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Loincloth

A loincloth is a one-piece garment, either wrapped around itself or kept in place by a belt. It covers the genitals and sometimes the buttocks. Loincloths which are held up by belts or strings are specifically known as breechcloth or breechclout.[1][2] Often, the flaps hang down in front and back.[2]

For the American heavy metal band, see Loincloth (band).

Loincloths by culture[edit]

Australia[edit]

Worn by adult males in some Aboriginal cultures. Called naga, narga, nargar (etc) from Yulparija dialect of the Western Desert.[4]

India[edit]

Unsewn Kaupinam and its later-era sewn variation langot are traditional clothes in India, worn as underwear in dangal held in akharas especially wrestling, to prevent hernias and hydrocele.[5] Kacchera is mandatory for Sikhs to wear.

Japan[edit]

Japanese men and women traditionally wore a loincloth known as a fundoshi. The fundoshi is a 35 cm (14 in.) wide piece of fabric (cotton or silk) passed between the thighs and secured to cover the genitals. There are many ways of tying the fundoshi.[6]

The Loincloth of Borneo

Breechcloth on Wordnik, retrieved on 22.12.2009

Breechcloth by Rick Obermeyer (Dec. 1990), retrieved on 22.12.2009