This is a traditional improvisational play full of satire and humor performed in Kumamoto dialect. The play features a joke to end the story. In Kumamoto it was performed on a temporary outdoor stage, primarily during the Shokon festival to honor the war-dead around the mid- Meiji era (1868-1912). Laughter through satire serves to alleviate social frustrations, and its use of the Kumamoto dialect added to its popularity. The name "Higo Niwaka" seems to have been given later.