Japanese Literary Awards

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Oyabu Haruhiko Award

おおやぶはるひこしょう

Literary award given to hard-boiled novels and adventure novels

Hard-boiled novelsAdventure novels
Established
1999
Organizer
Oyabu Haruhiko Award Selection Committee
Category
Genre Fiction
Selection Method
Open call
Target
Professional
Frequency
1 per year
Announcement Period
around January–February
Status
Active

Description

Literary award in commemoration of Oyabu Haruhiko, organized by the Oyabu Haruhiko Award Selection Committee and supported by Tokuma Shoten. Awarded to hard-boiled novels and adventure novels, with a prize of 3 million yen given to the winner.

Prize

Main Prize
3 million yen prize money
Cash Prize
3,000,000 JPY

Related Awards

  • Oyabu Haruhiko Newcomer Award

Official Resources

https://www.tokuma.jp/company/c1515.html

Past Winners

Ai Ota おおた あい award
Ryo Akagami あかがみ りょう award

A historical novel about a survivor of a massacre in the Takeda domain who returns home under a new name seeking revenge. Beyond swordplay and mystery, it is carried by the emotions that waver between vengeance and reconciliation.

Returning home after fourteen years is both an act of revenge and a journey toward the truth.

400 pages
historical fictionrevengemysterylocal history
Ryo Takeuchi たけうち りょう award

A historical action novel set in Kyoto on the eve of the Onin War, following the girl Sugaru and the ninja who fight over a cursed relic.

Sugaru heads into a turbulent Kyoto to recover the stolen relic from Hiei.

473 pages
historical fictionninjathe Onin Warhistorical action
Izumi Sakagami さかがみ いずみ award

A police novel set in postwar Osaka, following a young detective, Shinjo, and a police bureaucrat, Moriya, as they investigate a series of murders. The two men clash across differences of class and background while moving into the shadows left behind by the occupation-era system shift.

Two opposite detectives trace the darkness beneath postwar Osaka.

352 pages
postwar Osakapolice fictionbuddy duoserial murderoccupation era
Riichi Akamatsu あかまつ りいち award

A road novel in which Sakura, a 63-year-old transgender woman, takes up an offer from her former lover Ando and heads into a chase over her 10 million yen nest egg, where love and violence keep colliding.

With 10 million yen set aside for old age, Sakura runs into a journey of love and violence.

384 pages
transgender identityold agedesireloveviolenceroad novel
Akiko Kawasaki かわさき あきこ award

Set against Hokkaido’s nature and human wildness, this novel follows a young man wounded by his relationship with his father as he recovers the will to live. Civilization, the body, animality, and renewal resonate strongly.

The wildness inside a human being rises as a force for life.

256 pages
Hokkaidowildnessfather and sonrenewal
Akira Hamanaka はまなか あきら award

Set in Hokkaido near the end of the war, this police novel follows a special higher police officer investigating poisonings and a military secret. Ainu identity, nation, war, and discrimination intertwine in a robust historical mystery.

A northern special police officer confronts wartime darkness and the lies of the state.

534 pages
wartime Hokkaidospecial higher policeAinuhistorical mystery
Katsuhiro Kure くれ かつひろ award

白い衝動 by 呉勝浩 is described as follows: 殺人衝動を抱える少年、彼と向き合うカウンセラー、地域社会に戻った犯罪加害者をめぐり、善意と恐怖、理想と排除の葛藤を描く社会派ミステリ。

白い衝動 is recorded here with confirmed award and bibliographic context.

339 pages
犯罪心理地域社会更生
Kiwamu Sato さとう のりたね award

Ank: a mirroring ape by 佐藤究 is described as follows: 京都で発生した不可解な大規模暴動の謎を、霊長類研究と人類進化の想像力から描くSFサスペンス。チンパンジー「アンク」を起点に、人間の模倣、暴力、知性の境界が問われる。

Ank: a mirroring ape is recorded here with confirmed award and bibliographic context.

475 pages
霊長類研究進化SF京都暴動
Kyo Nagaura ながうら きょう award

リボルバー・リリー is an award-recognized work by Kyo Nagaura. The entry is organized from the confirmed award title and author, with bibliographic identifiers recorded only when an independent book, paperback, or collection edition can be verified. Magazine or venue identifiers have not been reused.

リボルバー・リリー is a work whose award record and publication status should be checked separately.

literatureaward-winning workpublication check
Shinobu Suga すが しのぶ award

革命前夜 is an award-recognized work by Shinobu Suga. The entry is organized from the confirmed award title and author, with bibliographic identifiers recorded only when an independent book, paperback, or collection edition can be verified. Magazine or venue identifiers have not been reused.

革命前夜 is a work whose award record and publication status should be checked separately.

literatureaward-winning workpublication check
Bunpei Aoyama あおやま ぶんぺい award

鬼はもとより is an award-recognized work by 青山文平. Bibliographic and descriptive sources identify it as a work concerned with personal choices and their social or historical setting.

鬼はもとより, read through its award history and bibliographic record.

award-recognized workbibliographic recordpeople and society
Yuu Azusaki あずさき ゆう award

リバーサイド・チルドレン is an award-winning work by 梓崎優 recognized by the 大藪春彦賞. The bibliographic identifiers were checked at the work level from the title and author information.

リバーサイド・チルドレン by 梓崎優 was recognized by the 大藪春彦賞.

375 pages
award-winning workcontemporary literaturebibliographic record
Yuko Yuzuki ゆづき ゆうこ award

検事の本懐 is recorded as a 2013 award-winning work. The entry was checked against the title, author, award record, publication form, and public bibliographic data tied to the awarded work itself.

Bibliographic and work information for 検事の本懐 is organized without substituting magazine identifiers.

191 pages
award-winning workbibliographic verificationliterary award
Mahokaru Numata ぬまた まほかる award

Yurigokoro is a mystery in which a young man discovers a notebook recording murders and is drawn toward family secrets and the past. It unfolds as psychological suspense combining horror with sadness.

A notebook of murders reveals family secrets and the path of a lonely heart.

296 pages
mysteryfamily secretsmurderlonelinesspsychological suspense
Yumeaki Hirayama ひらやま ゆめあき award

A noir novel set in a diner frequented by assassins, where violence, desire, and strange humor collide. Its intense prose follows survival instincts and distorted relationships under extreme pressure.

ダイナー is an award-recognized work that follows its subject through 平山夢明's distinct perspective.

480 pages
noircrimesurvival
Akio Higuchi ひぐち あきお award

A mountain suspense novel about an Environment Ministry official assigned to the Yatsugatake area, where he confronts wildlife, local conflict, and family wounds. As the shadow of a huge beast draws near, the story depicts both the clash between conservation and human life and the rebuilding of a father-daughter bond.

The threat of a man-killing beast and the restart of a wounded father and daughter converge in the same mountains.

516 pages
mountain suspensewildlifeconservationfather and daughterlocal community
Akira Higashiyama ひがしやま あきら award

“路傍” is a 2009 award-winning work by 東山彰良. Bibliographic identifiers are limited to editions that can be confirmed as a standalone book, paperback, or collection, and identifiers for magazine issues are not used.

“路傍” is an important work in the record of 東山彰良’s award recognition.

award-winning workcontemporary literature2009
Fumie Kondo こんどう ふみえ award

サクリファイス is an award-winning work by Fumie Kondo. Published as a standalone book, it follows its characters' choices and the atmosphere surrounding them through the subject and voice recognized by the prize.

サクリファイス is a work by Fumie Kondo recognized by the 大藪春彦賞.

245 pages
imaginationtensiona changing world
Shigeto Kita きた しげと award

蒼火 is an award-winning work by 北重人. It presents its subject through the lives, memories, and conflicts of its characters, making the concerns recognized by the prize accessible to readers.

蒼火 is an award-winning work in which 北重人 depicts human choices and the weight of time.

397 pages
award-winning workrelationshipsmemorysociety
Kunio Hikita ひきた くにお award

A crime novel set in Okinawa, where a brilliant killer confronts a researcher who has discovered a breakthrough painkiller. The assignment is not to kill the target but to drive him to suicide, unfolding as a psychological duel.

In Okinawa, a battle of wits begins between a killer and a researcher.

328 pages
crime fictionOkinawapsychological duelhitman
Shusuke Shizukui しずくい しゅうすけ award

A police novel in which investigators, stalled in a serial child murder case, use television news to address the culprit directly. The tension among investigation, media, and public opinion drives the suspense.

Through the television screen, an investigator speaks to an unseen culprit.

367 pages
police novelmedia-driven investigationtelevisionserial crimesuspense
Ryosuke Kakine かきね りょうすけ award

A large-scale crime novel driven by the anger and revenge of people betrayed by Japan’s postwar emigration policy to Brazil.

ワイルド・ソウル follows its characters through choices and change, guided by the central idea suggested by the award title.

525 pages
emigrationrevengecrime fiction
Bunzo Uchiumi うつみ ぶんぞう award

Harbin Cafe is a hard-boiled police novel by Bunzo Utsumi. Set in the fictional Hokuriku city of Kaishi, where refugees from Russia, Korea, and China have settled, the story unfolds amid deteriorating public order and political tension.

A politically charged police novel set in a fictional Hokuriku city transformed by refugee communities.

police novelrefugeesfictional cityhard-boiled fictionpolitical tension
奥田英朗 おくだ ひでお award

A crime novel in which a small arson case begins to unravel a quiet suburban life. Loneliness and desire hidden within family, work, and community pull ordinary people toward a point of no return.

People trying to protect modest happiness are swept into a current of crime.

454 pages
crimefamilysuburbialonelinessescalation
Ei Gojo ごじょう えい award

スリー・アゲーツ 三つの瑪瑙 is a adventure novel by 五條 瑚. It focuses on 偽造紙幣と諜報の闇をめぐり、三つの家族と国家の思惑が交差する。

スリー・アゲーツ 三つの瑪瑙 uses the world suggested by its title to bring people and their times into quiet focus.

402 pages
memorysocietyrelationships
Harutoshi Fukui ふくい はるとし award

亡国のイージス is a work by 福井晴敏. 国家安全保障と海上自衛隊の艦艇をめぐる軍事サスペンス。閉鎖空間の緊張と政治的な駆け引きが重なり、組織と個人の忠誠を問う長編小説です。

亡国のイージス centers on 軍事サスペンス and presents its characters through a distinctive literary frame.

295 pages
軍事サスペンス国家安全保障組織と個人
Seishu Hase はせ せいしゅう award

漂流街 is a work by 馳星周. It presents its subject through a focused literary frame, drawing out the emotional and social tensions suggested by the Japanese description.

漂流街 uses 犯罪小説 as an entry point into human feeling and the atmosphere of its time.

犯罪小説裏社会移民暴力