Japanese Literary Awards

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Akutagawa Prize あくたがわりゅうのすけしょう

Edition 157 (2017)

Pure literatureNew talent awardShort story / Medium-length story

Winners

1 people
Mayu Numata award

Mayu Numata's Eiri follows a narrator who moves to Iwate and remembers days spent with a coworker named Hiasa. After the Great East Japan Earthquake, he encounters hidden aspects of that man, and the novella explores the shadows within people through nature writing and restrained relationships.

The absence of a once-close man reveals shadows the narrator had not seen.

96 pages
Akutagawa PrizeIwateafter disastermemory and absence