The Cord of A Fundoshi
My neighbor Mr. S（Age 88）often asks me to do some needle work for him.
He is of very small build and clothes bought in stores are usually too big, so most of his requests are adjusting the length or width of pants or moving the cuffs on shirts. Some of his needle works seem too difficult for my skills, but since he’s not too fussy about the finish, I generally take on the task.
The other day when I visited him to deliver a comforter cover I had mended, he said “O-ne-chan, (A casual way of addressing a female in Japanese. Mr. S never can remember my name.) I want you to sew me a cord next.”
“What is it for?” I asked, thinking there are many kinds of cords.
His answer wasn’t quite clear, “Umm, about this long…” he roughly showed me with his hands. Only, sewing a simple cord was no trouble, so I told him as I left, “well, tell me any time you need it.”
A few days later, Mr. S visited me with some sort of white cloth in his hands: “O-ne-chan, this is it, can you sew me something like this?”
It was simply a Fundoshi (*), but Mr. S seemed to be uncomfortable with the ones he bought, wanting something done to its cord. While spreading out in front of me a “sample” owned by him, he never mentioned the word “fundoshi.”
That seemed to be his way of showing his courtesy for the “o-ne-chan.” That’s how I ended up sewing a number of elaborate cords these days.
Mr. S and I share a peculiar sense of unity ever since we lost his wife and my mother at around the same time, at the same hospital, and to a similar disease. He plans to move in with his son who lives away from here, soon. A natural course of action considering his age, but I cannot help but feel sad.
*Fundoshi
Loincloth for adult male seen in Japan and other countries. Usually made of bleached cotton cloth and comes in various styles such as Six-Shaku Fundoshi, Nine-Shaku Fundoshi, Etchu Fundoshi, and Mokko Fundoshi. Until the Meiji era, Japanese men customary wore Fundoshi as a sign of reaching adulthood. While men’s undergarments in Japan are replaced today by underpants such as briefs, fundoshi is associated with images such as Iki (Japanese aesthetic), fearlessness, and dandyism captivating a group of devotees. Men clad in fundoshi can also be spotted at traditional Matsuris (festivals) throughout Japan such as the Hadaka-Matsuri, Sanjya-Matsuri in Kanda, and Gion-Matsuri in Kyoto.