The den-den daiko is a small Japanese rattle drum used for distracting and entertaining babies and young children. It works for me, too. : )
The accompanying words quote the third section of the most well-known lullaby in Japan-- a song called the Edo Lullaby, from which, it is said, all other Japanese lullabies originate. A rough English translation (which loses all the sweet rhythm of the original), borrowed from Wikipedia, goes like this:
Hushabye, Hushabye! My good Baby, Sleep!
Where did my boy's baby-sitter go? Beyond that mountain, back to her home.
As a souvenir from her home, what did you get? A toy drum and a sho flute.
I drew the outline and the words with a ruined bamboo quill pen (that is now nothing more than a stick with a dull point) dipped in sumi ink.
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