Japanese Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Tsukasa Osamu

つかさ おさむ

Tsukasa Osamu

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1936-06-25 （Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, Japan → Tokyo, Japan

Career

Occupations
novelist, painter, book designer, essayist, illustrator, professor
Active Years
1953-
Influenced By
Sakutaro Hagiwara
Nominations
Akutagawa Prize nominee (1988) — Bar Spiral: Around the Hostess Emiko

Education

Middle school (postwar system)
Period: ～1950
Year of Graduation: 1950
Country: Japan
After graduating middle school, he worked as an assistant painting movie billboards and studied art autonomously.

Awards

Kodansha Publishing Culture Award — Book Design
1976
Work: Complete Works of Mitsuharu Kaneko (book design)
Organization: Kodansha
Result: 受賞
Shogakukan Art Award
1978
Work: The Balloonist's Dream (illustrations/work)
Organization: Shogakukan
Result: 受賞
Shogakukan Children's Cultural Prize
1978
Work: Hana no Yubiwa (The Flower Ring) (illustrations)
Organization: Shogakukan
Result: 受賞
Japan Society of Children's Literature Award
1980
Work: My Anne Frank (illustrations, text by Miyoko Matsutani)
Organization: Japan Society of Children's Literature
Result: 受賞
Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award
1982
Work: Fantasy of a Snowy Night (illustrations, text by Tomiko Inui)
Organization: Sankei Shimbun
Result: 受賞
Akutagawa Prize (nominee)
1988
Work: Bar Spiral: Around the Hostess Emiko
Organization: Akutagawa Prize selection committee
Result: 候補
Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award — Art Prize
1989
Work: The Medieval Town on the Riverside (illustration)
Category: 美術賞
Organization: Sankei Shimbun
Result: 受賞
Kawabata Yasunari Literature Prize
1993
Work: Dog (On Shadows, Part One)
Organization: Kawabata Prize selection committee
Result: 受賞
Book Design Competition — Chairman's Award of the Japan Federation of Printing Industries
2000
Organization: Japan Federation of Printing Industries
Result: 受賞
Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award — Nippon Broadcasting Award
2003
Work: My Ryokan — Poems of Masao Tsurumi (illustrations)
Organization: Sankei Shimbun / Nippon Broadcasting System (Nippon FM)
Result: 受賞
Mainichi Art Award
2007
Work: Bronze Mediterranean
Organization: Mainichi Shimbun
Result: 受賞
Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award — Art Prize
2008
Work: Nine Dragons That Carried Mountains (illustrations)
Category: 美術賞
Organization: Sankei Shimbun
Result: 受賞
Ōfusa Jirō Prize
2011
Work: Tsukasa's Tales / The Magic of Books (exhibition & book)
Organization: Ōfusa Jirō Prize committee
Result: 受賞
Ihatov Prize
2016
Organization: Ihatov Prize Committee
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Balloonist's Dream

1978 Picture book / Children's literature

A dreamlike story of travel and imagination told through fantastical illustrations.

dreamstravelimagination

On Shadows

1993 Short stories / Fiction

A collection of short stories exploring shadows and the conflicts of existence.

existencelonelinessmemory

Bronze Mediterranean

2006 Essays / Travel

Travel essays around the Mediterranean blending artistic perspectives with travelogue.

travelartmemory

Bibliography

  • The Shy Elephant (1968)
  • The Balloonist's Dream (1978)
  • On Shadows (1993)
  • Bronze Mediterranean (2006)
  • The Magic of Books (2011)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
poetic, fantastical narrationa synthesis of image and text
Recurring Motifs
memories of wartraveldream vs. realityanimals

Legacy

Active as a painter, book designer and writer, he earned high acclaim for children's book illustrations and book design. He contributed to education as a professor and professor emeritus at Hosei University and received numerous major literary and art awards.

Museums

  • Ikeda 20th Century Art Museum Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
  • Gunma Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (hosted Tsukasa exhibition) Gunma Prefecture, Japan

Academic Societies

  • Hosei University, Faculty of International Culture (former professor)

Archives

  • Maebashi Literature Museum (holdings / exhibitions)

Quotes

  • There will be no more war
    Source: Wikipedia (biography of Tsukasa Osamu) (2016)

Trivia

  • He won the Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award three times.
  • He is Professor Emeritus at Hosei University.
  • He began as an assistant painting movie billboards and studied art autodidactically.