Tametaka - dragon coiled around a wadaiko drum
Nagoya, circa 1780
Carved in a reddish wood, a powerful dragon coils its scaly body around a wadaiko drum supported on a wooden stand. The mythical creature grips the drum with one enormous claw, arching its back and doubling its neck in a sinuous movement to reach its head down to its tail. The drum-skin is decorated with a scrolling pattern in ukibori and the metal tacks fixing the skin in place are inlaid in dark horn, as is the dragon’s eye.
