National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

A kakko drum has a structure where the skins are fastened to the body with the tuning straps. It is put on a wooden stand and played with drumsticks in both hands. Although the Appendix of the Pictures of Hōryūji Treasures refers to this piece as a `stone-cylinder kakko' and the temple record says that it is as an earthen drum, recent research found it was made of wood. The body is thick and heavy, decorated with a colored painting of the shishi-botan (lion and tree peony) motif. Both ends have a black border, with a circular pattern in kirihaku (cut-foil) on it. A tree peony pattern and male and female lions are pictured on a red background at the center.