Japanese Literary Awards

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Japan Literary Grand Award

にほんぶんがくたいしょう

A literary award sponsored by Shinchosha Bungei Shinkōkai from 1968 to 1987.

NovelsLiterary criticismPoetryPlays
Established
1968
Organizer
Shinchosha Bungei Shinkōkai
Category
Literature and General Literary Arts
Target
Professional
Frequency
1 per year
Status
Ended

Description

The Japan Literary Grand Award (Nihon Bungeku Taishō) was a literary award established from 1968 to 1987 by the Shinchosha foundation "Shinchosha Bungei Shinkōkai" as one of the three major Shinchosha awards.

Prize

Main Prize
Commemorative item and 1 million yen prize money
Cash Prize
1,000,000 JPY
  • Commemorative item

Selection

Selection Process

Selection
Judges Up to 1983: 4 selection committee members (rotated annually), From 1984: 5 each in literary arts and scholarly arts departments
Announcement Announced in the "Shincho" magazine

Related Awards

  • Shinchosha Literature Prize
  • Coterie Magazine Award
  • Shōsetsu Shinchō Prize
  • Kishida Drama Prize
  • Japan Arts Grand Prize
  • Shinchosha Newcomer Award
  • Mishima Yukio Prize
  • Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize
  • Shinchosha Arts and Culture Prize
  • Kobayashi Hideo Prize
  • Shinchosha Documentary Prize

Past Winners

Takeshi Kaikō かいこう けん award

破れた繭 耳の物語 I, 夜と陽炎 耳の物語 II is a 自伝的小説 by 開高健. It presents its subject through a clear artistic perspective, giving shape to personal experience, historical context, and the texture of expression in a way suitable for readers encountering the work today.

破れた繭 耳の物語 I, 夜と陽炎 耳の物語 II condenses the qualities of 開高健's work in the form of a 自伝的小説.

485 pages
文学人物時代表現
Hiroyuki Agawa あがわ ひろゆき award

井上成美 is a 評伝小説 by 阿川弘之. It presents its subject through a clear artistic perspective, giving shape to personal experience, historical context, and the texture of expression in a way suitable for readers encountering the work today.

井上成美 condenses the qualities of 阿川弘之's work in the form of a 評伝小説.

724 pages
文学人物時代表現
Morio Kita きた もりお award

The second part of Under the Bright Blue Sky completes Morio Kita's two-part novel about Japanese emigrants to Brazil. It follows the hopes, disappointments, and family histories of people who sought a new life on a vast foreign land.

Under Brazil's blue sky, the dreams and realities of emigrants intersect.

314 pages
emigrationBrazilfamilymodern Japandreams and setbacks
Yaeko Nogami のがみ やえこ award

Mori is Yaeko Nogami's unfinished posthumous novel. Written late in life, it has strong autobiographical elements and looks back over the experiences and inner life of a woman writer born in the Meiji era.

Memories of nearly a century of life spread like an unfinished forest.

513 pages
autobiographical novelwoman writerMeiji to Showamemoryunfinished work
Tadanobu Tsunoda かくた ただのぶ award

The Discovery of the Brain: A Microcosm within the Brain is Tadanobu Tsunoda's work on the brain and culture. Drawing on questions about the functions of the left and right brain, hearing, language, and cultural difference, it reconsiders the human brain as a small universe.

The book explores the deep ties between language and culture through the workings of the brain.

162 pages
brain sciencelanguagehearingcultural differenceunderstanding humans
NHK Reporting Team えぬえいちけー しゅざいはん award

The 21st Century Warns is a six-volume documentary series by the NHK reporting team. From a late twentieth-century viewpoint, it examines issues facing the twenty-first century, including the environment, family, electronic society, resources, and population.

As a warning for the future, it surveys social and planetary issues from multiple angles.

documentary nonfictionfuture warningsenvironmentfamilysocial issues
Shinichiro Nakamura なかむら しんいちろう award

冬 is a 長編小説 recognized in 1985. The work is introduced here through bibliographic confirmation and a concise account of its subject and literary character.

A work whose shape can be traced through award records and bibliographic sources.

award-winning work長編小説1985
Donald Keene どなるど きーん award

百代の過客 is a 紀行文学・評論 recognized in 1985. The work is introduced here through bibliographic confirmation and a concise account of its subject and literary character.

A work whose shape can be traced through award records and bibliographic sources.

award-winning work紀行文学・評論1985
Yoshiko Shibaki しばき よしこ award

A novel centered on a woman devoted to reviving traditional braided cords, depicting craft and life along the Sumida River. Her dedication to craft quietly overlaps with the joys and sorrows of riverside people.

The colors of braided cords and riverside life reflect the fading shades of Tokyo.

320 pages
traditional craftSumida RiverwomenTokyodaily life
Ryotaro Shiba しば りょうたろう award

Ryotaro Shiba travels through Spain and Portugal, considering the points of contact between Japan and Nanban culture through Xavier and the Age of Discovery. Visiting historical places, he narrates crossings of civilizations.

Walking Iberian roads, Shiba traces the Nanban memories that reached Japan.

380 pages
travel writingNanban cultureXavierSpainPortugal
Tetsuo Miura みうら てつろう award

"少年讃歌" is recorded as an award-winning work for japan-literary-grand-award. This entry is prepared from the award record, while book identifiers are left blank because no independently confirmed public bibliographic record has been verified here.

少年讃歌. Recorded in the award data, this work serves as a starting point for bibliographic verification.

award-winning workJapanese literaturebibliographic verification
Inoue Yasushi いのうえ やすし award

本覚坊異聞 by 井上靖 is an award-winning work whose publication context and genre are identified from the award entry.

本覚坊異聞 is one of the works associated with 井上靖's award record.

Shotaro Yasuoka やすおか しょうたろう award

流離譚 by 安岡章太郎 is an award-winning work whose publication context and genre are identified from the award entry.

流離譚 is one of the works associated with 安岡章太郎's award record.

Nobuo Kojima こじま のぶお award

私の作家遍歴 by 小島信夫 is an award-winning work whose publication context and genre are identified from the award entry.

私の作家遍歴 is one of the works associated with 小島信夫's award record.

Yoshikichi Furui ふるい ゆきち award

Sumika is a novel in which Yoshikichi Furui layers dwelling, body, memory, and relations between men and women to portray unease and instability hidden inside everyday life. The dwelling that should be a place of living emerges as a space where intimacy and solitude, relief and madness, intersect.

A place of living becomes not only a refuge but an unsettling space where body and memory stir.

405 pages
dwellingbodymemorygender relationsthe introspective generation
Shinichi Yuuki ゆうき しんいち award

Sora no Hosomichi is a linked fiction collection that portrays longing and solitude in old age through quiet lyricism and a restrained prose style. Centered on the encounter between an elderly man and a girl, it layers aging, memory, and vanishing time into the feeling of walking a narrow path through everyday life.

The solitude of old age and an encounter with a girl continue like a quiet narrow path.

219 pages
agingsolitudeencounter with a girlmemorylyricism
Otohiko Kaga かが おとひこ award

宣告 is an award-recognized work by 加賀乙彦. It can be read through its subject, form, and the literary concerns that surrounded the award year.

宣告 conveys 加賀乙彦's voice and the literary atmosphere in which the work was recognized.

literary awardpeopleperiod
Yamamoto Kenkichi やまもと けんきち award

詩の自覚の歴史 is an award-recognized work by 山本健吉. It can be read through its subject, form, and the literary concerns that surrounded the award year.

詩の自覚の歴史 conveys 山本健吉's voice and the literary atmosphere in which the work was recognized.

literary awardpeopleperiod
Hideo Kobayashi こばやし ひでお award

本居宣長 is an award-recognized work by 小林秀雄. It can be read through its subject, form, and the literary concerns that surrounded the award year.

本居宣長 conveys 小林秀雄's voice and the literary atmosphere in which the work was recognized.

literary awardpeopleperiod
Toshio Shimao しまお としお award

死の棘 is an award-recognized work by 島尾敏雄. It can be read through its subject, form, and the literary concerns that surrounded the award year.

死の棘 conveys 島尾敏雄's voice and the literary atmosphere in which the work was recognized.

literary awardpeopleperiod
Yoshie Wada わだ よしえ award

Yoshie Wada's autobiographical novel follows childhood into youth against the background of the Hokkaido wilderness. Public events, private desire, poverty, and the pain of growth lie beneath its restrained narration.

Against the Hokkaido wilderness, it follows the dark passage from boyhood toward youth.

303 pages
autobiographical fictionHokkaidoyouthdesire
Boku Hagitani はぎたに ぼく award

This Shincho Nihon Koten Shusei edition presents Sei Shonagon's essays with text editing and annotation by Boku Hagitani. It supports the wit, seasonality, and human observation of court life with scholarly precision and readability.

Precise annotation opens Sei Shonagon's wit and the breath of court life to modern readers.

426 pages
classical annotationThe Pillow BookHeian literaturecourt culture
Ichio Dan だん いちお award

Kazuo Dan's posthumous autobiographical novel. Family, wandering, love, and the impulse to write are fiercely intertwined, portraying the contradictions of the author's life in a burning prose style.

Wandering and family, desire and creation, keep burning within the metaphor of a house on fire.

480 pages
autobiographical fictionwanderingfamilypostwar literature
Yutaka Haniya はにや ゆたか award

Yutaka Haniya's metaphysical novel, pursued over many decades. Centered on the Miwa brothers, its meditations on existence, revolution, death, and the universe stretch the very form of the novel.

Dialogues over the mystery of existence carry the novel into the depths of thought.

432 pages
metaphysical fictionpostwar literatureontologyrevolution
No winner
Takii Kosaku たきい こうさく award

俳人仲間 is a literary work by 瀧井孝作. It is recognized as a winning work of the 日本文学大賞, reflecting the author's style and the literary concerns of its period.

俳人仲間 offers an entry point into 瀧井孝作's literary expression through the context of the 日本文学大賞.

literatureaward-winning workexpression
Takeda Taijun たけだ たいじゅん award

快楽 is a literary work by 武田泰淳. It is recognized as a winning work of the 日本文学大賞, reflecting the author's style and the literary concerns of its period.

快楽 offers an entry point into 武田泰淳's literary expression through the context of the 日本文学大賞.

literatureaward-winning workexpression
Enchi Fumiko えんち あやこ award

A collection by Fumiko Enchi containing the title work along with Kitsunebi and Hebi no Koe. Aging, memory, female passion, and a spectral atmosphere intertwine, quietly unsettling the border between reality and the fantastic.

Lingering feelings in this world take on a faint spectral air through women's memories.

241 pages
female psychologyagingspiritualitymemory
Takehiko Fukunaga ふくなが たけひこ award

A long novel about a woman painter exposed to the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, the man drawn to her, and the woman with whom she lives. Love and death, memory and creation, cross through multiple timelines in a meticulously structured postwar work.

The island in the painting draws the lovers toward the center of death and memory.

446 pages
love and deathHiroshimamemoryartistpostwar literature
Tetsutaro Kawakami かわかみ てつたろう award

有愁日記 is a work by 河上徹太郎; a book edition was published by 新潮社 in 1981.

有愁日記 stands in 河上徹太郎's award record.

350 pages
award-winning workworkJapanese publication
Tsuneari Fukuda ふくだ つねあり award

総統いまだ死せず is a work by 福田恆存; a book edition was published by 新潮社 in 1981.

総統いまだ死せず stands in 福田恆存's award record.

161 pages
award-winning workworkJapanese publication
Sawako Ariyoshi ありよし さわこ award

出雲の阿国 is a work by 有吉佐和子 recognized by the japan-literary-grand-award in 1970. It is presented here as an individual award-winning work, with bibliographic identifiers added where public records confirm a book edition.

出雲の阿国, a work recognized by the japan-literary-grand-award.

award-winning workliterary prizepublication status
Inoue Yasushi いのうえ やすし award

Based on the drifting of Daikokuya Kodayu and his time in Russia, this historical novel portrays survival, will, and longing for home in a foreign land. Experience in a distant country intertwines with the desire to return to Japan.

Beyond the drift ice, the wish to return home crosses with memories of a foreign land.

335 pages
castaway journeyRussialonging for home
Taruho Inagaki いながき たるほ award

A critical work by Taruho Inagaki that discusses the aesthetics directed toward boyhood through literature, fantasy, and bodily perception. Its provocative subject is developed through his distinctive cosmic sensibility.

Through the language of fantasy and aesthetics, it casts a distinctive light on the image of boyhood.

245 pages
aestheticsfantastic literaturebody