Japanese Literary Awards

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Rekishi Gunzo Grand Award れきしぐんぞうたいしょう

Edition 16 (2010)

Simulation novelsWar chronicle novelsHistorical novelsPeriod novels

Winners

4 people
藤村与一郎 ふじむら よいちろう best award

A historical action novel in which Ashikaga Naoshiro, a poor retainer favored by Katsu Kokichi, becomes the acting head of Myoken-shachu, a group that hunts corrupt officials. Skilled with the sword and spirited, he steps into danger beginning with the rescue of a beautiful woman.

A skilled but poor retainer is drawn into a hidden trade of cutting down corrupt officials.

361 pages
historical fictionretainerswordplaycorrupt officialsEdo
原田孔平 はらだ こうへい excellence award

A historical novel in which former Kawagoe retainer Menjo Toma and his daughter Shino are saved at a mansion connected to the younger brother of the Miharu lord. Human ties, horses, and a merchant's hidden aims come together in a story of kindness and renewal.

From the mansion that saves a father and daughter near collapse, new ties begin to bloom.

341 pages
Genroku eraMiharufather and daughterhuman kindnesshistorical fiction
Takashi Nakajima なかじま たかし honorable mention

A historical story about the sorrow hidden behind samurai honor, where loyalty and public duty press hard on private lives. It looks beyond the ideal of bushido to the human pain left in its shadow.

Behind the noble name of bushido lies a sorrow that cannot be spoken.

bushidoloyaltyhistorical fictiontragedy
工藤誉 くどう ほまれ honorable mention

A wartime adventure set in Shanghai, where a Japanese naval landing force officer tries to rescue an aircraft engineer after a Zero fighter crashes, while British forces seek the plane's secrets. The chase unfolds through the international settlement on the eve of war.

In a sealed-off Shanghai settlement, rescue and capture collide.

235 pages
Shanghai settlementZero fighterrescue missionalternate war fiction