Tokyo police have arrested a Japanese artist for displaying figurines modelled on her vagina and distributing digital data used to build a yellow kayak based on her genitals.

The owner of an adult goods store where Megumi Igarashi, 42, who works under the alias Rokudenashiko, displayed her works, was also arrested on obscenity charges, police said.

"They showed obscene figurines in a glass case so that people coming to the shop could see it," said a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department who declined to give his full name. "This is a new factor," he said.

Igarashi was briefly jailed earlier this year over a similar offence. Her arrest and detention triggered a debate about women rights and limits of artistic expression in Japan.

Tokyo police reiterated the reasons given for the previous arrest - the distribution of 3D data of her scanned vagina, which was the digital basis for her kayak project.

She faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000.