is one of the commendations bestowed by the Prime Minister of Japan on people in recognition of their accomplishments in sport, entertainment, and other fields.[1] The award, not restricted to Japanese nationals, was created in 1977 by the then-Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda.[2]
| !Date (Prime Minister) | Recipient (Age) | Occupation | Reason | Other Awards | Reference | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 September 1977 (Takeo Fukuda) | Sadaharu Oh (37) | nowrap | Professional Baseball Player | World record for home runs (868 home runs). | Person of Cultural Merit | ||
| 2 | 4 August 1978 (Takeo Fukuda) | Masao Koga | Composer | Accomplishment as a composer. | ||||
| 3 | 19 April 1984 (Yasuhiro Nakasone) | Kazuo Hasegawa | Actor | Accomplishments as an actor, | ||||
| 4 | 19 April 1984 (Yasuhiro Nakasone) | Naomi Uemura | Adventurer | Successful ascent of the highest mountains of the 5 continents. | ||||
| 5 | 9 October 1984 (Yasuhiro Nakasone) | Yasuhiro Yamashita (27) | Judoka | Accomplishments as a judoka. | [4] | |||
| 6 | 22 June 1987 (Yasuhiro Nakasone) | Sachio Kinugasa (40) | Professional Baseball Player | World record for consecutive games played. | ||||
| 7 | 6 July 1989 (Sōsuke Uno) | Kazue Kato (Hibari Misora) | Singer | Giving the people hope and dream via songs | Medal with Dark Blue Ribbon | |||
| 8 | 29 September 1989 (Toshiki Kaifu) | nowrap | Mitsugu Akimoto (Chiyonofuji Mitsugu) | Professional Sumo wrestler | Record for wins as a sumo wrestler | [5] | ||
| 9 | 28 May 1992 (Kiichi Miyazawa) | Takeo Masunaga (Ichiro Fujiyama) | Singer | Giving the people hope and encouragement via songs with beautiful Japanese language | ||||
| 10 | 28 July 1992 (Kiichi Miyazawa) | Machiko Hasegawa | Manga artist | 家庭漫画を通じて戦後の我が国社会に潤いと安らぎを与えた | ||||
| 11 | 26 February 1993 (Kiichi Miyazawa) | Ryōichi Hattori | Composer | 数多くの歌謡曲を作り国民に希望と潤いを与えた | ||||
| 12 | 3 September 1996 (Ryutaro Hashimoto) | Kiyoshi Atsumi | Actor | 映画「男はつらいよ」シリーズを通じ人情味豊かな演技で広く国民に喜びと潤いを与えた | ||||
| 13 | 7 July 1998 (Ryutaro Hashimoto) | Tadashi Yoshida | Composer | 「吉田メロディー」の作曲により国民に夢と希望と潤いを与えた | ||||
| 14 | 1 October 1998 (Keizo Obuchi) | Akira Kurosawa | Film Director | 数々の不朽の名作によって国民に深い感動を与えるとともに世界の映画史に輝かしい足跡を残した | ||||
| 15 | nowrap | 30 October 2000 (Yoshiro Mori) | Naoko Takahashi (28) | Athlete | Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics - Women's marathon Gold medal | 銀杯一組(菊紋) | ||
| 16 | nowrap | 23 January 2009 (Taro Aso) | Minoru Endo | Composer | 世代を超えて長く愛唱される、情感に満ちあふれた名曲を数多く世に送り出した。 | [6] | ||
| 17 | nowrap | 1 July 2009 (Taro Aso) | Mitsuko Mori (89) | Actress | 長年にわたって芸能分野の第一線で活躍し、特に『放浪記』において2000回を超える主演を務めた。 | [7] | ||
| 18 | nowrap | 22 December 2009 (Yukio Hatoyama) | Hisaya Morishige | Actor | ||||
| 19 | nowrap | 18 August 2011 (Naoto Kan) | Japan women's national football team | National football team | Winning the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. | [8] | ||
| 20 | nowrap | 7 November 2012 (Yoshihiko Noda) | Saori Yoshida (30) | Wrestler | ||||
| 21 | nowrap | 25 February 2013 (Shinzō Abe) | Taihō Kōki | Professional Sumo Wrestler | [9] | |||
| 22 23 | nowrap | 5 May 2013 (Shinzō Abe) | Shigeo Nagashima (77) Hideki Matsui (38) | Professional Baseball Player Professional Baseball Player | [10] | |||
| 24 | nowrap | 20 October 2016 (Shinzō Abe) | Kaori Icho (32) | Wrestler | Being the first woman to win four consecutive Olympic gold medals. | Medal with Purple Ribbon | ||
| 25 26 | nowrap | 13 February 2018 (Shinzō Abe) | Yoshiharu Habu (47) Yuta Iyama (28) | Professional Shogi Player Professional Go Player | Habu: becoming the first shogi player to win lifetime titles for all seven major title matches, and the only shogi player to hold 7 major titles simultaneously. Iyama: becoming the first go player to simultaneously hold all seven major titles on two separate occasions. | Habu:Iyama: Prime Minister's Award | [11] [12] | |
| 27 | nowrap | 2 July 2018 (Shinzō Abe) | Yuzuru Hanyu (23) | Figure skater | Becoming the first male figure skater in 66 years to defend Olympic gold; historic accomplishments in figure skating; giving hope and courage to society. | Medal with Purple Ribbon | [13] | |
| 28 | nowrap | 3 March 2023 (Kishida Fumio) | Kunieda Shingo (39) | wheelchair tennis player | With four Paralympic gold medals, 28 major singles titles and 50 major titles overall, Kunieda is the first parasports athlete to be honored. | award and shield | [14] |