Six junior high school students were disqualified from a Tochigi prefectural judo tournament in June on the grounds that their thin eyebrows went against rules, it was learned Saturday.
According to the prefectural sports federation for junior high schools, which organized the event, officials saw more than 10 students with thin eyebrows as they carried out pre-match checks of students' weight and judo suits.
After questioning the students, match officials decided to disqualify six students who were determined to have deliberately thinned out their eyebrows by plucking them or shaving them, the federation said.
Tatsuo Kakizaki, head of the federation's judo department, defended the action, saying that thin eyebrows are banned "because they intimidate and are unpleasant for the opponent."
He added that the disqualifications were designed to serve as an educational lesson on the importance of following rules.
According to the federation, the disqualified participants were one male and three female students taking part in the group competition as well as two female students from two schools in the individual competition.
The barred athletes were replaced by others for the group competition but the judoists lost by default in the individual competition.
The federation banned thin eyebrows several years ago and had confirmed with officials of participating schools a week in advance that the ban would be in place for the tournament in question, the federation said.