The fundoshi (褌) is a traditional Japanese male loincloth, made from a strip of cotton cloth, one "shaku" (traditional Japanese foot, 35 cm = 14 inches) wide and about 2.4 m (92 to 96 inches, = "six-foot", hence roku-shaku) long, which is twisted to create a thong effect at the back. A loincloth is one-piece garment, sometimes kept in place by a belt, that is used: in Pharaonic Egypt, any man was worthily dressed in a loincloth (and headdress), even a gods image for worship; here Amun-Ra in societies where no other clothing is needed or wanted as... See Thong for other meanings. ...

Two boys wearing fundoshi during a festival.

A man wearing a Japanese traditional swimwear FUNDOSHI -red rokushaku- backside

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 787 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Fundoshi Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 787 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Fundoshi Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create... Download high resolution version (480x640, 35 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (480x640, 35 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

Types and uses

The fundoshi is first mentioned in the classic history the Nihongi. They are also depicted on clay figures, haniwa. The fundoshi was the indispensable nether garment of every Japanese male, rich or poor, high or low status, until after the Second World War, when Americanization popularized elasticised underpants.

The fundoshi comes in several basic styles. The most relaxed type consists in a strip of cloth, wound around the hips, secured at the small of the back by knotting or twisting, with the excess brought forward between the legs, and tucked through the cloth belt in front to hang as an apron. A full length apron An apron is an outer protective garment that covers primarily the front of the body. ...

The second style, for people who are active, is formed when the cloth is wound around the hips so that there is an excess of apron, which is brought back again between the legs and twisted around the belt-cloth in back. It is also the standard male "bathing-suit." Male children learning to swim (during the 60s) were often told to wear this kind of fundoshi because a child in trouble could be easily lifted out of the water by the back cloth of his fundoshi.

The third style, called "etchu fundoshi", allegedly referring to a province of imperial China, as the etchu-fundoshi is popularly supposed to be derived from a Chinese loincloth (there seems to be little or no information on the wearing of loincloths in China), is a long rectangle of cloth with tapes at one narrow end. One ties the tapes around the hips, with the cloth at the small of the back, and then pulls the cloth between the legs and through the belt, letting the remainder hang as an apron. Such fundoshi were issued to Japanese troops in World War 2, and often were the sole garb of Allied POWs in tropic areas.

There are many other varieties of fundoshi as the variations on the principle of a loincloth are almost infinite. For example, the mokko-fundoshi [literally "earth-basket loincloth" because it looks like the traditional baskets used in construction], is made like the etchu-fundoshi but without a front apron; the cloth is secured to the belt to make a bikini effect. The kuro-neko fundoshi [literally "black cat fundoshi"] is like the mokko-fundoshi except that the portion that passes from front to back is tailored to create a thong effect.

The samurai (military elite) wore it as underwear with armor, combined with a shitagi shirt. Japanese samurai in armour, 1860s. ... Armor or armour (see spelling differences) is protective clothing intended to defend its wearer from intentional harm in combat and military engagements, typically associated with soldiers. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ...

Fundoshi are often worn with hanten (a short cotton jacket with straight sleeves) during summer festivals by men who carry mikoshi (portable shrines) in Shinto processions. This mikoshi enshrines Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Toshogu in Nikko A mikoshi (神輿、みこし) is a portable Shinto shrine that serves as the vehicle of a divine spirit in Japan at the time of a parade of deities. ... Shinto ) is the native religion of Japan and was once its state religion. ...

Outside Japan it is perhaps best known from the spectacular giant drum Kodo (taiko group) appearing dressed in nothing else than a white fundoshi and a head band, arduously drumming themselves into honest sweat, as members of Japan's lower classes did in various professions, especially in open air. Kodō ) is one of the elite taiko drumming groups today. ...

Fundoshi are still used as traditional swimsuits. In some high schools, boys do the long-distance sea swim wearing the fundoshi. The present Crown Prince of Japan also swam in fundoshi in his childhood. In the pools and beaches of Japan, fundoshi swimmers can still be seen. A swimsuit (also swimmers), bathing suit (also bathers), aqua jammies or swimming costume (sometimes shortened to cozzie) is an item of clothing designed to be worn for swimming. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Fundoshi are still used as traditional sports underwear; like a Jock strap the rokushaku fundoshi is tight on the scrotum and lifts the penis to the side upwards positions. The penis (plural penises, penes) is an external male sexual organ. ...

See also

• Breechcloth

A breechcloth, or breechclout, is a form of Loincloth consisting in a strip of material (usually a narrow rectangle) passed between the thighs and secured before and behind under a belt or string. ...

External links

• How to tie a Fundoshi
• An Internet Archive copy of Fundoshi- Japanese Loincloth about the types of fundoshi
• A scholarly article on the wearing of loincloth and fundoshi includes social and cultural connotations, modesty issues, etc.