The underwear that a sumo wrestler wears is called mawashi. It is the dress worn by players of Japan's national sport. The garment can weigh more than eight pounds and be up to 2 feet wide before it is wrapped around the sumo wrestler. Contrary to popular belief, a mawashi is not a diaper, it is a loin cloth better described as a form of fundoshi or Japanese undergarment.
There are different mawashi for different rank of players in tournaments. Sumo wrestlers still in training will wear only black mawashi but high ranking wrestlers can wear different colours. Lower ranking players and young wrestlers wear cotton mawashi while the leaders, called sekitori wear silk. Sekitori also wear keshomawashi - the colorfully embroidered apron-like garment worn in the ring introduction ceremony. Stiffened silk fringes called sagari are sometimes tucked into the front of a mawashi and worn in the match.
