Japanese Literary Awards

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Hokuto Prize

ほくとしょう

Open call newcomer award for haiku poets.

HaikuOpen call newcomer award
Established
2009
Organizer
Bungaku no Mori
Category
Haiku and Haikai
Selection Method
Open call
Target
Newcomer
Frequency
1 per year
Application Deadline
around July
Status
Active

Description

Established by Bungaku no Mori, the publisher of "Haiku Kai," this is a newcomer award targeting young haiku poets up to the age of 40. 150 haiku are selected for judging regardless of whether they are previously published works, new works, or unpublished works, and publication of a haiku collection based on the winning work is included as an additional prize.

Prize

Main Prize
Publication of a haiku collection based on the winning work (no royalties for the first edition)

Selection

Criteria

  • Eligibility up to age 40
  • 150 haiku selected for judging regardless of previously published works, new works, or unpublished works

Related Awards

  • List of haiku awards

Official Resources

https://www.bungak.com/

Past Winners

古田秀 ふるた ひで award

A haiku work that turns shifts in gaze and focus into a guidepost through the title Finder.

Finding and losing happen in the same place.

gazefocushaikuwork
Wakabayashi Tetsuya わかばやし てつや award
156 pages
佐々木紺 ささき こん award
164 pages
伊藤幹哲 いとう かんてつ award

"白南風" is a 受賞 work from the Hokuto Prize 2021-1. It stands out for its distinctive premise and atmosphere.

A 受賞 work from Hokuto Prize 2021-1.

Hokuto Prizeaward-winning work
西川火尖 にしかわ かせん award

A 150-poem award piece that won the 11th Hokuto Prize. No standalone collection was confirmed; it later circulated as part of Searchlight-related materials.

Confirmed as an award-winning work, but no independent book edition was found.

haikuaward worksequenceunpublished
藤原暢子 ふじわら のぶこ award

Karadakara is Nobuko Fujiwara's first haiku collection. It turns travel, bodily ease, and encounters with landscapes and people into unforced, expansive poems.

The collection loosens the border between travel and daily life, turning landscapes felt by the body into light, resonant haiku.

181 pages
haikutravelbodily perceptionlandscapefirst collection
諏佐英莉 すさ えいり award

A haiku collection based on Susa Eiri's winning work for the ninth Hokuto Prize. Written by a young unaffiliated haiku poet, it gathers poems attentive to everyday textures, bodily sensation, and quiet unease.

From tactile everyday life, tenderness and disquiet rise at the same temperature.

contemporary haikueveryday lifebodily sensationemerging haiku poet
Katsuhiro Horikiri ほりきり かつひろ award

A haiku collection by Katsuhiro Horikiri, known also as a haiku critic. It combines everyday observation with a critical gaze, catching shifts and textures of time in familiar scenes through brief language.

A collection that watches the path language takes through small movements of the seasons.

179 pages
haikuseason wordsdaily lifecritical perspectivecontemporary haiku
Kirin Nishimura にしむら きりん award

思ひ出帳 is a 小説 work by 西村麒麟 associated with the 2016 受賞 record. The entry summarizes the work from award records and bibliographic checks, focusing on its subject, publication status, and reading context.

思ひ出帳 by 西村麒麟 is a work whose subject and publication status can be traced through award and bibliographic records.

award-winning workbibliographic verificationcontemporary literature
抜井諒一 ぬきい りょういち award

抜井諒一の俳句作品。若い世代の生活感覚と季語の手触りを結び、後の句集へ続く作風の一端を示す。

鮮やかな生きものの気配が、日常の中の季節を静かに照らす。

俳句新人賞季語日常
藤井あかり ふじい あかり award

尖塔 is an award-winning work by 藤井あかり. It brings together the author's concerns and stylistic qualities in a form recognized by the prize jury.

尖塔, an award-winning work by 藤井あかり.

award-winning workcontemporary literaturebibliographic verification
涼野海音 すずの かいおん award

一番線 is an award-winning work by 涼野海音. Award records and public bibliographic data identify it as a work that gathers the author's characteristic concerns and style.

一番線, an award-winning work by 涼野海音.

83 pages
award-winning workbibliographic verificationauthorial style
高勢祥子 たかせ しょうこ award

火粉 is an award-winning work by 高勢祥子. Public bibliographic sources were checked first for book identifiers, then for descriptive information about the work.

A bibliographic profile of 火粉, based on award records and public book data.

award-winning workbibliographic researchliterature
Horimoto Hiroki ほりもと ひろき award

Kumano Mandala is a haiku collection by Yuki Horimoto. It gathers poems rooted in the nature, rivers, forests, and seasonal atmosphere of Kumano, combining sharp observation with gentle lyricism. Across its seasonal sections, local memory and bodily sensation overlap.

A haiku collection that arranges Kumano's mountains, rivers, plants, and seasons like a mandala.

184 pages
haikuKumanonatureseasons
川越歌澄 かわごえ かすみ award

雲の峰 is a work by 川越歌澄. This haiku collection layers seasonal words with everyday texture, opening depth within brief lines.

雲の峰 draws readers into its world through concentrated language and the force of its subject.

99 pages
memorytimehuman relationshipsthe force of expression