Photo/Illutration A “stuffed Yohen Tenmoku” is on sale at the shop of the Seikado Bunko Art Museum in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on March 21. (Michinori Ishidaira)

A stuffed, fabric reproduction of one of only three Yohen Tenmoku tea bowls in existence sparked an overwhelming buying rush and raised hopes of renewed interest in museums.

The Seikado Bunko Art Museum, which owns the precious original bowl, released the imitation at its shop last year.

Social media posts about the product went viral, and a flood of orders poured in, forcing the museum in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward to temporarily suspend sales.

On March 21, when the imitation bowl went on sale again, people lined up at the museum before it opened at 10 a.m., hoping to get numbered tickets that were distributed at noon.

The museum now sells only 10 “stuffed Yohen Tenmoku” a day during periods when the genuine bowl is on exhibit. Purchases are limited to one per customer.

One imitation bowl costs 5,800 yen ($44), including tax.

Yohen Tenmoku, or Yaobian Tianmu in Chinese, refers to a class of fired-clay tea bowls created during the Southern Song Dynasty period of China (12th to 13th centuries).

They are characterized by spots of bluish luster that formed on the inside due to changes in the glaze during the firing process.

Only three complete Yohen Tenmoku bowls exist. They are all in Japan and have been designated national treasures.

One person eagerly awaiting the resumption of sales at the museum was Eri Sakauchi, a 33-year-old office worker from Ayase, Kanagawa Prefecture.

“I was moved by the way the bowl glittered as if it contained the universe inside itself,” she said about the real bowl she saw four years ago. “It’s like a national treasure that I adore is coming to my home. I hope to keep my eye on it all the time.”

One selling point of the stuffed imitation is that it is about the same size as the original Yohen Tenmoku, which measures 7.2 centimeters tall and 12.2 cm across.

“Historical figures took it in their hands to admire it,” said art historian Toshinobu Yasumura, deputy director of the museum. “I hope our customers will touch the stuffed imitation with their hands to simulate what those people did.”

The art museum owns 6,500 items, mostly from a collection of the Iwasaki family, which founded the Mitsubishi business conglomerate.

The museum relocated last year to the Meiji Seimei Kan building, just outside Tokyo Station, from Setagaya Ward in the capital.

Museum officials came up with the idea for the imitation bowl in hopes that it would prompt a broader range of people to visit the relocated museum and have fun.

The officials insisted that despite being made of soft fabric, the imitation product should be a faithful reproduction of the earthenware original.

The bluish spots are printed so they look glossy, and the fabric is fluffed out to represent parts where glaze has dripped down the outer side of the bowl.

Handmade one by one, the product sold out on the first day the museum reopened.

“We had never expected the response would be so huge,” Yasumura said. “I hope this museum product will serve as a gateway that prompts young people to take interest in museums and art.”

The original Yohen Tenmoku is on display as part of “Meiji Era Art Capriccio,” a special exhibition that runs through June 4 at the Seikado Bunko Art Museum.

The Yohen Tenmoku is also called the Inaba Tenmoku because its ownership was transferred from the Tokugawa Shogunate clan to the Inaba clan, ruler of the Yodo feudal domain, during the reign (1623-1651) of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third shogun in the lineage.

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