Grappling partially clothed, sometimes naked, women drew large crowds, emperors but complaints from conservative officials led to sport’s demise
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenYating Yangin BeijingPublished: 2:00pm, 6 Apr 2026In ancient China, women’s sumo was a popular form of entertainment in which participants wore minimal clothing that exposed their arms, backs, navels and lower abdomens, drawing significant attention.
Sumo is widely known as Japan’s national sport, but forms of wrestling also existed in ancient China.
Not only did men compete, but women also took part, making it a popular form of public entertainment. Even emperors would watch the “performances”.
It is also believed that China has some of the earliest records of female sumo wrestlers.
The sport is thought to have originated as a form of military training before gradually evolving into a performance art.
During the Three Kingdoms period (220–265), Sun Hao of Wu ordered palace women to take off their clothes and wrestle, a fact found in early court records.
By the Sui (581-617) and Tang (618-907) dynasties, wrestling had developed into a professional form of entertainment, reaching its peak during the Song dynasty (960-1279).
