is given to one

sportsperson An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

or sports team every year since 1968 by the Japan Professional Sports Association. The award is one of the most prestigious all-sport awards in Japanese sport. The recordholders are the baseball players

Ichiro Suzuki , also known mononymously as , is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder who played professionally for 28 seasons. He played nine years of his career with the Orix BlueWave of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), where he began his ...

and

Sadaharu Oh Sadaharu Oh (Japanese: , ''Ō Sadaharu''; born May 20, 1940), also known as Wang Chen-chih (), is a Japanese-born former baseball player and manager Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Ō Sadaharu"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 758. who ...

(three awards). A committee of representatives from

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

newspapers, wire services, television and radio for

sports media Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

are responsible for making the selections. The winner is given the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Trophy. Since 2019, the awards have been discontinued due to problems within the Japan Professional Sports Association.プロスポーツ大賞、主催者の組織運営に問題で表彰延期
サンケイスポーツ 2019年11月19日

Shohei Ohtani , nicknamed "Shotime", is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher, designated hitter and outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional ...

is the last recipient of the

Trophy in 2018.

List of winners

Wins by sports

References

Japan Professional Sports Association
Sport in Japan National sportsperson-of-the-year trophies and awards Awards established in 1968 1968 establishments in Japan Japanese awards {{Japan-sport-stub