Ōtsuzumi

The heads of the drum are taut very tightly, leaving no room for further tension, and acoustic, adjustments.

Since the sound of the ōkawa is supposed to be higher in pitch, the player must ensure that the skin of the drum-heads remains as constricted as possible, and this is best realized when the drum heads are kept dry.

To keep the drum heads dry, they are often heated near a kind of old style of Japanese furnace called a hibachi no less than an hour before the performance.

Since they are very expensive, at least a thousand US dollars a pair, the ōkawa player must measure how many times, and how long, the instrument is played.

They also wear fingerstalls made of multiple layers of Japanese washi paper, hardened with starch, on their fingers.