Japanese Literary Awards

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Hiroshi Sakagami

さかがみ ひろし

Sakagami Hiroshi

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1936-02-13 （Akasaka, Tokyo City, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan）
Died
2021-08-16 （Chiba Prefecture, Japan (hospital)） age 85
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Screenwriter, Editor, Company executive
Active Years
1955-2021
Affiliations
Japan Art Academy, Japan Writers' Association (served as chair), Keio University Council, Museum of Modern Japanese Literature (chair)
Memberships
Member of the Japan Art Academy, Japan Writers' Association, Keio University Council
Influenced By
Mikio Yamakawa, Akio Goto, Yukichi Furui

Education

Keio University, Faculty of Letters
Faculty of Letters / Department of Philosophy
Period: 1954-1960
Country: Japan
Published in Mita Bungaku while enrolled; made literary debut

Awards

Chuo Koron Newcomer Prize
1959
Work: An Autumn Incident
Organization: Chuo Koron-sha
Result: 受賞
Art Festival Newcomer Award
1981
Work: The First Love
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs (Art Festival)
Result: 受賞
Yomiuri Literature Prize
1992
Work: A Gentle Anchorage
Organization: Yomiuri Shimbun
Result: 受賞
Art Festival (Minister of Education Award)
1992
Work: A Gentle Anchorage
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs
Result: 受賞
Noma Literary Prize
1992
Work: Rural Landscape
Organization: Noma Cultural Foundation
Result: 受賞
Kawabata Yasunari Literary Award
1997
Work: The Kitchen
Organization: Shinchosha (selection committee)
Result: 受賞
Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon
2019
Organization: Government of Japan (Honors)
Result: 受章

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

An Autumn Incident

1959 Fiction

An early short work depicting the inner turmoil of a young protagonist in a restrained style.

introspectionyouthful conflictmemory

Memories of Early Spring

1971 Fiction

A novel that explores the intersection of past and present through everyday detail.

memorytimehuman relationships

The First Love

1980 Fiction

One of his works delicately portraying love and personal growth.

lovecoming of agecharacter study

A Gentle Anchorage

1991 Fiction

A work portraying kindness and solitude from a mature perspective.

lonelinesskindnesshuman patterns

Rural Landscape

1992 Fiction

A book reflecting a slice of time through rural scenery and people's lives.

landscapememorycommunity

Bibliography

  • An Autumn Incident
  • Clear Days
  • Voice of the Vegetable Seller
  • Memories of Early Spring
  • Morning Village
  • After a Hundred Days
  • Season of Loquats
  • The Straw Pitfall
  • The Beauty of Endings
  • Gentle People
  • On the Road of a Late Return
  • Distant Country, Distant Words
  • The Deceased
  • The First Love
  • Autumn Excursion
  • From My Travel Bag: Soviet Travelogue
  • Unfounded Worries Dream
  • A Landscape with a Pier
  • A Gentle Anchorage
  • Rural Landscape
  • Descending the Mountain of Afterglow
  • The Kitchen
  • Keita's Choice
  • A Near Yet Distant Journey
  • Will I Sleep?

Adaptations

  • 'A Certain Vacation' - TBS 'Toshiba Sunday Theatre' (1961), script by Hiroshi Sakagami

Style & Themes

Literary Style
calm, introspective proserestrained narration
Recurring Motifs
lonelinessmemory of the pasteveryday detail

Health

  • cancer
    不明 - 2021
    Died in 2021 after battling cancer

Legacy

Recognized as one of the representatives of the "inward generation," his calm, introspective style earned multiple major literary awards and a respected place in postwar Japanese literature.

Academic Societies

  • Japan Art Academy

Archives

  • Held at the Museum of Modern Japanese Literature

Trivia

  • At 19, he became a candidate for the Akutagawa Prize while still at Keio University.
  • Worked at Ricoh while continuing literary activity and was known as a "salaryman writer."
  • 'A Certain Vacation' was adapted for television with a script by the author himself.