Blue Hakeme Kiyomizu Chawan

Hakeme (刷毛目 - brush stroke), also known as guiyal in Korean, is a Korean slip decoration technique that was developed at the same time and at the same kilns as mishima in the 15th-16th centuries. Here, white slip is simply applied with a coarse brush (hake) which leaves rough, visible strokes with a lot of expressive character.

This early hakeme seems to primarily be a functional way of applying slip to the piece, with the visible brush strokes being a happy accident. When the slip is brushed across the entire piece, except for the foot, it is called mujihakeme (無地刷毛目-plain hakeme). [yes, the same Muji as the clothes brand] Since porcelain was banned for commoners in Joseon Korea, this was likely a way for the general populace to obtain white ceramics.

The original hakeme chawan likely belong to that first generation of kōrai chawan, but like mishima bowls, many were later designed and ordered by Japanese teaists.

These later bowls tended to use hakeme as decoration rather than a means to apply a white coating. As such, there were often fewer brush strokes and these were often coarser and more deliberately expressive. In fact, today it is most common to find hakeme that is merely a single brushstroke, almost as an application of the zen enso onto pottery.

Through its history hakeme was often combined with mishima. After all, brushing was how the slip was applied before it was scraped off!