One Bowl, National Treasure since 1951
Yohen Tenmoku Tea Bowl (曜変天目茶碗, Yohen Tenmoku Chawan) is a Southern Song tea bowl at the Seikado Bunko Art Museum in Tokyo, made an Important Cultural Property on 3 July 1941 and designated a National Treasure on 9 June 1951. The quantity is one bowl, the designation number 00017, and the owner the Seikado, a public-interest foundation. Nothing is designated as an appendage.
It measures 6.8 centimetres high, 12.0 centimetres across the mouth and 3.8 centimetres across the foot. The country field reads China: as with the Meihoki, something made in China holds a Japanese listing.
3 July 1941 is also the date on which the katana with the gold-inlaid attribution to Masamune became an Important Cultural Property.
Two Bowls of the Same Name Listed on the Same Day
This is not the only National Treasure called Yohen Tenmoku Tea Bowl.
Ryukoin in Kyoto Prefecture holds one as well, and it too was designated a National Treasure on 9 June 1951. The date is the same.
The earlier listings differ. The Ryukoin bowl became an Important Cultural Property on 23 April 1908, this one on 3 July 1941: thirty-three years apart.
With the tachi inscribed Masatsune, several swords carried one signature; with Sashiki Castle Ruins, two sites shared a name across Kumamoto and Okinawa. In those cases the listing dates differed.
Here the name is the same and the date of designation as a National Treasure is the same too. What separates them is location, owner, designation number and dimensions.
The Address Differs between Two Records
The location is entered differently as well.
The national database gives the address as 2-1-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda Ward, in the Meiji Seimeikan building, with the Seikado Bunko Art Museum as the holding facility.
The heritage database gives 2-23-1 Okamoto, Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.
The museum's exhibition premises appear to have moved. The object itself did not travel; the place it is kept did.
With the Hirabaru finds, the record gave one municipality and other accounts another. That was a question of a city's name; this is a question of a building's address. In both, the value depends on when the record was made.
Provenance Written as a Chain of Dashes
The provenance is set down tersely.
The field for provenance and related matters lists four holders in turn, the Inaba family, the Ono family, the Iwasaki family and the Seikado, joined by dashes.
Four owners, strung together. Not a sentence.
With the Soranjo, seven stages from an embassy to the Tang court down to a presentation to the imperial household were told in prose. Here the same kind of route is given in marks. How a record is written varies from property to property.
The by-name is recorded too: because it came down in the Inaba family of Settsu, the bowl is generally known as the Inaba Tenmoku.
The source of that name is new again. On the Masamune katana, Nakatsukasa was an owner's court title. Here Inaba is an owner's family name.
Seeing It
The Seikado owns the bowl and the Seikado Bunko Art Museum keeps it. It is a museum holding, not kept on permanent display.
The form is described closely: a bowl shape characteristic of the Jian kilns, with the rim turned back below the lip, drawn in overall, the foot cut shallow and flat and finished as a ring.
So is the glaze: black glaze lies thick over the whole interior and down the outside to the waist, thinning where it runs from the lip, and pooling thickly in the well and at the base, with round mottling scattered irregularly over the whole inner surface.
Accounts elsewhere say only three such bowls survive in the world. The Agency's record gives no count, and this article does not repeat the figure.
Exhibition plans can change, so check the museum's information before travelling.
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Q&A
- When was this bowl designated?
- It became an Important Cultural Property on 3 July 1941 and a National Treasure on 9 June 1951. The quantity is one bowl, the designation number 00017, and the owner the Seikado.
- Is there another National Treasure of the same name?
- Yes. The bowl at Ryukoin in Kyoto Prefecture was designated a National Treasure on the same day, 9 June 1951, though its earlier listing dates from 23 April 1908 rather than 1941.
- How large is it?
- 6.8 centimetres high, 12.0 centimetres across the mouth and 3.8 centimetres across the foot. The country field reads China and the period Southern Song.
- Where does the by-name Inaba Tenmoku come from?
- The Agency records that the bowl came down in the Inaba family of Settsu and is generally known by that name. The provenance field lists four holders joined by dashes: the Inaba, the Ono, the Iwasaki and the Seikado.
- Do only three such bowls survive?
- The Agency's record gives no count of surviving examples. Accounts elsewhere make that claim, but this article does not repeat it.
Basic Information
| Name | Yohen Tenmoku Tea Bowl (曜変天目茶碗, Yohen Tenmoku Chawan), known as the Inaba Tenmoku; the bowl at Ryukoin is a separate National Treasure |
|---|---|
| Location | Seikado Bunko Art Museum. The national database gives 2-1-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda Ward, in the Meiji Seimeikan building; the heritage database gives 2-23-1 Okamoto, Setagaya Ward, Tokyo |
| Designation | National Treasure (craft), designation no. 00017; nothing designated as an appendage |
| Year Designated | 1941 (3 July), Important Cultural Property; 1951 (9 June), National Treasure |
| Quantity | 1 bowl |
| Dimensions | 6.8 centimetres high, 12.0 centimetres across the mouth, 3.8 centimetres across the foot. A bowl form with the rim turned back below the lip and the foot finished as a ring. The country is China and the period Southern Song |
| Owner | Seikado, a public-interest foundation |
| Public Access | A museum holding, not on permanent display |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: the Seikado bowl
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/201/303
- Seikado Bunko Art Museum
- https://www.seikado.or.jp/
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: introduction to fine arts and crafts
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/bijutsu_kogei/
Last verified: 2026.09.05