The honors achievement in all aspects of Japanese literary culture. It was named in honor of

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 ...

. The prize is presented annually by the literary magazine ''

Bungei Shunjū Bungei may refer to: * ''Bungei'' (magazine), a Japanese literary magazine * The Bungei Prize, a literary prize of Japan, awarded by ''Bungei'' * Bungeishunjū, a Japanese publishing company known for its literary magazine of the same name * Wilf ...

'' and 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 ...

History

The original Kikuchi Kan Prize was proposed by Kikuchi as an award to honor the elders of the literary world. It was established in 1938. In keeping with the intent of the prize, the jury was made up of novelists aged 45 or younger, and recipients were novelists aged 46 or older. The prize lapsed after six years, but was revived in 1952 following Kikuchi's death. The range of recipients was enlarged to honor achievements in cinema, broadcasting, and other fields in contemporary literary culture. The jury meets in October to consider works published from September 1 of the previous year through August 31, and awards are announced in the December issue of ''Bungei Shunjū''.

Select list of prizewinners

The list of prizewinners includes a range of individual and institutional honorees.Bungei Shunju
Award winners
*

Iwanami Shoten is a Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo.Louis Frédéric, ''Japan Encyclopedia'', Harvard University Press, 2005, p. 409. Iwanami Shoten was founded in 1913 by Iwanami Shigeo. Its first major publication was Natsume Sōseki's novel '' ...

, 1953 *

Yomiuri Shimbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ...

, 1953 *

Eiji Yoshikawa was a Japanese historical novelist. Among his best-known novels are revisions of older classics. He was mainly influenced by classics such as '' The Tale of the Heike'', ''Tale of Genji'', ''Water Margin'' and ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', ...

, 1953 *

Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition a ...

, 1954 *

Ihei Kimura was a Japanese photographer, known for his portrayal of Tokyo and Akita Prefecture. Life and work Born on 12 December 1901 in Shitaya-ku (now Taitō-ku), Tokyo, Kimura started taking photographs when very young but his interest intensified whe ...

, 1955 *

Chikage Awashima was a Japanese film and stage actress. Life A graduate from Takarazuka Music and Dance School and member of the Takarazuka Revue, Chikage Awashima entered the Shochiku film studios and made her film debut in 1950. She appeared in films of nume ...

, 1956 *

Mainichi Shimbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English language news website called ''The Mainichi'' (previ ...

, 1957 *

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

, 1959 *

Kan Shimozawa was a Japanese novelist and historical writer. He was born February 1, 1892, in Atsuta, Hokkaido, and died July 19, 1968. Sometimes his name is spelled ''Kan Shimosawa'' (in ''New Tale of Zatoichi'', ''Zatoichi the Fugitive''). His real name was U ...

, 1962 *

Donald Keene Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature. Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japane ...

, 1962 "Professor Gets Prize; Keene of Columbia Cited for Work in Japanese Letters,"
''New York Times.'' March 5, 1962. *

Kenichi Horie is a Japanese solo yachtsman. In 1962 he became the first person to sail solo and non-stop across the Pacific Ocean. He has made other significant solo voyages, usually involving boats exhibiting some sort of environmentally friendly theme, includ ...

, 1963 * Oya Soichi, 1965 * Meiji Village Museum, 1966 * Yoshiya Nobuko, 1967 *

Ishikawa Tatsuzō Ishikawa may refer to: Concepts *Ishikawa diagram, cause-and-effect diagram, developed by Kaoru Ishikawa Places *Ishikawa Prefecture, a prefecture in the Chūbu region on Honshū island, Japan *Ishikawa District, Ishikawa, a former district in I ...

, 1969 * Matsumoto Seicho, 1970 *

Ken Domon is one of the most renowned Japanese photographers of the 20th century. He is most celebrated as a photojournalist, though he may have been most prolific as a photographer of Buddhist temples and statuary. Biography Domon was born in Sakata, Y ...

, 1971 *

Toshiro Mayuzumi Toshiro Mayuzumi (黛敏郎 ''Mayuzumi Toshirō'' ; 20 February 1929 – 10 April 1997) was a Japanese composer known for his implementation of avant-garde instrumentation alongside traditional Japanese musical techniques. His works drew i ...

, 1971 * Mizukami Tsutomu, 1971 * Nagai Tatsuo, 1972 *

Yoji Yamada is a Japanese film director best known for his ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series of films and his Samurai Trilogy (''The Twilight Samurai'', ''The Hidden Blade'' and '' Love and Honor''). Biography He was born in Osaka, but due to his father's job ...

, 1972 *

Hideo Kobayashi was a Japanese author, who established literary criticism as an independent art form in Japan. Early life Kobayashi was born in the Kanda district of Tokyo, where his father was a noted engineer who introduced European diamond polishing techn ...

, 1973 *

Akira Yoshimura was an award-winning Japanese writer. Internationally he is best known for his novels ''Shipwrecks'' and ''On Parole''. Life and work Yoshimura was the president of the Japanese writers' union and a PEN member. He published over 20 novels, o ...

, 1973 *

Masanori Hata (born April 17, 1935) is a Japanese zoologist, essayist, and filmmaker. A popular essayist under the pen name Mutsugorō, he was awarded the Kikuchi Kan Prize for his writing in 1977. He is perhaps best known in the West as the director and screen ...

, 1977 *

Edward Seidensticker Edward George Seidensticker (February 11, 1921 – August 26, 2007) was an American noted post-World War II scholar, historian, and preeminent translator of classical and contemporary Japanese literature. His English translation of the epic '' Th ...

, 1977 *

Edwin McClellan Edwin McClellan (24 October 1925 – 27 April 2009) was a British Japanologist, teacher, writer, translator, and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture. Biography McClellan was born in Kobe, Japan in 1925 to a Japanese mother, Teruko ...

, 1994 *

Hisashi Inoue was a leading Japanese playwright and writer of comic fiction. From 1961 to 1986, he used the pen name of Uchiyama Hisashi. Early life Inoue was born in what is now part of Kawanishi in Yamagata Prefecture, where his father was a pharmacis ...

, 1999 *

Mitsumasa Anno was a Japanese illustrator and writer of children's books, known best for picture books with few or no words. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1984 for his "lasting contribution to children's literature." Life Ann ...

, 2008 *

Yoshiharu Habu is a professional shogi player and a chess FIDE Master. His master is Tatsuya Futakami. He is the only person to simultaneously hold seven major professional shogi titles at the same time and is also the only person to qualify as a lifetime tit ...

, 2008 *

Matsumoto Seicho Memorial Museum The is a literature museum in Kitakyushu, Japan. It is dedicated to Seichō Matsumoto, who spent the first half of his life in Kitakyusyu. The museum is located next to Kokura Castle. Features of the Museum The museum displays exhibits and ...

, 2008 *

Eiji Mitooka is a Japanese industrial designer, illustrator, and managing director of the industrial design company . He also works as a design consultant for Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). Biography Mitooka graduated from Okayama Technical High Sch ...

, 2011 * Rieko Nakagawa and Yuriko Yamawaki, 2013 *

Osamu Akimoto is a Japanese manga artist from Katsushika, Tokyo. He is best known for his long-running comedy series '' KochiKame: Tokyo Beat Cops'', which was continuously published in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' for 40 years from 1976 to 2016. With 1,960 chapt ...

, 2016 *

Yuzuru Hanyu is a Japanese former competitive figure skater. He is a two-time Olympic champion (2014, 2018), a two-time World champion (2014, 2017), a four-time Grand Prix Final champion (2013–2016), the 2020 Four Continents champion, the 2010 World J ...

, 2022

References

External links

* Japanese literary awards {{lit-award-stub

History

Select list of prizewinners

See also

References

External links