The drum's cowhide skins, decorated with lacquerwork dragons, were meant to be beaten with sticks. This drum, however, was never sounded. Instead, it was made, as suggested by a rooster atop the drum, as a symbol of peace.

An ancient story tells of a drum placed near a village gate for the purpose of sounding an alarm during an attack. As the years passed, the drum was never used. Hens and roosters began to live in the drum's hollow shell, and such an image became an emblem of contentment and peace.