The taikodai shows a wide regional variation in the form and the style, but has a common style that two to six men get into the taikodai and beat the drum placed in it, providing the rhythm that guides dozens to more than one hundred men below who shoulder the taikodai and parade through their parishes, shouting a call synchronized exactly with the drum beat.
地域によって様々な違いがあるが、2～6名程度の人間が乗り込んで内部の太鼓を叩き、その太鼓の音に合わせて掛け声をかけ、数十人～百人以上で担ぎ上げ、練り歩くという形式は共通している。