Tenyo Japanese Packages
Tenyo did not use a T-Number system to identify the tricks sold in Japan but for the most part the Japanese packages paralleled the English packages. In Japan, Tenyo used the same boxes and Vintage Blister on Card packages like with the English packaged tricks (see Figure 1 and Figure 2), but of course used Japanese language and characters. An interesting note is that the Japanese versions of tricks in many cases have a different name than the English version. For instance T-148 Mira Metal is call Money Drip in Japan (Figure 3). In general, the Japanese names seem to be more literal where the English names are more “colorful.” You can compare the Japanese trick names to the English trick names by navigating to the Tenyo Magic Trick Translation Page.
While the packaging styles ran parallel for many years a major difference came in 1994. For the English packaged T-Number tricks, Tenyo used for English Packages the Cello Bag w. Aqua Card and later on Plastic Box w. Colored Card. Meanwhile in Japan Tenyo used a new type of cardboard box packaging (see Figures 4 & 5). The new packaging was a vividly colored box with dramatic Japanese characters and an ethereal color illustration. Inside the box was a vacuum formed, black plastic tray which held the props. All of the boxes have “マジック” written across the top in large, stylized Japanese characters. “マジック” translates to “Magic.” There is a blue ribbon to the left with the characters “テイメント” which translates to “tainment” which I am guessing means Entertainment. On the top flap of the box there is “ポケットにスる不思議エンターテインメント” which translates to “Pocket Wonder Entertainment” (Figure 6). It is my belief that Tenyo got the idea for this type of packaging from a U.S. toy company called Milton Bradley which licensed tricks from Tenyo to sell in the U.S. under the brand name Magic Works. If you compare the boxes you can’t but help to see the similarities. If it was not Tenyo borrowing from Milton Bradley then it was for sure Milton Bradley borrowing from Tenyo. The are too many similarities for it to be considered a coincidence (Figure 7). While the current J-numbered boxes are smaller than the Magic Works boxes, there was a version of the Japanese Box released before the current version that looked the same but were not numbered. Those boxes are almost exactly the same size as the Milton Bradley Magic Works boxes.
Besides using the new box for their yearly releases from 1994 to 2000, Tenyo used these boxes to sell some of the older classic tricks (Flash Dice, Eclipse, Fantasica, etc.) as well as some Japanese only tricks such as (Trump Cards, Zig Zag Skeleton, Brass Bill Tube, etc). An interesting aspect about the tricks that came/come in these boxes is that they are sequentially numbered starting with 1 and ending with 46. There were also 4 special tricks released in these boxes numbered s1 through s4. These specially numbered boxes had a prismatic type effect on the “マジック” type on the box. I refer to these 50 sequentially numbered boxed tricks as J-Numbered tricks. Making a collection of these would be fun, but at the same time it would be a hard collection to make. Since 2000, the tricks have been parallel as far as packaging and for the most part the names have been the same or similar. In my collection I have some of the Japanese packages which you can see under the Additional Pictures section for the English trick.
Tenyo J-Numbered Japanese Boxed Tricks with Japanese Trick Names
Tenyo J-Numbered Japanese Boxed Tricks
J-# | Japanese Name | English Name | T-# | Year | English Package Type |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Dynamic Coin | Dynamic Coins | T-69 | 1975 | Vintage Blister on Card |
2 | Trump Cards | ||||
3 | ESP Dice | Flash Dice | T-72 | 1976 | Vintage Blister on Card |
4 | The Tobacco | Zig Zag Cig | T-110 | 1981 | Vintage Blister on Card |
5 | China Ring | Chinese Linking Rings | T-70 | ||
6 | Coin Vision | Eclipse | T-112 | 1982 | Vintage Blister on Card |
7 | Resurrection of the Pharoah | ||||
8 | Ring Mystery | Crystal Cleaver | T-155 | 1992 | Vintage Blister on Card |
9 | Pandora Box | Parabox | T-161 | 1993 | Vintage Blister on Card |
10 | Coin Panic | Soft Coins | T-108 | 1981 | Vintage Blister on Card |
11 | HDTV Card | Illusionairium | T-157 | 1992 | Vintage Blister on Card |
12 | Money Game | Vault Vision | T-134 | 1988 | Vintage Blister on Card |
13 | The Rope | Clean Cut | T-146 | 1990 | Vintage Blister on Card |
14 | Crop Circle | Twister | T-159 | 1993 | Vintage Blister on Card |
15 | Illusion Box | Dragon's Altar | T-149 | 1991 | Vintage Blister on Card |
16 | Flash Frame | Fantastica | T-160 | 1993 | Vintage Blister on Card |
17 | Virtual Coin | Metal Matrimony | T-164 | 1994 | Cello Bag w. Aqua Card |
18 | Pyramid Mystery | Crystal Pyramid | T-165 | 1994 | Cello Bag w. Aqua Card |
19 | Bio Illusion | Oh No! | T-166 | 1994 | Cello Bag w. Aqua Card |
20 | Psycho Clock | Future Clock | T-167 | 1994 | Cello Bag w. Aqua Card |
21 | Master Key of Magic | Zone infinity | T-169 | 1994 | Cello Bag w. Aqua Card |
22 | Invisible Zone | Invisible Zone | T-172 | 1995 | Cello Bag w. Aqua Card |
23 | Ring Escape | Merlin's Coffer | T-171 | 1995 | Cello Bag w. Aqua Card |
24 | Twin Stick | Pillars of Thor | T-170 | 1995 | Cello Bag w. Aqua Card |
25 | Mystery of Moai | Eye of the Idol | T-173 | 1995 | Blue Box |
26 | Mr. Rabbit | Mr. Rabbit | T-95 | 1978 | Box |
27 | Squeeze Play | Squeeze Play | T-87 | 1977 | Box |
28 | Brass Bill Tube | ||||
29 | Telepathy Box | Card Case | T-40 | Box | |
30 | Han Key Panic | Hanky Penetration | T-176 | 1996 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
31 | The Profiler | Unusual Suspects | T-175 | 1996 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
32 | The Key to Psychics | Krazy Keys | T-178 | 1996 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
33 | Ghost House | Phantoma | T-177 | 1996 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
34 | Bill Illusion | Trisector | T-179 | 1996 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
35 | String Trick | Enchanted Strings | T-180 | 1997 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
36 | Magical Bird Watching | Bird Watcher | T-181 | 1997 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
37 | Small Coin | Funnel Vision | T-182 | 1997 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
38 | Trump Jump Out | Pop-Up Card | T-184 | 1998 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
39 | Magical Queen | Puzzling Queen | T-185 | 1998 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
40 | Magical Bunny | Lucky Rabbit | T-188 | 1999 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
41 | Bill Shredder | Money Shredder | T-189 | 1999 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
42 | Bioshock | Bioshock | T-190 | 1999 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
43 | Magical Sword | Cutting Edge | T-191 | 1999 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
44 | Money Cutter | Money Cutter | T-196 | 2000 | Box |
45 | X-Ray File | X-Ray File | T-197 | 2000 | Box |
46 | Super Magic Tube | Dynamite Tube | T-199 | 2000 | Box |
s1 | The Impossible | Impossible Pen | T-183 | 1997 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
s2 | Stone Floating in the Air | Antigravity Rock | T-186 | 1998 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
s3 | The Illusion | Mini Morphosis | T-187 | 1998 | Plastic Box w. Colored Card |
s4 | Blue Crystal | Blue Crystal | T-198 | 2000 | Box |
Tenyo Professional Magic Come in a Wide Variety of Boxes
For many years Tenyo has brought to the Japanese magic marketplace tricks for the professional magician. Sometimes the tricks were Tenyo creations, sometimes they were tricks invented by others. In fact selling these types of tricks was the foundation of the products sold when Tenyo Shokyokusai started selling magic tricks at the Mitsukoshi Department Store in 1931. The tradition continues to this day. These specialty boxed tricks can often be made of materials not common with the typical Tenyo tricks such as wood, metal and cloth. They can be expensive when they are first sold and when they are sold on the secondary market they can go for much more. Many high end Tenyo collectors seek out these tricks because they have many of the regular Tenyo tricks and like to continue to collect. Many of the tricks are very good but for the most part you can get a similar trick that is not from Tenyo for a lot less money. These tricks come in a variety of boxes that are plain in design and usually have a Tenyo logo and a label with the name of the trick in Japanese. Some of the boxes were used in the T-Number line of tricks. The brown reptile print box was used for T-82 Spinning Plate on Rope and T-81 Space Walking Coins. The brown reptile print was also used in Japan to package some of the standard tricks (see figure 8). Another boxed used primarily for the professional line is blue box. The blue box was used for T-168 Floral Fantasy and T-173 Eye of the Idol. There is an earlier version of the blue box that had fancy type characters printed on the box in a golden tone. There was also an aqua colored reptile box (not shown).