Fundoshi

nihongo|Fundoshi|褌 is the traditional Japanese underwear for adult males, made from a length of cotton. Before World War II the fundoshi was the main form of underwear for Japanese adult males; however it went out of use quickly after the war with the advent of new underwear, such as briefs and trunks, on the Japanese market.

Nowadays, the fundoshi is mainly used not as underwear but as festival clothing (matsuri) or, sometimes, as swimwear.

There are several types of Fundoshi, including Rokushaku, Kuroneko, Mokko and Echyuu.

The Rokushaku Fundoshi is a length of cloth, the dimensions being one shaku (34 cm / 14 inches) width and six shaku (2.3 m / 92 to 96 inches) length, hence "roku-shaku". The fundoshi is often twisted to create a thong effect at the back.

Echyuu fundoshi is also a length of cloth, however it has a strip of material at the waist to form a fastening or string. The dimensions are 14 inches width and about 40 inches length, and it is tied with the material strip in front of the body.Echyuu fundoshi was the form of fundoshi most popular among Japanese adult males as underwear from early 1900s to the end of the World War II.

Types and uses

The fundoshi is first mentioned in the classic Japanese history text the "Nihongi". They are also depicted on clay figures, "haniwa". The fundoshi was the underwear of choice of every Japanese adult 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.

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 was also the standard male bathing suit. Male children learning to swim (during the early 1960s) were often told to wear this kind of fundoshi because a boy in trouble could be easily lifted out of the water by the back cloth of his fundoshi.

The third style, called "echyuu fundoshi", allegedly referring to a province of imperial China, as the echyuu-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 II, 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 etchyuu-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. Fundoshi are often worn with a hanten or happi (a short cotton jacket with straight sleeves) during summer festivals by men who carry mikoshi (portable shrines) in Shinto processions.

Outside Japan it is perhaps best known from the spectacular drumming group Kodo, who appear dressed in only a white fundoshi and a head band. Fundoshi are sometimes 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-wearing swimmers occasionally can be seen.

ee also

*Breechcloth

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/sg_tiger.geo/fundoshi.html How to tie a Rokushaku Fundoshi]
* [http://homepage1.nifty.com/koshifumi/fdc-02.html How to tie Fundoshi] (more complete, in Japanese)
* [http://www.ikanlundu.com/literary/borneo_loincloth.html A scholarly article on the wearing of loincloth and fundoshi] includes social and cultural connotations, modesty issues, etc.
* [http://www.kurotengu.com Original Fundoshi Brand KUROTENGU] Hand made in Japan. [http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/web/?wb_url=http%3A%2F%2Fkurotengu.com&wb_lp=JAEN&wb_dis=2 English Here]
* [http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/how-to-put-on-a-fundoshi-%E8%A4%8C-japanese-loin-cloth-video/ How to put on a Fundoshi 褌 Japanese loin cloth video]