Akutagawa Prize Explained

Akutagawa Prize
Subheader:	芥川龍之介賞 (Akutagawa Ryūnosuke Shō)
Awarded For:	Best published literary story by a rising author
Presenter:	Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature
Country:	Japan
Reward:	¥1,000,000, pocket watch

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.^[1]

History

The Akutagawa Prize was established in 1935 by Kan Kikuchi, then-editor of Bungeishunjū magazine, in memory of author Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. It is sponsored by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature, and is awarded in January and July to the best serious literary story published in a newspaper or magazine by a new or rising author.^[2] The winner receives a pocket watch and a cash award of 1 million yen. The judges usually include contemporary writers, literary critics, and former winners of the prize. Occasionally, when consensus cannot be reached between judges over disputes about the winning story or the quality of work for that half year, no prize is awarded. From 1945 through 1948 no prizes were awarded due to postwar instability.^[3] The prize has frequently been split between two authors.^[4]

On January 15, 2004, the awarding of the 130th Akutagawa Prize made significant news when two women became the award's youngest winners.^[5] The prize went to both Risa Wataya, 19, for her novel and to Hitomi Kanehara, 20, for her debut novel . Previously the youngest Akutagawa winners were all males over 23 years old, among them the former Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara and novelist Kenzaburō Ōe.^[6] In 2013 Natsuko Kuroda won the 148th Akutagawa Prize at age 75, making her the oldest recipient in the history of the prize.^[7]

Controversies

In 1972, Akutagawa winner was found to have committed plagiarism.^{[8] [9]} In 2018, a similar controversy occurred when the candidate novel by Yuko Hojo was found to have reused text from its nonfiction source material without attribution, but the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature did not remove the book from the candidate list.^[10]

Winners

Bungeishunjū maintains an official archive of current and past winners on behalf of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature.^[11]

上

Indicates the first half of the given year.
下	Indicates the second half of the given year.

	Year	Author	Work	Published in
1	1935上
2	1935下	No prize awarded.
3	1936上
4	1936下
5	1937上
6	1937下
7	1938上			Bungakukai
8	1938下
9	1939上
10	1939下
11	1940上	refused by the author
12	1940下
13	1941上
14	1941下
15	1942上	No prize awarded.
16	1942下
17	1943上
18	1943下
19	1944上
20	1944下
21	1949上
22	1949下			Bungakukai
23	1950上
24	1950下	No prize awarded.
25	1951上
				Bungakukai
26	1951下			Chūōkōron
27	1952上	No prize awarded.
28	1952下			Shinchō
				Mita Bungaku
29	1953上			Gunzō
				Shinchō
30	1953下	No prize awarded.
31	1954上			Bungakukai
32	1954下
				Gunzō
33	1955上
34	1955下			Bungakukai
35	1956上
36	1956下	No prize awarded.
37	1957上			Bungakukai
38	1957下
39	1958上
40	1958下	No prize awarded.
41	1959上
42	1959下	No prize awarded.
43	1960上			Shinchō
44	1960下
45	1961上	No prize awarded.
46	1961下			Bungakukai
47	1962上
48	1962下	No prize awarded.
49	1963上
				Bungakukai
50	1963下
51	1964上
52	1964下	No prize awarded.
53	1965上			Bungakukai
54	1965下
55	1966上	No prize awarded.
56	1966下			Bungakukai
57	1967上
58	1967下			Shinchō
59	1968上			Bungakukai
				Gunzō
60	1968下	No prize awarded.
61	1969上			Chūōkōron
				Shinchō
62	1969下			Gunzō
63	1970上			Shinchō
				Bungei
64	1970下
65	1971上	No prize awarded.
66	1971下
				Bungakukai
67	1972上
				Bungei
68	1972下			Shinchō
				Bungakukai
69	1973上
70	1973下			Bungakukai
71	1974上	No prize awarded.
72	1974下			Shinchō
				Bungakukai
73	1975上			Gunzō
74	1975下			Bungakukai
75	1976上			Gunzō
76	1976下	No prize awarded.
77	1977上			Bungei
78	1977下
				Shinchō
79	1978上			Bungei
80	1978下	No prize awarded.
81	1979上			Bungakukai
82	1979下			Shinchō
83	1980上	No prize awarded.
84	1980下			Bungakukai
85	1981上			Shinchō
86	1981下	No prize awarded.
87	1982上
88	1982下			Shinchō
				Bungei
89	1983上	No prize awarded.
90	1983下
				Shinchō
91	1984上	No prize awarded.
92	1984下			Bungakukai
93	1985上	No prize awarded.
94	1985下			Shinchō
95	1986上	No prize awarded.
96	1986下
97	1987上			Bungakukai
98	1987下			Chūōkōron
99	1988上			Bungakukai
100	1988下
				Gunzō
101	1989上	No prize awarded.
102	1989下			Bungakukai
103	1990上
104	1990下
105	1991上
106	1991下
107	1992上			Gunzō
108	1992下
109	1993上
110	1993下			Bungakukai
111	1994上			Gunzō
				Bungakukai
112	1994下	No prize awarded.
113	1995上			Shinchō
114	1995下			Bungakukai
115	1996上
116	1996下	Hitonari Tsuji		Shinchō
				Gunzō
117	1997上			Bungakukai
118	1997下	No prize awarded.
119	1998上			Bungakukai
				Bungei
120	1998下			Shinchō
121	1999上	No prize awarded.
122	1999下			Bungakukai
				Gunzō
123	2000上			Bungakukai
				Gunzō
124	2000下			Bungakukai
				Gunzō
125	2001上			Bungakukai
126	2001下
127	2002上
128	2002下
129	2003上
130	2003下
				Bungei
131	2004上			Bungakukai
132	2004下			Gunzō
133	2005上			Shinchō
134	2005下			Bungakukai
135	2006上
136	2006下			Bungei
137	2007上			Gunzō
138	2007下			Bungakukai
139	2008上
140	2008下			Gunzō
141	2009上			Shinchō
142	2009下	No prize awarded.
143	2010上			Shinchō
144	2010下
145	2011上	No prize awarded.
146	2011下			Gunzō
147	2012上			Bungei
148	2012下
149	2013上		^[12]	Shinchō
150	2013下		^[13]
151	2014上		^[14]	Bungakukai
152	2014下		^[15]	Gunzō
153	2015上			Bungakukai
154	2015下
				Gunzō
155	2016上			Bungakukai
156	2016下		^[16]	Shinchō
157	2017上		^[17]	Bungakukai
158	2017下		^[18]	Bungei
				Shinchō
159	2018上		^[19]	Bungakukai
160	2018下			Shinchō
			^[20]	Gunzō
161	2019上		^[21]
162	2019下		^[22]
163	2020上		^[23]	Bungei
			^[24]	Shinchō
164	2020下		^[25]	Bungei
165	2021上		^[26]	Bungakukai
				Gunzō
166	2021下		^[27]	Gunzō
167	2022上		^[28]	Gunzō
168	2022下		^[29]	Gunzō
				Shinchō
169	2023上		^[30]	Bungei
170	2023下		^[31]	Shinchō
171	2024上		^[32]	Shinchō
				Gunzō

Winners available in English translation

• 1936 (4th) - Jun Ishikawa, The Bodhisattva (trans. William J. Tyler, Columbia University Press, 1990)
• 1949 (22nd) - Yasushi Inoue, The Bullfight (trans. Michael Emmerich, Pushkin Press, 2013)
• 1954 (32nd) - Nobuo Kojima, The American School (In Contemporary Japanese Literature, trans. William F. Sibley, Alfred A. Knopf, 1977)
• 1958 (39th) - Kenzaburō Ōe, Prize Stock (In Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness, trans. John Nathan, Grove Press, 1977)
• 1963 (49th) - Kōno Taeko, Crabs (In Toddler-Hunting and Other Stories, trans. Lucy North, New Directions Publishing, 1996)
• 1965 (53rd) - Setsuko Tsumura, Playthings (In Japan Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 1, trans. Kyoko Evanhoe and Robert N. Lawson, 1980)
• 1967 (57th) - Tatsuhiro Ōshiro, The Cocktail Party (In Okinawa: Two Postwar Novellas, trans. Steve Rabson, Institute of East Asian Studies, 1989)
• 1970 (64th) - Yoshikichi Furui, Yoko (In Child of Darkness: Yoko and Other Stories, trans. Donna George Storey, University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, 1997)
• 1972 (68th)
  • Michiko Yamamoto, Betty-san (In Betty-san, trans. Geraldine Harcourt, Kodansha International, 1985)
  • Shizuko Gō, Requiem (trans. Geraldine Harcourt, Kodansha International, 1983)
• 1975 (73rd) - Kyoko Hayashi, Ritual of Death (In Nuke Rebuke: Writers and Artists against Nuclear Energy and Weapons, trans. Kyoko Selden, The Spirit That Moves Us Press, 1984)
• 1975 (74th) - Kenji Nakagami, The Cape (In The Cape and other stories from the Japanese Ghetto, trans. Eve Zimmerman, Stonebridge Press, 1999)
• 1976 (75th) - Ryū Murakami, Almost Transparent Blue (trans. Nancy Andrew, Kodansha International, 1977)
• 1979 (81st) - Yoshiko Shigekane, The Smoke in the Mountain Valley (In Mississippi Review, vol. 39, no. 1/3, trans. John Wilson and Motoko Naruse, 2012)
• 1981 (85th) - Rie Yoshiyuki, The Little Lady (In Japanese Literature Today, no. 7, trans. Geraldine Harcourt, 1982)
• 1984 (92nd) - Satoko Kizaki, The Phoenix Tree (In The Phoenix Tree and Other Stories, trans. Carol A. Flath, Kodansha International, 1990)
• 1987 (97th) - Kiyoko Murata, In the Pot (In Japanese Women Writers: Twentieth Century Short Fiction, trans. Kyoko Iriye Seldon, Routledge, 2015)
• 1987 (98th) - Natsuki Ikezawa, Still Life (In Still Lives, trans. Dennis Keene, Kodansha International, 1997)
• 1990 (104th) - Yōko Ogawa, Pregnancy Diary (In The Diving Pool, trans. Stephen Snyder, Picador, 2008)
• 1992 (108th) - Yoko Tawada, The Bridegroom was a Dog (In The Bridegroom was a Dog, trans. Margaret Mitsutani, Kodansha International, 2003)
• 1993 (110th) - Hikaru Okuizumi, The Stones Cry Out (trans. James Westerhoven, Harcourt, 1999)
• 1996 (115th) - Hiromi Kawakami, Record of a Night Too Brief (trans. Lucy North, Pushkin Press, 2017)
• 1997 (117th) - Shun Medoruma, Droplets (In Southern Exposure: Modern Japanese Literature from Okinawa, trans. Michael Molasky, University of Hawaii Press, 2000)
• 2000 (124th) - Toshiyuki Horie, The Bear and the Paving Stone (In The Bear and the Paving Stone, trans. Geraint Howells, Pushkin Press, 2018)
• 2003 (130th)
  • Hitomi Kanehara, Snakes and Earrings (trans. David Karashima, Dutton, 2005)
  • Risa Wataya, I Want to Kick You in the Back (trans. Julianne Neville, One Peace Books, 2015)
• 2005 (133rd) - Fuminori Nakamura, The Boy in the Earth (trans. Allison Markin Powell, Soho Crime, 2017)
• 2005 (134th) - Akiko Itoyama, Waiting in the Offing (In Words Without Borders, April 2007, trans. Charles de Wolf)
• 2006 (136th) - Nanae Aoyama, A Perfect Day to Be Alone (trans. Jesse Kirkwood, MacLehose Press, 2024)
• 2012 (147th) - Maki Kashimada, Touring the Land of the Dead (trans. Haydn Trowell, Europa Editions, 2021)
• 2013 (149th) - Kaori Fujino, Nails and Eyes (trans. Kendall Heitzman, Pushkin Press, 2023)
• 2013 (150th) - Hiroko Oyamada, The Hole (trans. David Boyd, New Directions Publishing, 2020)
• 2014 (151st) - Tomoka Shibasaki, Spring Garden (trans. Polly Barton, Pushkin Press, 2017)
• 2016 (155th) - Sayaka Murata, Convenience Store Woman (trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori, Grove Press, 2018)

Current members of the selection committee and year appointed

• Amy Yamada, 2003
• Hiromi Kawakami, 2007
• Yōko Ogawa, 2007
• Masahiko Shimada, 2010
• Toshiyuki Horie, 2012
• Hikaru Okuizumi, 2012
• Shuichi Yoshida, 2016
• Hisaki Matsuura, 2019
• Keiichiro Hirano, 2020^[33]

See also

• List of Japanese literary awards

Notes and References

1. Accounting for Taste: The Creation of the Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes for Literature. Mack. Edward. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 2004. 64. 2. 291–340. 10.2307/25066744. 25066744.
2. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20120215222749/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120214i1.html. February 15, 2012. Literary awards run spectrum. The Japan Times. Fukue. Natsuko. February 14, 2012. July 27, 2018.
3. Web site: Akutagawa Prize. Books from Japan. August 24, 2018.
4. Book: Rebecca L. Copeland. Esperanza Ramirez-Christensen. The Father-Daughter Plot: Japanese Literary Women and the Law of the Father. 31 July 2001. University of Hawaii Press. 978-0-8248-6471-2. 287.
5. News: Just 20, She Captures Altered Japan in a Debut Novel. The New York Times. Onishi. Norimitsu. March 27, 2004. August 24, 2018.
6. Web site: 16 January 2004 . Women become youngest recipients of literary award . 8 January 2021 . The Japan Times.
7. News: Natsuko Kuroda, 75, becomes oldest Akutagawa literary award winner. The Japan Times. January 17, 2013. August 24, 2018.
8. Modern Japanese Novels in English: A Selected Bibliography. Beauchamp. Nancy Junko. Service Center Paper on Asian Studies. 7. May 1974.
9. Plagiarism, Hiroshima, and Intertextuality: Ibuse Masuji's Black Rain Reconsidered. Yi-ling Lin. 19. 2. 43. 麗沢学際ジャーナル (Urarasawa interdisciplinary journal). 2011. August 19, 2014.
10. News: Akutagawa literary prize candidate causing stir over alleged plagiarism. Mainichi Shimbun. Ohara. Kazuki. July 18, 2018. July 27, 2018.
11. Web site: 芥川賞受賞者一覧. ja. 日本文学振興会 (Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature. August 24, 2018.
12. Web site: Fujino wins Akutagawa award; Sakuragi gets Naoki prize . Japan Times . July 17, 2013 . July 19, 2013.
13. News: Japan Times. Literature prizes elevate women. January 25, 2014. March 13, 2014.
14. News: The Japan Times. Akutagawa, Naoki literary awards go to Shibasaki, Kurokawa. July 17, 2014. July 18, 2014.
15. News: The Japan Times. Ono wins Akutagawa literary award; Nishi wins Naoki Prize. January 16, 2015.
16. News: The Japan Times. Sumito Yamashita claims 156th Akutagawa Prize. January 20, 2017.
17. News: The Japan Times. First-time writer Shinsuke Numata wins prestigious Akutagawa Prize. July 19, 2017.
18. Web site: Chisako Wakatake and Yuka Ishii win Akutagawa literary award; Yoshinobu Kadoi bags Naoki Prize . Japan Times . January 17, 2018 . January 19, 2018.
19. News: 第159回芥川賞に高橋弘希さん、直木賞は島本理生さん. ja. Asahi Shimbun. July 18, 2018. July 27, 2018.
20. News: 古市氏は受賞逃す、芥川賞に上田岳弘氏と町屋良平氏. ja. Nikkan Sports. January 16, 2019. January 16, 2019.
21. News: Two women named for Japan's Akutagawa, Naoki literary awards. Kyodo News. The Japan Times. July 17, 2019. July 17, 2019.
22. News: Novelists Makoto Furukawa and Soichi Kawagoe to receive Japan's Akutagawa and Naoki literary prizes. Kyodo News. The Japan Times. January 16, 2020. January 16, 2020.
23. Web site: 16 July 2020 . Novelists Takayama and Tono win Akutagawa awards; Hase wins Naoki Prize . 6 October 2020 . . en-US.
24. Web site: 15 July 2020 . 第163回芥川賞 高山羽根子さん『首里の馬』と遠野遥『破局』がダブル受賞 . 6 October 2020 . bunshun.jp . ja.
25. Web site: 21 January 2021 . Two women win Japan's Akutagawa and Naoki literary awards . 12 March 2021 . The Japan Times.
26. News: 14 July 2021 . 第165回芥川賞と直木賞 それぞれ2作品が決まる . ja . . August 25, 2021.
27. Web site: 第166回「芥川賞」発表 元自衛官の作家・砂川文次氏の『ブラックボックス』 三度目候補で受賞. January 20, 2022. Oricon.
28. Web site: 第167回「芥川賞・直木賞」決定 芥川賞は高瀬隼子氏『おいしいごはんが食べられますように』、直木賞は窪美澄氏『夜に星を放つ』. July 26, 2022. Oricon.
29. Web site: 第168回芥川賞・直木賞に4氏決まる. January 20, 2023. Sankei Shimbun.
30. Web site: 芥川賞に市川沙央さん 直木賞は垣根涼介さん、永井紗耶子さん. July 19, 2023. Jiji.com.
31. Web site: 直木賞に河崎秋子さんと万城目学さん、芥川賞に九段理江さん. January 18, 2024. Asahi Shimbun.
32. Web site: 第171回芥川賞に朝比奈秋さん、松永K三蔵さん　都内で選考会. 17 July 2024. Asahi Shimbun.
33. News: 4 March 2020. 直木賞の委員に三浦しをんさん　芥川賞は平野啓一郎さん. The Asahi Shimbun. ja. 7 August 2023.