"Japanese pilots during WWII were still wearing a similar "loincloth" (similar to that worn by the ancient Egyptians) under their uniforms."
The Japanese "loincloth", or fundoshi, is still worn by many Japanese men. During the many annual "hadaka matsuri" or naked festivals, particularly in the countryside, the fundoshi is often the only garmet worn by the exclusively male participants. Indeed, the very concept of "naked" in Japan implies that men are wearing the fundoshi, which is an essential attribute of nakedness, as the fundoshi symbolically transforms the male genitals, or mara, into a Shinto "sanctuary" of reproduction.
Prior to and for a number of years after the Meiji Restoration in 1867, Japanese workmen commonly walked around wearing only the fundoshi, and sometimes not even that. Japanese prints are full of examples which illustrate the convention. The proud Samurai class, on the other hand, looked upon such nakedness with indifference, or at worst with contempt, as they were highly conscious of their superiority.
Various kinds of fundoshi are worn in Japan, but the classical fundoshi is a strip of white cloth about six feet long by one foot wide.
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