This is a pure literature prize for new writers, named in memory of Akutagawa Ryunosuke. Its official name is the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize. It was proposed by Akutagawa's friend, Kikuchi Kan, and began in 1935 (Showa 10) along with the Naoki Prize, and continues to this day. The prize is awarded twice a year, selected by a committee of judges. The winner is presented with a commemorative gift and a prize of 1 million yen (originally 500 yen). The prize was initially run by Bungeishunju, but has since been run by the Japan Literature Promotion Society since 1938. The winning work, or candidates when there is no suitable work, are published in Bungeishunju. Works by Dazai Osamu and Takami Jun were among the first candidates for the prize, with Ishikawa Tatsuzo's Soubou. Then, with the award going to writers active in the 1930s, such as Ishikawa Jun, Ozaki Kazuo, Hino Ashihei, and Nakayama Yoshihide, the prize gradually gained authority as a literary prize, but the awarding of the prize during World War II had a wartime feel to it. It was temporarily discontinued from the end of the war to the postwar period. After the war, writers who pioneered their own fields, such as Inoue Yasushi, Abe Kobo, and Matsumoto Seicho, were awarded the prize, and then the "third generation of new writers," such as Yasuoka Shotaro, Yoshiyuki Junnosuke, and Endo Shusaku, as well as Kaiko Takeshi and Oe Kenzaburo, showed their talent and entered the literary world through this award. There are many popular works, such as Ishihara Shintaro's "Season of the Sun," Nakagami Kenji's "Cape," and Murakami Ryu's "Almost Transparent Blue." Since the 1960s, the number of female writers receiving the award has also increased. The history of the Akutagawa Prize is also a trace of new trends in pure literature, and in that sense, the comments made by the selection committee each time are also interesting. [Masao Yasumasa July 20, 2018] 1st (first half of 1935) Tatsuzo Ishikawa "Soubou" 2nd (2nd half of 1935) No applicants 3rd round (first half of 1936) Tomoya Tsuruta "The Koshamine Chronicles" Takeo Oda "Outside the Castle" 4th (2nd half of 1936) Jun Ishikawa "Fugen" Ario Tomizawa "Mediterranean Sea" 5th (first half of 1937) Kazuo Ozaki "Carefree Glasses" and others 6th (2nd half of 1937) Hino Ashihei "The Tale of Feces and Urine" 7th (first half of 1938) Yoshihide Nakayama "Thick Bloom" 8th (2nd half of 1938) Tsuneko Nakazato "Stagecoach" and others 9th (first half of 1939) Ken Hase "Child of Asakusa" Yoshiyuki Handa "Chicken Riot" 10th (2nd half of 1939) Kotaro Samukawa "Poacher" 11th (first half of 1940) No applicants 12th (2nd half of 1940) Tsunehisa Sakurada "Hiraga Gennai" 13th (first half of 1941) Hirotaka Tada "Yangtze Delta" 14th (2nd half of 1941) Yoshiko Shibaki "Vegetable Market" 15th (first half of 1942) No applicants 16th (2nd half of 1942) Toshio Kuramitsu "Contact Person" 17th (first half of 1943) Kikuzo Ishizuka "The Time of Foot Binding" 18th (2nd half of 1943) Kaoru Higashinobe "Washi" 19th (first half of 1944) Yoshinori Yagi "Liu Guangfu" Oobi Juzo "Climbing" 20th (2nd half of 1944) Motoyoshi Shimizu "Karitachi" 21st (first half of 1949) Shigeko Yuki "Book Talk" Tsuyoshi Kotani "Confirmation" 22nd (2nd half of 1949) Yasushi Inoue "Bullfighting" 23rd (first half of 1950) Ryoichi Tsuji "Stranger" 24th (2nd half of 1950) No applicants 25th (first half of 1951) Toshimitsu Ishikawa "Spring Grass" and others Kobo Abe "The Wall - The Crime of Mr. S. Karma" 26th (2nd half of 1951) Yoshie Hotta "Loneliness in the Square", "Traitor" and others 27th (first half of 1952) No applicants 28th (2nd half of 1952) Kosuke Gomi "Mourning Spirit" Matsumoto Seicho "A Legend of the 'Ogura Diary'" 29th (first half of 1953) Shotaro Yasuoka "Bad Company" "Gloomy Pleasure" 30th (2nd half of 1953) No applicants 31st (first half of 1954) Junnosuke Yoshiyuki "Shower" and others 32nd (2nd half of 1954) Nobuo Kojima "American School" Junzo Shono "Poolside Scene" 33rd (first half of 1955) "White Man" by Shusaku Endo 34th (2nd half of 1955) Shintaro Ishihara "Season of the Sun" 35th (first half of 1956) Keitaro Kondo "Seaman's Boat" 36th (2nd half of 1956) No applicants 37th (first half of 1957) Kikumura Itaru "Iwo Jima" 38th (2nd half of 1957) Kaiko Takeshi "The Emperor's New Clothes" 39th (first half of 1958) Kenzaburo Oe "Breeding" 40th (2nd half of 1958) No. 41 (first half of 1959) Shiba Shiro "Mountain Tower" 42nd (2nd half of 1959) No. 43 (first half of 1960) Kita Morio "In the Corner of Night and Fog" 44th (2nd half of 1960) Tetsuro Miura "Shining River" 45th (first half of 1961) No. 46 (2nd half of 1961) "The Whale God" by Uno Koichiro 47th (first half of 1962) Akira Kawamura "The Beginning of a Beautiful Story" 48th (2nd half of 1962) No. 49 (first half of 1963) Kiichi Goto "Boy's Bridge" Taeko Kono "Crab" 50th (2nd half of 1963) Seiko Tanabe "Sentimental Journey" 51st (first half of 1964) Sho Shibata "But our days--" 52nd (2nd half of 1964) No. 53 (first half of 1965) Setsuko Tsumura "Toys" 54th (2nd half of 1965) Yuichi Takai "The Northern River" 55th (first half of 1966) No. 56 (2nd half of 1966) Kenji Maruyama "Flow of Summer" 57th (first half of 1967) Tatsuhiro Oshiro "Cocktail Party" 58th (2nd half of 1967) Kashiwabara Heizo "Tokuyama Dosuke's Homecoming" 59th (first half of 1968) "Three Crabs" by Oba Minako Saiichi Maruya "The Rest of the Year" 60th (2nd half of 1968) No applicants 61st (first half of 1969) Kaoru Shoji "Little Red Riding Hood, be careful" Hideo Takubo "Deep River" 62nd (2nd half of 1969) Takuyuki Kiyooka "Acacia Dalian" 63rd (first half of 1970) Koyama Takao "The Dawn of Pre-O 8" Tomoko Yoshida "Long Night of Ignorance" 64th (2nd half of 1970) "Yoko" by Furui Yoshiki 65th (first half of 1971) No applicants 66th (2nd half of 1971) Lee Hui-seong "Woman Strikes a Kinuta" Higashimineo "Okinawa Boy" 67th (first half of 1972) Akio Miyahara "Someone touched it" Hiroshi Hatayama "Someday I'll blow the whistle" 68th (2nd half of 1972) Shizuko Go "Requiem" Michiko Yamamoto "Betty's Garden" 69th (first half of 1973) Taku Miki "Hiwa" 70th (2nd half of 1973) Atsushi Mori "Gassan" Kuninobu Noro "Grass Sword" 71st (first half of 1974) No applicants 72nd (2nd half of 1974) Hiroo Sakata "Earthenware" Keizo Hino "That Sunset" 73rd (first half of 1975) Kyoko Hayashi "The Festival Place" 74th (2nd half of 1975) Kenji Nakagami "Cape" Kazuo Okamatsu "Shika Island" 75th (first half of 1976) Ryu Murakami "Almost Transparent Blue" 76th (2nd half of 1976) No. 77 (first half of 1977) Masahiro Mita "Who am I?" Masuo Ikeda "Dedicated to the Aegean Sea" 78th (2nd half of 1977) Teru Miyamoto "Firefly River" Shuzo Takagi "The Kaya Tree Festival" 79th (first half of 1978) Takahashi Michitsuna "September Sky" Kiichiro Takahashi "Nobuyo" 80th (2nd half of 1978) No. 81 (first half of 1979) Yoshiko Shigekane "Smoke from the Mountain" Satoshi Aono "The Night of the Fool" 82nd (2nd half of 1979) Mori Reiko "The Town with Mockingbirds" 83rd (first half of 1980) No. 84 (2nd half of 1980) Katsuhiko Otsuji "My Father Disappeared" 85th (first half of 1981) Rie Yoshiyuki "Little Lady" 86th (2nd half of 1981) No. 87 (first half of 1982) No. 88 (2nd half of 1982) Kara Juro "Letter from Sagawa-kun" Kato Sachiko "Wall of Dreams" 89th (first half of 1983) No. 90 (2nd half of 1983) Jun Kasahara "The World of Mokuji" Nobuko Takagi "Friends who embrace the light" 91st (first half of 1984) No. 92 (2nd half of 1984) Satoko Kizaki "Blue Paulownia" 93rd (first half of 1985) No. 94 (2nd half of 1985) Fumiko Yonetani "Passover" 95th (first half of 1986) No. 96 (2nd half of 1986) No. 97 (first half of 1987) Kiyoko Murata "Inside the Pot" 98th (2nd half of 1987) Natsuki Ikezawa "Still Life" Kiyohiro Miura "The Eldest Son's Religious Cult" 99th (first half of 1988) Arai Mitsuru "Time for the Missing Person" 100th (2nd half of 1988) Yoshiki Minami "Diamond Dust" Lee Yang-ji "Yu-hee" 101st (first half of 1989) No. 102 (2nd half of 1989) Mieko Takizawa "In a town with cat-haters" Rei Ooka "Surface Life" 103rd (first half of 1990) Noboru Tsujihara "The Village Name" 104th (2nd half of 1990) Yoko Ogawa "Pregnancy Calendar" 105th (first half of 1991) Tsune Henmi "Automatic wake-up device" Anna Ogino "Water on my Back" 106th (2nd half of 1991) Eiko Matsumura "The Most Holy Place (Abatone)" 107th (first half of 1992) Tomomi Fujiwara "Driver" 108th (2nd half of 1992) Yoko Tawada "Dog Marriage" 109th (first half of 1993) Haruhiko Yoshimeki "Lonely Suburban Area" 110th (2nd half of 1993) Hikaru Okuizume "The History of Stone" 111th (first half of 1994) Yoriko Shono "Time Slip Industrial Complex" Mitsuhiro Muroi "Dancing" 112th (2nd half of 1994) No. 113 (first half of 1995) Kazushi Hosaka "This Person's Threshold" 114th (2nd half of 1995) Matayoshi Eiki "Pig's Retribution" 115th (first half of 1996) Hiromi Kawakami "Stepping on a Snake" 116th (2nd half of 1996) Misato Yanagi "Family Cinema" Hitonari Tsuji "Light of the Straits" 117th (first half of 1997) "Water Droplets" by Shun Metori 118th (2nd half of 1997) No. 119 (first half of 1998) Shu Fujisawa "Buenos Aires at Midnight" Hanamura Mangetsuku "Germanium Night" 120th (2nd half of 1998) Keiichiro Hirano "Solar Eclipse" 121st (first half of 1999) No. 122 (2nd half of 1999) Gengetsu "The Dwelling of the Shadows" Chiyo Fujino "Summer Promise" 123rd (first half of 2000) Ko Machida "Cutout" "Flower Rot" by Matsuura Toshiki 124th (2nd half of 2000) Aorai Yuichi "Holy Water" Toshiyuki Horie "Bear's Paving Stone" 125th (first half of 2001) Genyu Sokyu "Flowers of the Interment Period" 126th (2nd half of 2001) Yu Nagashima "My mother is moving at breakneck speed" 127th (first half of 2002) Shuichi Yoshida "Park Life" 128th (2nd half of 2002) Tamaki Ohmichi "Salty Drive" 129th (first half of 2003) Yoshimura Manichi "Hairworm" 130th (2nd half of 2003) Hitomi Kanehara "Snakes and Earrings" Risa Wataya "The Back I Want to Kick" 131st (first half of 2004) Mob Norio "Introduction to Nursing" 132nd (2nd half of 2004) Kazushige Abe "Grand Finale" 133rd (first half of 2005) Nakamura Fumino "Children in the Earth" 134th (2nd half of 2005) Akiko Itoyama "Waiting in the Offing" 135th (first half of 2006) Takami Ito "Throwing it away on the streets in August" 136th (2nd half of 2006) Nanae Aoyama "A Perfect Day Alone" 137th (first half of 2007) Tetsushi Suwa "The Person Tomorrow" 138th (2nd half of 2007) Mieko Kawakami "Breasts and Eggs" 139th (first half of 2008) Yang Yi "Morning when time fades" 140th (2nd half of 2008) Kikuko Tsumura "Potash Lime Boat" 141st (first half of 2009) Kenichiro Isozaki "Final Residence" 142nd (2nd half of 2009) No. 143 (first half of 2010) Akiko Akazome "A Maiden's Denunciation" 144th (2nd half of 2010) Mariko Asabuki "Kikotowa" Kenta Nishimura “Hard Train” 145th (first half of 2011) No applicants 146th (2nd half of 2011) Toh Enjoe "Clown's Butterfly" Shinya Tanaka "Cannibalism" 147th (first half of 2012) Maki Kashimada "Visiting the Underworld" 148th (2nd half of 2012) Natsuko Kuroda "ab coral" 149th (first half of 2013) Kaori Fujino "Nails and Eyes" 150th (2nd half of 2013) Hiroko Oyamada "Hole" 151st (first half of 2014) Tomoka Shibasaki "Spring Garden" 152nd (2nd half of 2014) Masashi Ono "A Prayer Nine Years Ago" 153rd (first half of 2015) Keisuke Haneda "Scrap and Build" Naoki Matayoshi "Spark" 154th (2nd half of 2015) Yusei Takiguchi "The Undead" Yukiko Motoya "Tales of Interspecies Marriage" 155th (first half of 2016) Sayaka Murata "Convenience Store Woman" 156th (2nd half of 2016) Sumito Yamashita "New World" 157th (first half of 2017) Mayu Numata "Behind the Scenes" 158th (2nd half of 2017) Yuka Ishii "100 Years of Mud" Chisako Wakatake "I'm Alone" 159th (first half of 2018) Hiroki Takahashi "Okuribi" 160th (2nd half of 2018) Takehiro Ueda "Nimrod" Ryohei Machiya "1R (1 round) 1 minute 34 seconds" 161st (first half of 2019) Natsuko Imamura "Woman in a Purple Skirt" 162nd (2nd half of 2019) Masato Furukawa "Tall foam grass" 163rd (first half of 2020) Takayama Haneko "Horses of Shuri" Haruka Tono "Breakup" 164th (2nd half of 2020) Rin Usami "My Favorite Things" 165th (first half of 2021) Mai Ishizawa "At the place leading to the shellfish" Li Kinho "The Island Where Red Spider Lilies Bloom" Note: Cancelled from 1945 to 1948 (Showa 20 to 23) "Study of the Akutagawa Prize" (1979, Japan Journalist Academy Publishing Division) " Complete Works of the Akutagawa Prize, Volume 19 and Supplementary Volume 1 (1982-2002, Bungeishunju)" [References] | Ryunosuke Akutagawa | Kobo Abe | Jun Ishikawa | Tatsuzo Ishikawa | Shintaro Ishihara | Yasushi Inoue | Yangji Lee |Shusaku Endo|Kenzaburo Oe| Kazuo Ozaki | Takeshi Kaiko | Kan Kikuchi | Taeko Kono | Pure literature | Sobo | Season of the sun | Jun Takami | Osamu Dazai | Seiko Tanabe | Naoki Prize | Yoshihide Nakayama | Ashihei Hino |Bungei Shunju| Seicho Matsumoto | Ryu Murakami | Shotaro Yasuoka | Junnosuke Yoshiyuki Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend |