A liquid application mechanism includes a liquid application unit that applies liquid to an application medium, and a liquid supply unit that supplies the liquid to the liquid application unit from a storage unit. The liquid supply unit recovers a portion of the liquid to the storage unit, the portion of the liquid being a portion that has been supplied to the liquid application unit and has not been applied to the application medium. At a bottom portion of the storage unit, a plurality of trap space sections separated from each other by ribs are formed. The trap space sections have continuous rectangular shapes, and are open upward in the direction opposite to gravity. The rib height of the trap space sections is equal to or greater than 3 mm, and the rib interval of the trap space sections is in the range from 2 mm to 10 mm.