The Naoki Prize, officially , is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Ma ...

presented biannually. It was created in 1935 by

Kikuchi Kan , also known as Kan Kikuchi (which uses the same kanji as his real name), was a Japanese author. He established the publishing company Bungeishunjū, the monthly magazine of the same name, the Japan Writer's Association and both the Akutagawa ...

, then editor of the ''Bungeishunjū'' magazine, and named in memory of novelist

Naoki Sanjugo was a pen name of a novelist in Taishō and Shōwa period Japan. His real name was . Early life Naoki Sanjūgo was born in what is now Chūō-ku, Osaka. The noted historian Uemura Seiji, specialist in East Asian history, was his brother. Against ...

. Sponsored by the

Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature The is an organisation, established in 1938, to promote Japanese literature. It organises five literary prizes: *Akutagawa Prize *Kikuchi Kan Prize * Matsumoto Prize *Naoki Prize The Naoki Prize, officially , is a Japanese literary award present ...

, the award recognizes "the best work of popular

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

in any format by a new, rising, or (reasonably young) established author." The winner receives a watch and one million

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

. Kikuchi founded the Naoki Prize with the

Akutagawa Prize The is a Japanese literary award presented biannually. Because of its prestige and the considerable attention the winner receives from the media, it is, along with the Naoki Prize, one of Japan's most sought after literary prizes. History Th ...

, which targets a new or rising author of literary fiction. The two prizes are viewed as "two sides of the same coin" and inseparable from one another. Because of the prestige associated with the Naoki Prize and the considerable attention the winner receives from the media, it, along with the

, is one of Japan's most sought after literary awards of recognition.

Winners

Bungeishunjū is a Japanese publishing company known for its leading monthly magazine '' Bungeishunjū''. The company was founded by Kan Kikuchi in 1923. It grants the annual Akutagawa Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in Japan, as well as ...

maintains the official archive of past Naoki Prize winners.

1st–100th

101st to present

Winners available in English translation

* 1961 (45th) -

Tsutomu Minakami , also known as Tsutomu Minakami, was a Japanese writer of novels, biographies, and plays. Mizukami's major works include '' The Temple of the Wild Geese'', ''Kiga kaikyō'' and '' Bamboo Dolls of Echizen''. His writings earned him, among other a ...

(Tsutomu Mizukami), ''The Temple of the Wild Geese'' (''The Temple of the Wild Geese and Bamboo Dolls of Echizen'', trans. Dennis C. Washburn,

Dalkey Archive Press Dalkey Archive Press is an American publisher of fiction, poetry, foreign translations and literary criticism specializing in the publication or republication of lesser-known, often avant-garde works. The company has offices in Funks Grove, Il ...

, 2008) *1973 (69th) - Hideo Osabe (Hideo Osabe), ''Tsugaru Jonkarabushi'' and ''Tsugaru Yosarebushi'' (In ''Voices from the Snow'', trans. James N. Westerhoven, Hirosaki University Press, 2009) * 1979 (81st) - Takashi Atōda, ''Napoleon Crazy'' (Short story collection) ** "Napoleon Crazy" (''Napoleon Crazy and other stories'', trans. Stanleigh H. Jones,

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

International, 1986 / ''

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fict ...

'', March 1989) ** "The Visitor" (''Napoleon Crazy and other stories'', trans. Stanleigh H. Jones, Kodansha International, 1986 / ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'', December 1988) ** "The Transparent Fish" (''Napoleon Crazy and other stories'', trans. Stanleigh H. Jones, Kodansha International, 1986) ** "Of Golf and Its Beginnings" (''The Square Persimmon and other stories'', trans. Millicent M. Horton,

Tuttle Publishing Tuttle Publishing, originally the Charles E. Tuttle Company, is a book publishing company that includes Tuttle, Periplus Editions, and Journey Editions.

, 1991) ** "A Treatise on Count St. German" (''The Square Persimmon and other stories'', trans. Millicent M. Horton, Tuttle Publishing, 1991) * 1986 (96th) - Go Osaka, ''The Red Star of Cadiz'' (trans. Usha Jayaraman, Kurodahan Press, 2008) * 1996 (115th) - Asa Nonami, ''The Hunter: A Detective Takako Otomichi Mystery'' (trans.

Juliet Winters Carpenter Juliet Winters Carpenter (born 1948) is an American translator of modern Japanese literature. Born in the American Midwest, she studied Japanese literature at the University of Michigan and the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studie ...

International, 2006) * 1997 (117th) -

Jirō Asada is the pen name of , a Japanese writer. Inspired by Yukio Mishima, who tried to stage a coup d'état among Japan Self-Defense Forces then committed suicide after the coup was failed, Asada enlisted in the SDF after finishing his studies. He c ...

, ''The Stationmaster'' (trans. Terry Gallagher,

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

, 2009 /

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

English Edition, 2013) * 1998 (119th) - Chōkitsu Kurumatani, ''The Paradise Bird Tattoo'' (trans. Kenneth J. Bryson,

Counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

, 2010) * 2000 (123rd) - Yoichi Funado, ''May in the Valley of the Rainbow'' (trans. Eve Alison Nyren,

Vertical Vertical is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Vertical direction, the direction aligned with the direction of the force of gravity, up or down * Vertical (angles), a pair of angles opposite each other, formed by two intersecting s ...

, 2006) * 2005 (134th) -

Keigo Higashino is a Japanese author chiefly known for his mystery novels. He served as the 13th President of Mystery Writers of Japan from 2009 to 2013. Higashino has won major Japanese awards for his books, almost twenty of which have been turned into films a ...

, ''

The Devotion of Suspect X is a 2005 novel by Keigo Higashino, the third in his Detective Galileo series and is his most acclaimed work thus far. The novel won him numerous awards, including the 134th Naoki Prize, which is a highly regarded award in Japan. The novel also ...

'' (trans.

Alexander O. Smith Alexander O. Smith is a professional Japanese to English translator and author. While his output covers many areas such as adaptation of Japanese novels, manga, song lyrics, anime scripts, and various academic works, he is best known for his sof ...

Minotaur Books St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

, 2011)

Nominees available in English translation

* 1963 (49th) -

Toshiyuki Kajiyama was a Japanese novelist, essayist and journalist active during the Shōwa period of Japan. He was known for his popular novels, which included mystery, historical and erotic novels. Early life Kajiyama was born in Keijo (present day Seoul) in ...

, "The Remembered Shadow of the Yi Dynasty" (''The Clan Records: Five Stories of Korea'', trans. Yoshiko Dykstra,

University of Hawaii Press A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

, 1995) * 1963 (50th) -

Masako Togawa (23 March 1931 – 26 April 2016) was a Japanese Chanson singer/songwriter, actress, feminist, novelist, lesbian icon, former night club owner, metropolitan city planning panelist, and music educator.Masako Togawa (1985). ''The Lady Killer''. Pen ...

, ''The Lady Killer'' (trans. Simon Grove,

Dodd, Mead and Company Dodd, Mead and Company was one of the pioneer publishing houses of the United States, based in New York City. Under several names, the firm operated from 1839 until 1990. History Origins In 1839, Moses Woodruff Dodd (1813–1899) and John S. Ta ...

, 1985) * 1983 (89th) -

Kenzo Kitakata is a Japanese novelist, especially known for his hardboiled novels. He studied law at Chuo University in the early 1970s. He served as the 10th President of the Mystery Writers of Japan from 1997 to 2001. Works in English translation ;Hardboile ...

, ''The Cage'' (trans. Paul Warham,

, 2006) * 1988 (100th) - Joh Sasaki, ''Zero Over Berlin'' (trans. Hiroko Yoda with Matt Alt, Vertical, 2004) * 1991 (105th) -

Miyuki Miyabe is a Japanese writer of genre fiction. She has won numerous Japanese literary awards, including the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers, the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature, the Shiba Ryotaro Prize, the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize, and the Na ...

, ''The Sleeping Dragon'' (trans. Deborah Iwabuchi,

America, 2010) * 1992 (108th) - Miyuki Miyabe, ''

All She Was Worth ''All She Was Worth'' is a crime novel by Miyuki Miyabe. It was originally published under the Japanese title ''Kasha'' (Japanese: 火車). Plot introduction In 1992, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Detective Shunsuke Honma, on leave due to an incide ...

'' (trans.

Alfred Birnbaum Alfred Birnbaum (born 1955)Our Authors: Alfred Birnbaum

, Mariner Books, 1999) * 1996 (115th) -

Koji Suzuki is a Japanese writer, who was born in Hamamatsu and lives in Tokyo. Suzuki is the author of the ''Ring'' novels, which have been adapted into other formats, including films, manga, TV series and video games. He has written several books on th ...

, ''

Dark Water Dark Water may refer to: Books * '' Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil'', 1920 book by American philosopher W.E.B. Du Bois * ''Dark Water'' (book) (仄暗い水の底から; ''Honogurai mizu no soko kara''; literally ''In the Depths of Dark ...

'' (trans. Glynne Walley, Vertical, 2004) * 1997 (118th) -

Natsuo Kirino (born October 7, 1951, in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture) is the pen name of Mariko Hashioka, a Japanese novelist and a leading figure in the recent boom of female writers of Japanese detective fiction. Biography Kirino is the middle child of th ...

, '' Out'' (trans. Stephen Snyder,

, 2003 /

Vintage Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certa ...

, 2005) * 1998 (120th) -

, '' Naoko'' (trans. Kerim Yasar, Vertical, 2004) * 2000 (124th) -

Hideo Yokoyama is a Japanese novelist. Yokoyama specializes in mystery novels. He repeated his Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! No. 1 ranking in 2013 with '' Six Four'' (64). The English edition of ''Six Four'', translated by Jonathan Lloyd-Davies, was shortlisted ...

, "Motive" (original title: Dōki) (trans. Beth Cary, ''

'', May 2008) * 2001 (126th) -

Ira Ishida is a Japanese novelist and TV commentator. After graduating from Seikei University, he worked for a number of different advertising production companies and as a freelance copywriter. In 1997, he published his first short story collection, '' ...

, ''Call boy'' (trans. Lamar Stone,

English Edition, 2013) * 2002 (127th) - Hideo Okuda, '' In the Pool'' (trans. Giles Murray,

Stone Bridge Press Stone Bridge Press, Inc. is a publishing company distributed by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution and founded in 1989. Authors published include Donald Richie and Frederik L. Schodt. Stone Bridge publishes books related to Japan, having pu ...

, 2006) * 2005 (133rd) - Hideo Furukawa, ''Belka, Why Don't You Bark?'' (trans. Michael Emmerich,

, 2012) * 2005 (134th) - Kōtarō Isaka, "The Precision of the Agent of Death" (original title: Shinigami no Seido) (trans. Beth Cary, ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'', July 2006 / ''Passport to Crime'', Running Press, 2007) * 2011 (145th) - Kazuaki Takano, ''Genocide of One'' (trans.

Philip Gabriel James Philip Gabriel (born 1953) is an American translator and Japanologist. He is a full professor and former department chair of the University of Arizona's Department of East Asian Studies and is one of the major translators into English of the ...

Mulholland Books Mulholland Books (US) is an imprint of Little, Brown and Company, a division of the Hachette Book Group. It specializes in publishing mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels. History Little, Brown and Company announced the creation of Mulhol ...

, 2014)

Current members of the selection committee

(As of 2014) *

Mariko Hayashi is a Japanese writer and chairperson of the Nihon University board of directors. Her awards include the 94th Naoki Prize and the Japanese Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon. Her novels and essays have been widely adapted for television and film ...

( ja) *

* Shizuka Ijūin ( ja) *

* Masamitsu Miyagitani ( ja) *

Kaoru Takamura is a Japanese writer from Osaka. She has won numerous Japanese literary awards, including the Mystery Writers of Japan Award, the Japan Adventure Fiction Association Prize, the Naoki Prize, the Yomiuri Prize, and the Noma Literary Prize, and her ...

( ja)

References

External links

J'Lit , Awards : Naoki Prize , Books from Japan
{{Authority control Japanese literary awards Awards established in 1935 Literary awards honouring young writers Fiction awards 1935 establishments in Japan