The reason is considered as follows: In Japan at that time, potters who produced chaki (tea utensils) and earthenware, considered having a value equal to that of a province, were treated favorably, for example, given the samurai status, but in Yi Dynasty Korea, potters were designated as humble or lowly people with the lowest social status in the social status system based on the Confucian thought: They were forced to work like slaves and were placed in such harsh conditions that they were punished physically when committing an error, or in other words, there existed fundamental discrimination against craftsmen.
これは当時日本で一国ほどの価値があるとされた茶器や陶器を作り出す陶工を大名が藩の庇護の下、士分を与えるなど手厚い待遇をしていたのに比べ、李氏朝鮮では儒教思想による身分制において陶工は最下層の賤民に位置づけられ、奴隷的な労働を強いられるとともに、失策を犯した場合には体罰を課せられるという過酷な状況にあり、職人に対する根源的な差別があったことが原因である。