Blue Ao-Mishima Yunomi - 60ml

In modern usage, mishima (三島) refers to a decorative technique called slip-inlay developed in Korea around the 15th century. Much like the earlier Korean inlaid celadon, designs would be carved, etched, or stamped into the clay. However, instead of being carefully filled with coloured clay, the entire piece is coated in white slip (liquid clay), and the excess is then scraped off, leaving just the designs filled with white slip. Finally, the piece is finished with a transparent ash glaze. 

Common designs are incised lines, geometric patterns, and stamped flowers (印花 - inka), typically chrysanthemums.

The earliest mishima chawan are called ko-mishima (古三島 - old mishima) and belonged to the first generation of kōrai chawan. However, the vast majority of Korean mishima chawan were produced as gohon chawan (御本茶碗 - made-to-order tea bowls) in the late 1500s and throughout the 1600s. The mishima technique was often combined with other slipware techniques such as hakeme and kohiki.

The earlier ko-mishima bowls tended to have more complex and intricate designs. One common motif was a 'rope curtain', a series of squiggly vertical lines that was said by the Japanese teaists to resemble the cursive vertical writing of the calendars from Mishima shrine, hence the name mishima. Another early name for these bowls was koyomi-de (暦手) meaning calendar style. These earlier bowls often had heavier and looser applications of white slip, and were overall lighter in colour, with a greyer base.

The later gohon mishima had simpler designs, often just rows of diagonally-carved lines and a few stamped flowers. Those that were decorated primarily with diagonal lines are called hori-mishima (carved mishima - 彫三島) and conversely those that were mostly stamped with flowers are somtimes called hana-mishima (flower mishima - 花三島). 

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!