     The origin of owari Shinjiro Daiko, traditional drum play, performed by the Society for Conservation of owari Shinjiro Drum Play, goes way back to the mid Edoera for about 250 years ago. It has started from “kagura”（sacred music and dance）of Atsuta Shrine, one of the most important shrines in Japan. Kagura is for celebrating autumn harvest， and expressing thankful thoughts among farmers lived in the outskirts of Nagoya. Since then, in the country side this good old tradition has been maintained until the World War 2, and the disaster a little later caused by a huge typhoon hit this areas about 50 years ago. At that time, nobody had thought about the drum play, conserving it and handing over it to the next generations, except for the late Shinjiro Nishikawa who inherited and reorganized the traditional style of the drum play. Naturally, he was enthusiastically teaching this traditional drum play to those who lived in villages around the western part of Nagoya. Twenty years later in 1979, Nishikawa's followers got together, and have founded the Society for Conservation of owari ShinJiro Drum Play.
     The drum plays are classified into two large categories, namely, Kyoku Daiko and Kagura Yakata Daiko. The former is dynamic, even acrobatic and spectacular. The typical performances named Shin Guruma, Watayose Kuzushi, and Morizu are classified as the former style. The latter, on the other hand, is plane and static. The plays are conducted with a high-tone drum placed at the top of Yakata, a house, shaped decoration. Both drum plays are conducted with traditional and mysterious Kagura flutes.
     The player costume, happi, is rather conservative and simple. These days, this sort of traditional Japanese-style plays gets more and more decorative, and uses colorful wears for display and show up. However, the Society thinks it disgraceful, and persists in maintaining the conservative style. It is said that at least 5 years are needed to become a good drum player.