Why do the line thickness and degree of smudging on the dragon pattern of the hand-drawn rice bowl vary from bowl to bowl?

Looking closely at the bowl, the first thing that catches your eye is the outline of the dragon pattern wrapping around the body. With every path the brush takes, the depth and lightness of the ink color vary, and in some parts, the borders spread out as if the ink has smudged.

Hand drawing, which applies patterns to ceramics, differs from transfer printing where pattern films are attached and fired; it is a handmade method in which a worker dips a brush in pigment and draws the images directly onto the surface of the vessel one by one.

The facts that HORIE TOUKI shares about this rice bowl are also tied to this very handmade process. Because it is drawn one by one by hand, not only the size of the dragon pattern and the thickness of the lines, but also the placement and sharpness of the pattern appear uneven from bowl to bowl^[1]. Phenomena where the color smudges outward or the outer lines become blurred, as well as uneven textures in density depending on the pressure applied to the brush tip and the degree to which pigment penetrates the clay surface, are also natural characteristics that arise from the production method^[2].