Japanese Swimsuit

Japanese swimsuit refers to traditional (male) loin cloth that is twisted and tied to give a thong like effect. Japanese swimsuit is around 14 inches wide and about 92 to 96 inches long. Japanese swimsuits have been worn for a long time. The first mention of Japanese swimsuits can be found in Japan’s historic book Nihongi. Clay figures extracted from all around the country are clad in Japanese swimsuits. Thus, Japanese swimsuits are definitely not a new type of swimwear. Japanese swimsuits or fundoshi was the first and the only undergarment worn by all men rich or poor and educated or uneducated. Fundoshi was replaced by the modern underwear after World War II.

Japanese swimsuits are available in several basic styles. The simplest and most comfortable style of Japanese swimsuits is one that is tied around the waist wound around the hips and is tied at the small of the back. The excess cloth was brought forward between the legs and hung like an apron. Another popular style of tying a Japanese swimsuit is one in which the cloth is wound around the hips, is brought again between the legs and twisted around the belt cloth at the back. Young boys learning to swim usually wore this type of Japanese swimsuit since it was easier to pull them out of the water by the back cloth.

Another popular style of Japanese bathing suit called ‘etchuu fundoshi’ is thought to have been inspired by China. However, there is little or no information about the use of loin cloth in China’s history. This type of Japanese bathing suit has a tape at narrow end of the cloth. This tape is tied at the small of the back and is used to pull the cloth between the legs and through the belt letting the remainder hang as an apron. This type of Japanese bathing suits was worn by the Japanese troops (in tropical climates) in the World War II. Apart from the most popular variations of Japanese bathing suits mentioned above, there are a large number of other variations based on the loin cloth. For example ‘mokko-fundoshi’ (literally meaning earth basket loin cloth) is a variation of Japanese bathing suits that look like traditional baskets used in construction. This type of Japanese bathing suit differs from etchuu fundoshi because it does not have excess cloth hanging between the legs giving it more thong or bikini type effect. Another type of Japanese bathing suit ‘kuro-neko fundoshi’ (literally meaning black cat fundoshi) is like the ‘mokko-fundoshi’ except that the portion of loin cloth passing from back to front is tailored to give a thong like effect.

The ‘mokko-fundoshi’ type of Japanese swimwear was worn by samurai (military men) as underwear under armor. ‘Mokko-fundoshi’ type of Japanese swimwear was worn with shitagi shirts at that time. Japanese swimwear is often worn with a hanten or a happi during summer festivals by Japanese men who carry mikoshi (portable shrines) in Shinto processions. A hanten or a happi is a short cotton jacket with straight sleeves. Japanese swimwear have been popularized by the famous drumming group that Kodo that performed wearing only a fudoshi style Japanese swimwear and a headband. Although not included in the most popular type of modern styles of swimwear, Japanese swimwear is still favored by a large number of people both in and outside Japan. Swimwear designers all over the world have introduced infinite variations of Japanese swimwear for both men and women. The latest and perhaps most controversial style of Japanese swimwear is a v shaped string that runs between the legs and provides minimum coverage for women. Like a number of other swimwear styles, this style of Japanese swimwear is more of an accessory rather than an actual garment.