A performer of kodan sits in front of a pedestal called shakudai on koza (stage), and reads out reading materials associated with history such as gunkimono (military epic) and seidan (story of the law or politics) to the audience, while tapping the shakudai with a harisen/hariogi (paper fan) to keep his or her rhythm going.
演者は高座におかれた釈台（しゃくだい）と呼ばれる小さな机の前に座り、張扇でそれを叩いて調子を取りつつ、軍記物や政談など主に歴史にちなんだ読み物を、観衆に対して読み上げる。