It is partly claimed that roku-shaku fundoshi (a long rectangular loincloth of about 2.4 meter length) is now largely worn on the festive occasions in Japan because the roku-shaku fundoshi imported from the south had been incorporated into the basic culture of Japan, and then the Continental culture began fusing into the Japanese culture, while fundoshi itself became simplified through the ages to the present form of Etchu fundoshi (a simple rectangular loincloth with strings). On the otherhand, another idea that fundoshi loincloths were introduced from the Continent claims that there existed in the Chinese Continent a special fundoshi loincloth called 'tokubi-kon' with which men's privates appeared like the nose of a cow. The idea that fundoshi loincloths were brought in from the south is based on the fact that some items that resemble in shape to a rokushaku fundoshi loincloth (a long loincloth of about 2.4 meter length) were found in Southeast Asia, Polynesia and South America. No theory has been established yet about the origin of fundoshi loincloths, although there are two conflicting ideas that they had come to Japan either from southern countries or through the Continent. Until World War II, fundoshi loincloths had been the main underwear for adult men, but, since the end of the war, they fell rapidly into disuse because of the emergence of new style underwear such as briefs, trunks and so on along with the westernization of men's wear. Some upper class people wore fundoshi loincloths made of chirimen (crepe fabrics). In those days hemps were mostly used, but later in the Edo period they were replaced by cotton which made fundoshi loincloths popular among the common people beside warriors. During the Sengoku period (the period of Warring States) in Japan, it was possible to discern the ranks of warriors killed in war by checking whether they were wearing fundoshi loincloths or not, since cloths at that time were generally expensive. It can be bought in department stores, kimono shops (drapers), armorer's shops, festival sites and mail-order markets.ДЄs kanji (a Chinese character used in Japanese writing) for 'fundoshi' consists of a radical 'иЎЈ' ('koromo' meaning 'vesture') on the left-hand side and 'и»Ќ' ('gun' meaning 'military') on the right-hand side, a fundoshi loincloth traces back to battle dresses. On festival occasions, fundoshi is not treated as underwear but as a festive dress. In English, it is described as 'loincloth.'

'Fundoshi' is a traditional underwear for men in Japan and other areas. Fundoshi (traditional Japanese underwear) ( гЃµг‚“гЃ©гЃ—)

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