Hoseki Award ほうせきしょう
Edition 6 (1952)
Winners
10 peopleSota Ashigara's "Who Am I?" is a short mystery that places the riddle of identity in its very title. Centered on the question of a narrator's or character's true identity, it appears to be structured to invite the reader's deduction.
Beginning with the question "Who am I?", this short story leads into deduction around identity and clues.
Harunobu Tamoto's Ear is a short story first published in the postwar mystery magazine Bessatsu Hoseki and later included in Kobunsha Bunko's Selected Masterpieces from Bessatsu Hoseki. It can be read as part of the body of short fiction produced when postwar Japanese mystery magazines were introducing new and unusual voices.
A short story from the Bessatsu Hoseki circle that preserves the energy of postwar Japanese mystery magazines.
Haruo Yamazawa's "Silver Puzzle Ring" is a classic puzzle mystery short story known for meticulous logic and trick construction. As the title suggests, it offers the pleasure of unraveling intertwined conditions one by one.
Like loosening an intricate puzzle ring, the short story advances through a precisely built mystery.
Shiroi Michi is a Japanese short mystery story by Tatsuo Kaji. It appeared in the mystery magazine Hoseki in 1952 and is treated as Kaji's debut in the mystery field. As an early work by a writer who later won the Edogawa Rampo Prize, it reflects the postwar magazine culture that introduced new mystery writers.
At the end of a white road lies a young writer's first step into mystery fiction.
Hachiro Kajita's "Blue Specks" is a work associated with the Hoseki short detective-fiction contest. Taking the color and small trace suggested by the title as clues, it appears to be a short story that reads the meaning of an incident from overlooked specks.
This postwar detective-fiction contest story lets a mystery emerge from small blue traces.
Kieta Otoko is a Japanese short mystery story by Kyusaku Torii. It appeared in the December 1952 Bessatsu Hoseki issue devoted to new writers and was later reprinted in the Kobunsha Bunko anthology Bessatsu Hoseki Kessakusen. Beginning from a title that suggests disappearance, it follows the mystery of a missing man and the reason behind his absence.
The fact that a man has vanished unsettles the words and clues left behind.
Kiichiro Fujiyama's "Axe of Heaven" is a short detective story published among the new writers' works in Bessatsu Hoseki. Combining the mythic resonance of its title with the image of a sharp weapon, it appears to develop a mystery around an inexplicable blow falling upon an incident.
This new-writer short story from a postwar mystery magazine is titled after a blow like an axe falling from the heavens.
Gekiryu is a Japanese short mystery story by Yoneichi Kawashita. It appeared in Bessatsu Hoseki No. 24, issued on December 10, 1952, in a special group of stories by new writers. The title evokes a violent current, suggesting a postwar mystery short story driven by sudden movement in events and relationships.
Like being drawn into a current, the case strips away any stable footing.
Riichi Shu's "Valley of Arsenic" is a short detective story with a title that evokes poison. Combining the closed geography of a valley with the unease of arsenic, it appears to build a mystery around hidden local secrets and the possibility of poisoning.
This new-writer short story from a postwar mystery magazine is titled after the presence of poison hidden in a valley.
Natsu no Hikari is a Japanese short mystery story by Tatsuo Minami. It appeared in Bessatsu Hoseki No. 24, issued on December 10, 1952, in a special group of stories by new writers. The title's image of summer light contrasts with the shadows expected of a mystery story.
Summer light crosses with the secrets it unexpectedly exposes.