparts, a deeper reading üncovÊrs an inherent amblvalence towards female wrestlers as well.

There are, however¡ â few limitatíons

to

Kobayashi's rtudy" Flrost, itdoes

not

lnclude an

anaþsis

of

vlsual rrpresentation. Sscond,

it

ørcludes how

athlêtêi

ene comperãtlìr€fy asslgned specific markers of feminlnlty or måsculintty

a*oclated

æ speclfic sports. ThÊ

'approprlateness' of cenain sports would sugg€$t a devlation from the årgurnent

that

worflcn (especially in more'masculine'sports) are cofls¡stently mârglnalhed. Howcver, fem¿le wrestlers âppear

to

receive dedicated coverage¡

*ven

though

it

is

clear

that

wresrling

-

a martial erts

that

regulres developed musculature

-

doeç not

ñt into

tl¡e frarnework of the conservat¡ye feminine woman

with

a

'petite'

and 'fragile' body.

tt

is therefore also necessäry to also establish how these wrestlers are depicted. This

will

be done by examlnlng çovÈrsge af the 2016 Rio Olymplcs to expand on howwreçtlers were

deplcted in

print

media before, during and after the event.

Coverlng _fendle athletes dwing ti¡e ftlo 2at6 Olympies

The study below consists

of

an analysis

of photçg¡¡p¡¡c nñæríal from

articies pub-lished tn

the

Affih¡shlrnhrrn, one of

_Japanl

nationel dally newspapers.te Desplte a de-cllne ln nÊwspaFer readershlp,sJapan

still

maintains a high degree of rnass circulation

-

and readership,

wíth

newspapÊrs remaining a reflectlon

of

the 'social mainstream'.tr

The

lnitial

tlrneframe

is

hetween S

and

zt

Àugust 2016. Examining

how

Japanese wrestlers are framed, the timeframe is then expanded

to

include the weelc prior to and

the week after the 6ames (r9'July

to

28 August 2016T

in

order

to

¡nclude lnsight

into

the expectations and evaltlatians

of tlre

Olyrnpics. The analysis then proceeds

with

a

l¡mited textual analysls

tû

investigate how the alhletes were described.

The, analysis focuses

on

pirotographs because, as. Þlargaret Cai'Jisle Durtcan

wrltes, whlle they seem

to

be realistic and objective, they are 'never neutral render-irrgs'. This ls especially true far the gendered depictions,$¡ ln o¡der to examine how this

iç done ln Japan, the'photographic evldence from the ?016 Rlû Olympics was

filtt

cat-egorized according to frequency

(total

nurnber), date and sport, and rhen categcrized

as ths following: female, rnale

or

unspeciñed (the focus of

the

image did not fouus on

an athleteJ.rr

ln

ådd¡tion.

the

photographs were catrgorized by

the

tollowing factors

taken

frorn

King:

athletic

pose, meaning

'a

perferming athlete

who

ls wearlng

their

team clotlling

whilst

perticiÞat¡ng in his or her event', and non-athletic pose, m*aning

'a picture of an athlete irr a non-spÐrt $ett¡ng or not wearing thelr team clothing'.tr

Eecause a long-term discourse analysis is outslde the scope of this analysîs, the research offered here fs

llrnitçd to

an eclectic methodological approach

that

obvlates certain quafitailve aspects. ln addition

to

these

limiutions.

the anal¡rsis relieÉ on only

onÊ newspaper,

timlting

generalirability. The purpose

of thís

analysis ls

to

add

a

per-spÊctiv€ to a broader understanding of gender frarning.

Resu/ts

ln

lg3

arricles containing

6rl

photographs, 36,7 perçent depict female åthletes, 50.41 percenl depict male athletes

wlth

2.94 percÊnt depicting both and 9,95 are unspecified,

lfl

contfast, rhe Japanese team

at

the

ûlympics consisted

of

¡O¿

ftmale

{+E.Sr} and

V4 mak

athletes _{51.48 pËrcent}.rs A comparison of

the

participatlon rate and cover-age Indicates

a

signlficant imbalançe favouring male âthleÌes. Fem¡le ãthletes

wtn

seven gold medals, while male athletes won five. Despite being rnore successful

ln

the

gold medal standings, fçmale athletes receiwd less vlsual ü)Uosure then male athlctês.

Cornparing gender Gåtêgory and pose alsc

¡horm rhat

photographs

of athletlc

posei

contained less female (38,9 percent! than malc _[t0"27 percent] athletes, suggesting a

blas favauring males.

There are consplcuous

dlfierenc;s

in lhe

bf,hricê

in

indMdual sports. ÌVhlle

visuel soveragc of

b¡dminton

and wrËstllnf, ar€

domiîated

by female atlrletcs, photo-graphs of _{football, S/mnastics, fudo,}

rugh¡

*wlmming, tennis and track are dorninated by men. Especlalþ coìreragÊ

of footbrll,

tcnnis, and

rr¡ck

aru male dsmlnatcd,

with

g1.lt,

ræ, ¡nd

8+E

pcruenq rssp€ctlvcly. overell, male ethletes ruce¡vÊ a clear advan-tage

in total

photographïc

corcragr.

Nevçrthelcssi thqru arc.sporus

that

devlat¡, from this rule, msst notabþ

wre*tling,

e sport

eælþ

associetêd

with

m¡seulinity but

clerrþ

domlnated

þ

fcmrle

athletes in terms of eoveng+, For

this

rieason, the follpr¡¡ing

sec-tion fureher explores hor¡v wre¡tlers t/wrc deplctcd during the Rio Oþmplm.

Wreseling

Wrestling has been an

offici¡l

Olympic errent since

_$t4.

However, the wome n'3 ev€flt

was only, added a centuly later,,

duringthe

2004 Olyrnpic 6arnes.s SttcclncLly¡ wrest{lng

is a sport in whicl¡

¡¡¡o

athlenes fase,each oBher off in a,circular r'ing; and the goal

ir

to pln down onefr, opponsnL

or

win

by

poinu

For specific movec. Ne-cessaril¡ the

spori

requires'musculature

to

ensurc,rtrong phy-sical fitness. When looking at

the cristing

rtsearch explor:ed earlier fogusing on European and Anglophone media, the conclusion

that

'musculaturE on a female ls considered L..l socially unaccepfable'er strongly sug. gests

thât

fefiale

ath¡etes face marginali¿ation

wlthfn

the

sport and

ln the

medþ,¡! Thls ts consistent

wlth the

ldea

of

"naturãl'

differences between the sexesl,

ln

this ürse musculature,

whlch

ls percelved as naturally rnascullne.s

lf

thls conclusion can be generalized across media and sport intematlonally, includlngJapan, the vlsual

ren-dering

of

female athletes such as wrestlers,

who

have slgnificant muscle.definltion, would clearly be a þr:eak

from

hegemonic discourses of fèmlninity.

It

ic an lnteresting developrne,nt; therefore,

that

the _Japanese ghotographs

of

Olympic wrestling are

quantitativeþ

dominated hy

femah

athletes and depicting

ath-letic poses. _Around

_69,n

percent of this coverag€

li

dedicated to female wrestlers, and t7,91 _fercent

to

rnale wrÞstlers,

wlth

2.33 percent unspecified, ln addition, the majority

of

images

wrre

elther

the

maln image in the artlele, Òr ¡rbove-text Imagçg (not placed below lrnages

sf

male athleÈes|, in non-sexual posltlons* A closer look inta thfs derælop rnent rÊveÊls why th¡s ls the case. _Japan sent siJ( female and four male wrestlers

to

Rlo, and five sut of six fe¡nale wresdsrs won a msdal, of

which

four'werÊ gold medals. ln contrast, rnale wrestlers

won two

medals, both silver.'There is a.significant dïfrÉrence

in the succ€ss ratio between fernale and male olyrnpic wresttÊrs.

Analysing coverage In the week prior to the Oþrnpics ¡hows that ferrale wr€s-tlers weré covsr.ed in

four

articles, and male wrestlers in one articler a

ll$

of

the com-plete selectlon of _{Japanese athletes also} mentloning

the

fentale wrestler$. The three

remaining ärliclcs cÇntained

two

extensive descriptions

of

female wrestlers (frio

Wq-t¡ri

and Eri Tõsaka),ro and one reference

to

the consistent success

of

another female wrêstler {Saori Yoshidai,t¡ Slrnilarly, the coverage of wrestli ng during the olympics wãs heavìly skewed towards female wrestlËr"s

(ôl.rg

_{Fercent), increasfng}

to

]!:86

pcrcent

in the week after

the

Olympics.

ln

cornparlson, male athlÊtes received 36.7t percent durlng, and 12.74 perc€nt of wrestling coverage followlhg the olymplcs, Thfs indlcate¡

nor only a clear expectat¡on

that

female wrËstlers wers Ínore llkeþ to wín medals than male wrestlerÉ

ât

the

zo16 Olyrnpics,

but

also shçws

that

national success as such greatly affecred the amount of anention athletes received during and efær the Gemes. Despite wrestling being a sport easily associated with* masculinity, Japanese fe. rnale wrestlers received more cùverage than male wrestlers. lnterestingly, thÌs is also

the case in terms of vi¡ual crverage depicting athletic poses. Musculaturre, a physical

atçibute

considered 'masculine' and neEessary

fqr

wrestling,

dld not

prevent femalc wrestlers

from

being deplcted more, especially ln athletis

pt

es¡ than male wr¿stlers, desplte contradìcting

the

histortcally constructed conseruat¡ve femala body as petite and fraglle. h4oreover, there is a strong qualitative gap ln rhe

rexual

cCIvefa-ge bstween

the f¡male and male athletes,

A camparison beÈween

two

silver medal winners, Saorl Yoshlda and Rei

Hlgu-chi, fernale and male wre$tlers' respectluell clearly highllghts

this

gap,

l{iguchi

was mentioned

ln

three arHcles,that d*seribed hls past* hls matchles); a quote by him ar.

Éoncemlng hlm, or a perronal asF€ût!

with

the remainder of his,mentions being lìmited

to

his achlwemenÈ

in

single sêntences

or

in a chart showcasing the overallJapanese stanillngs.

ln

conffåst, Yoshida was covered

in

15 artlcles, r"anging from an overvlgw

of

her achlevements, descriptions

of

her

rnatches,

to

lnveÉtlgatlons

fnto

hgr private life. The same applled to the other wrestlers,

wlth

a maJority of coverage dedicated bo

female wreitlers.

Thr

feason

for

thls is the

consisknt

internationâl success

of

female wrestlers:

Japants femEle

wrestling

has becorne the strongest. 'Havlng hecome tärgqted by

the world,

it

fwrestlingl

w¡ll

likely become even fiereer during the

lpzo

To-þo

olyrnpies' according

to

Mll/azawa. HowevËq she belÍeves that theJapanese wonnen,

wlth thelr

high priUe and tough mental fontitude,

will

be able to strike

back at this pressure.r¡

Nevertheless, it ir çornmon for coverage

to

relapse lnto a nrora amblvaNent position, as

a plece

written

by Mitsuru Satõ, a forrner Olymplc male wrestler and gold medalllst, show$r

Howewr, even though Japanese womÊn oçcupy the top layer, the population

cf

cornpetitors is small. Supporting them are

the

people

from

the AllJapan Boyt and 6irls Wrestling. There are only a few,exãmptes of courttr¡es where, like in Jâpãn, girls can stand on the rnat together'with boys"Ét

Desplte

the

fa$

that

the

mÊn

rrc

lcss sucsÊssftrl

at this

suge

and

that úlcre is

no evldence of the validity

of

the

ahow

ergumenq Srtõ

stlll

attributes the suærss of

fé-mah wrestlers

to

rhe uniquc

qËt€m

_{ln Jepan} thqt sllirrrvl rhern to eoñrpÊtÊ

wlth

male wrestl€rs.

Simllarþ

thÊ

strict

male coach as the guidlng father figure, reminlscent

of

the Ortentål \Ultches,

still

perslsts, Cold medalltrst Sara Doshõrs trainlng serves es afl etarnple:

Her [Sara Doshõl supervisor

wa¡

Saori Yoshidais

(ff]

f¡ther;

Mr. Eikatsu. The superuision was

strict.

He would correct the positlon of ùocs and hands by

the

milllmetre- Her rnother þ{s- Yälco (a¡} seys 'When shc could not do lt, he would

always get,

angryü

The

title

of the article also strongþ reinforces the ldea

that

Doshõts success is rtot her own, but the result of people supporting her; 'Doshõ,

it

is þecaus* 6¡ ¡þe support. ["-l'ór Female wrestlêrs are also presented as more emoticnal, wiÈh. çoverage focusing less on their'techniquÊ ûr their trainlng, hut rather contributing their success'to other factsrsr

Thrrday

three Japanase female wrestlers all per{ôrmed'gr'eat.lalÞrnoment re-versels'and they all won a gold medal. A charnpion can be¿ome one evÊn under. such circumstances. 1...1

it

reafly is about heart and not techntque. The¡e were

rwo da¡e in whlch I orperierlced the female athletes' attltude of neuer givlng upl'

l,was,agaln

taughrth€

splcndour of fighüng

untll

the very end"û

The suceess of the three female wreçtlers is

not attributed

to

their¡rears of

training

and efforr, but

to

thelr wiltpower,

their'heart'

a¡td

their attitude of

'never glvfng up'.

The followlng exeerpt highlights

the

contrast between how female and mal¿ athtetes are described¡

ln

Rlo, er¡en

wlth

the former

champlon as á

pcwerful

apponent, he [Hlguchil

brought out æchnlques taught by t"tr. Yumoto, such es a single foot t¡ckle, and bending ontfs arm around your opponent

to bring

dorarn his.position, Accsrd' ing

to

Mr. Yumoto, who wa¡ched the game ss a televislon commef¡tãtor: 'H€ rernained in a state

of

high csncÊfttrâtlon and ctnÊtant rnóvÊment'.67

Two Pûints

of

interest arise tn

this

comparlson: the description

of

how

the

athlete$ were trained and the role of the coach. Eulldlng on the idea that women simply need 'rngre

aüention'

when

trainlng,

Dorhð's Bra¡nar is descfibcd as

strict

(male) gufding figure

that

needed tö corrcrt,

htr

techniques by the millimetre. ln an ama¿lng contr¡st"

Fllguchi is slmply describrd as having l¿amt techniques taught to him, with

little

refér-ence to correcÈion or'disclplinary action from his trainer, Mr: Yumoto.

It

is evldent

that,

du¡pitu

the

prOgress

in

quent¡tat¡ve te-ÈfnF" gendcr equity tn

qualitative terms ls

stlll

lagglng. HowÉveÊ therc are lndlcatiorrs

that

protress ls con-tinuing, with themes such as marriagr and child rearlng being rare among beth female

and male athletes.

ln

addition, women are

nelthersubservientto

male athletes

wlth

regard

to

phottgraph

locatlon, nor overtly sexuaiized

in

their

visual deplctlons, even surpassing rnale athletes

ln

athletic

deplctlons. This shows

that

female wrest¡ers in Japan are pushlng hard agalnsr the boundaries of

what

is 'approprlate' ln terms

of

be-ing successful as an âthlets in a sport

that

strongly eontradicts the ldea thatJapanese wornen are fraglle and weak.

Conctrusiort

The rnajcrity of studies concerning gendered depictions

ln

sport In the media have fo-cused on Anglophone and European câses. Thls inherent bias prevÈnts a deeper

under-sunding of how gerrdered ideologies are expressed ln medla outslde of thfs region. Thls

aûicls want$ to expand

that

scope. ln dof ng so,

lt

shÕurË

that

certåin aspects

of

gen. dered depictions already found in existlng studles are also prevalent ln Japanese media, ilevertheless, the study

of wrestllng

in Japanese

print

media also questlons certalrt aspeËts concerning

the

dlchotornisatiart

of

'approprlate'

ferninlnity

and mascuTlnity. The ease of wr:estling In _{Japan is exeeptlÕnally enlíghtening, especlalþ when} conslder-tng the historlcal development of female athleticlsm

lr

the country.

lt

shows

that

suc-çess can supersede gender and greatly affect the medla atÈënt¡on an athlete receives in Japan. This is interesting

when

considering

that

wrestlTng

doer

nor

tall lnto

the category

of

'attractive' spcrts explored in earlier research.

lt

requires musculature, an

ãttr¡bute asssciated

with

mascullnity, Yet; vísual rEpresentãÈions oF female wrestlers ln

athletic pos€s are.not consistently placed ln subservient poçitions to visual reilderings of ma le at h letes, nor ere the images overly sexualized. lvloreovei, female wrestlers have

receíved a greät deal rnore

textual

coverage

than

rnale

wrestlen,

with

expectatlons

of success. and actual success, considerably affecting

the

amount

of

attentlon these athletes have received, as is clear in both television cov€rage of

the

2012 London, and

print

media coverage

of

the 1016 Riû Olympics. Suçeess has allqwed Japanese fernale wrestlers

to

shift

their

representation in

the

rnedla, pushlng the boundaries of 'äppro-priateness' for women in sport in Japan, Although this seems like a loglcal conclusion,

it

ls notable

that

media

attention

in Japan can balloon even

in

ã Éport

that

strongly tontrâdlcts hegetnonic discourses af femininily. Nevertheless,

it

is evident that domi-nant gender ideologies are

still

strongly embedded

ln the

qtralltative descriptions

of

female athlrtes, reminiscenrof the 'ryrnbolic annihilation' that fernale athletes outside of ¡apan also façe.

ln

thís aspectJapan does not necessarily deviate frorn the studies concerning European and Anglophone media, This {s apparent

ln

Kobayashi's analysls of the z012 Londsn Olyrnpics,

with

female athletes being described

in

rnore emotional terms, manifesting

itself

in

crerage

during

the 2016 Rio Olympics as well.

Further-rïore, the rnale coach is

still

persistently portrayed as a guiding figure. Following this

träjectory, the success

sf

female âthletes is removed from

their

individual efforts, and rather framed as a Eupposed effect of

their

environrne

nt,

This is opposed as

to how

for example, _Japanese maie

wrestl*rs

are portr,ayed as

owing

morÊ

to

their individual

abilities. lt can be concluded, therefore, that despite female wrestlers' push agalnst the boundarles of theJapanesÊ wÕman as sfrnply a 'fragllct hornemaker and shlfting

what

is con¡idered 'appropriate'

for

wornÊn through individual success, news coverage

of

female athletes

stfll

has a long way to go. Nevertheless,

from

the analysls of Japanese medla coverage of olyrnplc wregtl¡ng

lt

i¡ also clea r

that

successful femalç athletes are receiving widespread

attention

in

a sport csntradic¿ing th€ dominant ideals.of

ferni-ninity,

problem.atlzlng

the

generallrablllty

_of

the

argument

that

fe=male ath¡Êtes ãre only gainlng ground

in

rnedia coverage qf what are considersd 'feminine aBpropriate'

and'attracÌivef $pcrts

fV(}TFs

t

Andrew C, eillings, 'Clocking Gender ûifrennces: Televised Olyrnpic Clock

lme

in the tgg6.z0oË Summer and Winte r Olympics', re/suIs¡on

I

New Medlt g _{(rûo8) 5. 4ig.}

1

Balmond toylê and Rlchard HaynËr, Ëower Play: sporq tâeála

*td

Popula¡ trilture _{Ëdtnburghr

Edln-bu _{ryh.Un lver*ity'Press, z0oÊl¡} 143.

J,

€oln J, Trolen, 'Tïe Ìffiprft of ¡he medls on gender inequalry witfiln' sBorH _, F¡oepdtt - Soc!øf and

Sehat¡tordl Scter¡¿es 91 {¡r13}, ?.15,

4

DlanneJones, 'On{lne'coverage of th€,ltxtt Olyrnplc Gänss.on the AgÊ; ðsc, crc and lvue', Factrfc journalism.EeÌ,isw tg _tzol3) r, ?j7,

S

nndrelv C, Fllllngr, Qþmplc t',t¿dtd: ln¡lde tfte üiggest såou¡ on _{rel¿yl¡lon {Londonr AoutlÊdBe, ?ûû8),}

ür;

ãnd Blllhgr, 'Clocklng Cendcr Differercrs', 4lg.

6

Billings,'Clocking6ender. Þiffrmñce¡', {Jg,

7

Eoyle and Hâynes, Pciunr PIay,ti1.

E

TlmothyJ. cürrf- Paula A. Arrlagada and Benjamin Cornwell,']rnågës of Sport ln Popular Honsport

Magtalnes: Pswer ¡nd Performance v€lrus FlÉsst¡r-e _rnd Prrticipation'- Sorlofugicaf Fs/sFÉ€t¡y€s 45

{Tûûâ} 4, 1.09,

I

Amy Codoy-Fressland and cerald GriggË, Thg Photagnphlc Repraientation úf F¿n¡le Århlere¡ ln ¡he f rÍrl5h Pdnt Media Durlng the London 2011oþmpic 6amrs', SWftìfl Stctsty t7 (fsr.4l 6, stg.

10

Cheryl Cocky, Mlcheel

d

þlessn¿r end Rob¡n H. Hextrum. '\À/omen Play Sport"

[ut

Hot on

w¡

A

Langitudinal Study af Telcvised Newn M'Êdla', Cornmrnkarb¡ 6 lport r _ttort] 3, t¡5.

tt

Christopher lfing, 'Media Pcrtmyah çf Mtle and fernale ¡thl¿te* Â Têrt and Picure Anaþri: of

8r¡tlsh Nät¡onal ttewspaper Coverage of the Olymplc Game¡ rfflcs 1948', tnærmtlanal E¿vlewforr}r

$ocelËgy af SFon 4r {root} ¡, 1gs.

1¿ Åmy Godoy-Presrland ¿nd Gsrald Gdggp, 'London torr: The wom€n! Garfles? E¡råmiil¡ng the

Photo-gnphlc Ër¡ldence', Ínt _{Kevln Oixon and Tqm Glbbons {eds,},} Îåe trnpactof tfrc ttllQþmffeand tura'

IymptcGemes: ümfntshlngCofitr¿srs, lncreastngvari€t¡€s (8as¡ngstnk* Falgrave Macmlllann totiÌ, 6?.

rl

Alan McKee, Textual Anol¡nist A Beg¡nnefs0ui'& (fondon: Sage Publicatlong, uoo]¡, lJ and 16.

f4

Fsbilce tetmår¡¡|s ¡nd Tonl Siuct, 'Elulrlng thq boundafies of sports public rel¡tion* ¡lstlon¡l

stËr€.olypss as ÉporÈ ânnouncÈrr'publlc relatlons toôls', ft¡þflc Relstrûns f,pvl¿s¡ 34 irogEl, 190^

15

lnte¡cstlngly, It'olfram l*{an¡enrÉitër descdbcs how thl¡ is also the ca¡e in Âusrrie. He qp{aln¡ haw thr word 'sporC develcped in Austria _{and Japan,} juxsaposlng this develop*ranr wirh the alrcady

avall¡ble actlvltles ln Japan tha¡ would be consldered rports ln the eontemporâry sen€e. See Sport

and aødy Folittå,Í ¡n _{Japan (Nßw York: Routledg€,} l0l¡1, ¡$10,

rS

yuko Kus¡ka, 'The emugence and developmcnt of .¡¿panese school sport' ,

l*

Japan, sport and Sacl

ery:Tradttiffi and Chang¡v tn a G{abclizing Worf4 *dind

_þ

Josrph l{aguire and Masayoshi Nakayama (London; Routledge, 2m61,

$

ãfld 27.

17

Shohet$ato,'The rportlñcatlon _{of Judo,} globalconvarganc" and evolutNon',Jorrrølol?lobal¡-ttstory

I

{ro$}¡

1o5.3û6.

\

tE

yssh¡riobü H¡rnaguchi, 'lnnovatisn in martlef ârts'; in:Jaseph Maguirc and Masayôshl Hakayama

(ðdrl,Jqpcn,Sport ond5çlety:Trad¡tlon ondCåange ln a Elobølizlng _{llbrïd {tondoni} ßoutladge" 2006}., t3"

¡g

Kus¡ka. 'The,erncrgeûce and developmcnt of Japanesc school spol"c'. 1$.

xt

nyoko Raita, 'The mwement for the promotion of cornpetltlve women! sport _{in Japan, 1gr4-35',}

Thc lnÈêrßot¡onslJiturrdl af ú¿ ttistçFy ofsport 16 (1999) _7Åt2 and r3o calls thl¡ ¡ttuation '¡ stäte of paralpls'. and refars lo wornênl role in cômpttltlue sFürt åi a 'subérdlnåtc apFefid¿gË to mÉri5

garnes'.

1

Keiko lkeda, far example, gives an overÍlew of the llterature coverihg ¡lmflarltiæ between Japan and

England ln the,promulgat¡õn of thÉ nnderþing values underlylnErthe rolewomen had Èo play for tlle

beneËr of the home¡ and tha natlon. 5e* 'Ryösai.lêembo. tlberål Ëducation and Maternal Fsmínlsm untlêr Fasci¡m: l¡y'omcÍ arrd sporr in Modrr.nJppan',The !fiternatiønal ¡aurnal of.tfre Hlstary af spørt

17 _{{¡û1û} 3,} 54o,

¿z

Eianca Mia*a,Jullane gästoÉ lvtårques snd,EmÊr5on Fpnchlnl, 'RËlntêfpretlng.ths Hlåtüry of Wom-onkJudo ln¡eppn', Iñe lntÈûrdtlènal.¡oarnal,:øJtht _{HtsøryalSprt ls{'¡o¡Ð}

|

1010.

23

lbldem, loz+x)zs,

14

'flnur Hitomi', Oþnplc. on: hr+s¡l/TÀrww,oþmpic.orgfkinue-hftoml, accessed t Aq$ust 2018,

ti

DënnlsJ" Frost, Seelngstars;5pórts Celabrlty,ldatìty and Bcdy Ctrltuæ ln MødemJapøn tBo6ton: Har-vard unlverslry Asis Cenæ[ ¡0r0), 12{ ånd u8,

¿6

lüidein, 11+

tj

lbidem, u4, 13r'r3j. ln hir exploratlon on public debates followlng Klnuet death, Frost shova how

mcdicrl erperts and phyriclans suddmþ hadlfound{carne up wftftl a very cornplcnous cxample for their*rgurnents,

tr8

Mrlrob¡rse l(ðshln, as quoted in trost, Seer'4g 5rørr, 143, dhd 144-145.

19

Rãita, 'The msvemrnf;13L

]o

Froct, Sreirtg størs, u7. descrrlbes how gfto¡ni t(lnue'r 3ucc€rs wes interpreæd as tomboyish. ascriþ

lng hcr wlth 'masculine' attributes, and criticlzing her'for a lack of femlninity t..,1'.

11

lwona Merklcjn, 'Rememberlng thc oriental Wltche* Sports, Gender and Shõwa Nosulgla ln the

ñ¡H+{ Nðrratlveg of tha Tokya:Olympic$', Sosi¡I5cís rrce¡opüntaurnol

$

(?0¡3} 2, 247-248.

3?

Merklejn. 'R¡rnenrb¿rlng thÊ Orl€nTNl Wl!çheÈl, t4l,

1I

lwona Merhlein. 'The taming of the witch: sâirndtsu Hirobunri rnd coaehing discour¡es of women's

vollryhrll ln,lapan', Aslo MctfrJaurnot af Spart q¿d5o¿¡d Science (ror4|, 13,

34

MerkleJn,'Rcmrmþerlng tlre Orlenul Wttches', 742'213,

35

lbidem, l{9, ?45-u46.

16 Thi¡ is alsr called the dEiûolçubasåtro, whtch roughþ translates to 'the mäin plllar ln the horner.

tlespirc women lncreesingfy pãrtlclpâting in thr work forre and movlng away ftorn cðni$våtivê

farnlly va[ues, a maioriry of rnen still cling to thb ldêology desplte the impossibility of maintainlng

lhese gend*r rela[ions in the f+ng term. See lomoko Hidaka, 'Mascullnity and the famíly systemr The ldeologSr of the "Ëalarymfln'¡ Bcross tiree generatlons', ln: Richard Ronald and Allison Álexy {eds.}, F/ome and Family ¡n }lpût t Contlnulry ønd Trønsþrmatton (London: Routledge, 2or1), 1¿¿.

17

MerkleJn, 'The tarning of the wit¿h'; 6,

]8

Margaret Carlisle Duncan and Cynrhia À. Hasbrook, 'Denläl af Power in Womefi's $pon', Soclology of

SpørtJoumals 5 (1gSå), 1S.

lg

Paul h¡a* Pedersan, 'Examinirrg Equtty ¡n Newspaper Fhotognaphs: Å Content Analysl: of the Frint

Medla Photognphlc Çoverage of lnterschçlastlc Áthletics', lnternctionc/ fieviewþr tåe Socio/ogy of

Sporr 3t {rtÐz} 3/4, lt6.

4o

üãye Tuchrnän, 'lntroducrion: The Symbollr Annlhllation o[ Wornen by the t"tasr Media', ln: Hesrd? and Home: lmagesof l9omen in råeMssr lvledio (New York¡ oxford Univer:ity Fress, rgl8),8, ¡0.

41

Tonl Brnce, 'Sportswornen ln the i'ledla - An Anaþis of lnternatlonal Trends in Olympic and

Ëvery-day Coverage', Spûrtswqm€ n in the tvtediø

r:

(2017), r?,

42

Robln Orlansky. 'Moving Fon¡¡ard: Sports ãnd Gend':r 1n Modern Jãpan', ûr*duate¡aurnal of Asla-ffûciJ5Ëstudi€r 5 _{a007} r, Zr, 8o,8r.

4l

lbidem, Eo.

44

l*¡lchelle H.5. Ho. 'ls Nadeshiks Japan 'Feminlne"? Manufrcturing Sport Cehbrity and NEtional

ldênilry on Japanere Morning Television',Jou,'nÍJ of SporÈ and Sactallss¿res l8 {1014)

l,

179.

45

thla"Chen Yu, 'å eontentAnãlysis of tlews Cüver4gå gf ¡ls¡¡n Female Athletes', lnte¡nationalfiey¡ew

for tåe focloloqy ofSporu +t t?üogl rl3, ¿gs'rg$.

4Ê

Naoml Kobaya5hi, 'Rírndsn orinpikku ni ok*ru çenshu no jendã hyõ*ho - terebi nyûsu naiyÕ bunseki {üender differences in Telev¡s¡on ¡{ewr Ccverage *f Olyrnpic AthlÊt€s featurcd on Jåpänëse

T¿levi-rÍon dudng the Londan Olympic carnesl', Yomagatt ocigo&u ltþ-n l1høkolgoÂfre¡

lf

tr017J 1. 11.

47

lbldeffi,32-31"

48

lbldem, _S:-tt.

4g

,4sal¡Ì Shtmhun is a nat¡onal daily, wlth mornirrg, evenlng, and weekend edit¡ons, ranking Êtnong thê hlÊhest in rhe worfd ¡n terms of circulation. See 'NÊwspaper Clrculatlon _{ln Japan:} Still l{igh but

Sleadlly Falling', Nippon, 5 December tor4.

50

'Shlmhun no hakkõ busii to fukyû-do lNumber of newspaper publlcations and distribution Étesl'.

Nitron Shimbun f{yõ*ni onr http://www.pressn*t,or.Jp1daÞ¡rirculatlon/clrculationo5.php, last ¿c-cessed t5 Mäy rot8.

11

Gerllnde Mtutn€r, ,{naþing Newspåpels, h4agarlnes and othcr Frlnt Media', !n: Ruth r¡odak _and

Michal Krzyzanowski {eds,}, QualitotÍve Ðisco¡¡rs¿ Ánoþsis in lûe 5o¿ial Sciencer (Nèw York: Palgrave

Macmlllan),

lr,

52

MergarÊt Carlisle Dunrãn, 'Sports Photographt and Sexsal Dlfrerencft lrnages of Women and Men

ln thë 1gt4 and rgas olympic cames', Soclol*gyof SørrtJo.l¡.ndl7 (199oJ, ¡3.

s1

Godoy-Pressland and Griggs, 'Lcndon 10tãr Thsvy'ofiênk Garnes?', 19.

54

Kilrg, 'Media Portrayals of Male and Female Athletest, 1t9.

tt

r.rËxr, 'Käntõ shashin Rlo de _{Janelro no kiseki [Foreword pictures,} the path of Rlo de _{Janelro', Heisei}

?&nendo Manhukagdkusiro hs&û¡Ëlo (2016), on: hap:¡¡www,me¡ÊgÉ.jp/b-mgnu/hãkushÕ/html/hpab

?0¡70t/detåil1l3g8110,htrÍ. ¡ccesséd

ß

May r0rs.

t6

'Wre¡rll¡tg Fredstyle', O{ympies, onr httpry'þnrnr,olympic.orgfuvrestllng-freestyle. accessecl r August:o18,

,7

Vikkt Krtnc. 'We tan 8e Athlctlc and F'eminlnç, But Do We lvantTo? Çhallenglng Hegefionlc Ferni.

r¡nlry ln Womanb Sport', Quesr 5l {¡oot}

li

1lÛ.

15

¡oyleand HaYne*" fulwr PIa/, r43,

59

M¡r.ie Hardln, JÊan chancë, Julle E. Oodd and Erent Hardin, 'Olymplc Plrclo CoveÍägc talr to Femåle Åthler€$', Èfewspcper*esenrcåJournal2i (¿0021 _43, 64-?8, here õs"

ûo

xoi Uchida, 'Ri* gorin l-senshu, .katsuyaku chikau reruringü Whtarf-sen¡hu to hokkg N¡¡h¡krrl.

senshr¡lShimane-ken llwo Rlo olyrnpic Athletes, Prom¡s¡ng trêãr Éfrorts: Wrustllng athleæ \Vat¡ri and Hockey pl¡y€r HlthikarÍ¡Shimanc Pref¿'cturel', ,4soåisåimûfln, 3 A¡lgr¡tt 2o16¡ Mãrl Toshida, '(oll

ÊioJ õarrbarel 6arin 7-sen*hu Toyarna Yulqar¡,lirxoto de rv mo¡ Toyarna-kert t(O¡l R¡ó) oo your best!

T Olympic Athlrtes, Toyama Tukad, even ¿ local pvl', /4sohi Sfi,mbun, 3 Àugust

2û16-61

Ëåuutð Tçuzuk¡, '(Éh{sha*hitsu} "Kanooku meshl $r¡meshi Ria gorin öen rup*haru" shlal to chi;.

SãttÈ doryoku, fuyõ (Previourr room| *Eatlng w¡th rh€ Coach ¡ olympic Support Speclal" Unllke at a geme, yûu do ngt need any efrorti', isoâi íhlmbun,3 Auggtr æ16.

6l

Yukâ t'llshlrnnm, 'R¡ü gor¡n sen$hu.dan, shushõ to rnenkai lthe Rio Oþmpic Team, Mee$ry with lhe

Frime Minlster', Árcü¡Sålrrùun, ?5 Au8ust 2016;

6l

Mttsuru Satö, 'Xedakakt _loõ Nihon toripuru-kin _{resurlngu Joshi Rlo} gorin tÏhe Noble Queen, Triple

úold for Japan in Women's Wrestling, Rio Olympics', Ásqåi Íhimhun,19 August ïtt6.

6d

Kentarõ,Hirobe and'Ryõruke YämamÕto, 'Dtshõ, s¿Éâe no oXage da,yo, ¡esurlngu, ßio gorin lÐochõr

'lrwâfi because of the'suppsn wresd¡r¡gi Rio olympicsli, Ásaå¡iSlrmå$n¡ 19 Âugrr$t 2016.

65

rb¡dam.

ü6 Tâdähirð NOrrnura, '{Nomura Tadaftlro ge rnita Rlo) Takardmono wa mlenal. ffloflogatâd;w¡ suruliu,

Rio gorin [(Riô as seen by Nçrnura Tad¿hlroJ I cannot EF€ a ùtasurê, the srory continuts, Rio Olym-pìcsl'. Asaå15 himhutt, 13 Àugust porg,

er

ranta l¡lm¡ and Shühci Ncrnurå, ''Dün kusät kor henshin resurlngu, gln, Hlguchl, Rlð gorln lÕsak¡l

t"A slow child'si transformatton. Hlguchi's Wrestlingsifveç Rlo Olymplcst'. Ásøåi $fi lmbun,l0August

ror8.