SHIME-DAIKO: Japanese musical instrument

The shime-daiko is a small musical drum from Japan. The term shime-daiko, originates from a larger tsukeshime-daiko that is shortened to simply shime-daiko or shime. The musical instrument has a short but wide body, having an animal skins drum heads on both the bottom and the upper sides of the musical instrument. The hide is first spread on metal hoops, and then spread over the body of the musical instrument. Analogous to the tsuzumi and the talking drum from Africa, both drum heads are tied together with cords so that the heads of the instrument are tied by each other. Like the taiko drums, the musical instrument is played with the use of a stick known as bachi, while the instrument is suspended on a stand. Being very taut, the pitch of the musical instrument is higher than the pitch of the normal taiko. The musical instruments are used in different music ensembles of japan, from nagauta, hayashi, taiko to folk music ensembles.