Japanese Literary Awards

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Shiba Ryotaro Award

しばりょうたろうしょう

An annual award honoring Ryotaro Shiba by recognizing creative works across literature, scholarship, and journalism.

LiteratureScholarshipJournalism
Established
1997
Organizer
Shiba Ryotaro Memorial Foundation
Category
Literature and General Literary Arts
Selection Method
Selection
Target
Professional
Frequency
1 per year
Announcement Period
around December
Status
Active

Description

Up to the 8th edition, it was awarded to individuals or groups, but from the 9th edition onward, it is awarded to novels and critical works. Announced at the end of every year, the award ceremony is held at the Nanohana-ki Symposium venue on February 12 of the following year. The selection is conducted in three stages: questionnaires to media personnel, candidate selection committee of 11 media companies, and deliberation by the selection committee.

Prize

Main Prize
Pocket watch
Cash Prize
1,000,000 JPY

Selection

Selection Process

Preliminary selection
Judges Questionnaire to media personnel, writers, scholars, and cultural figures
Secondary selection
Judges Selection by the candidate selection committee of 11 media companies
Final selection
Judges Deliberation by the selection committee

Official Resources

http://www.shibazaidan.or.jp/shibasho/

Past Winners

Masafumi Asada あさだ まさふみ award
岡典子 おか のりこ award

This nonfiction work traces, through concrete episodes, the actions of unnamed German citizens who supported Jews in hiding under the Nazi regime. It uncovers the ways people kept faith in others even amid fear.

It gathers the long-untold faces of rescuers back from history.

288 pages
nonfictionWorld War IIJewsNazismGerman history
Hirayama Shukichi ひらやま しゅうきち award

A historical nonfiction work that traces 36 people involved in the stable period of Manchukuo and reconstructs the reality of the colonial state through a group portrait. Rather than narrating founding and collapse directly, it brings Manchukuo into view through the people who lived between those endpoints.

It sketches the shape of a colonial state through the people who lived inside it.

568 pages
ManchukuoShowa historynonfictioncolonial historygroup portrait
Yoshihiro Ishikawa いしかわ よしひろ award

A comprehensive history of the Chinese Communist Party that traces a century of change through its organizational principles and the making of power. It examines, on the basis of historical sources, how a revolutionary party became a ruling party.

A century of CCP history read through its institutions and the making of power.

376 pages
Chinese Communist Partymodern Chinese historyparty historypower structurerevolution
Kenichi Sato さとう けんいち award

This Japanese-language work is introduced as a prize-recognized title; the text focuses on its subject, form, and reception in a concise way for readers.

This Japanese-language work is introduced as a prize-recognized title; the text focuses on its subject, form, and reception in a concise way for readers.

history
林新 はやし しん award

A new biography of Inukai Tsuyoshi by Hayashi Shin and Horikawa Keiko. It reconsiders Inukai Bokkodo, who lived through the turbulence of party politics, through his loneliness as a politician, his public speech, and his view of the state.

A new portrait of Inukai Bokkodo, the lone wolf who raced through politics.

480 pages
Inukai Tsuyoshibiographyparty politicsmodern Japannonfiction
Keiko Horikawa ほりかわ けいこ award

A new biography of Inukai Tsuyoshi by Hayashi Shin and Horikawa Keiko. It reconsiders Inukai Bokkodo, who lived through the turbulence of party politics, through his loneliness as a politician, his public speech, and his view of the state.

A new portrait of Inukai Bokkodo, the lone wolf who raced through politics.

480 pages
Inukai Tsuyoshibiographyparty politicsmodern Japannonfiction
Makate Asai あさい まかて award

悪玉伝 by 朝井まかて is introduced here as the award-recognized work. The book is valued for its distinctive subject, its attention to character emotion, and the way it develops its central conflict into a readable literary or genre narrative.

A concise introduction to 悪玉伝, a work shaped by its subject and emotional stakes.

328 pages
award-recognized workhuman relationshipssocial settingmemorychange
奥山俊宏 おくやま としひろ award

秘密解除 ロッキード事件 by 奥山俊宏 is an award-recognized work. The entry focuses on the published work, its author, and the context in which it was selected.

A concise profile of 奥山俊宏's 秘密解除 ロッキード事件 through its award record.

award-winning workcontemporary literaturebibliographic verification
Hamuro Rin はむろ りん award

鬼神の如く 黒田叛臣伝 by 葉室麟 is an award-recognized work. The entry focuses on the published work, its author, and the context in which it was selected.

A concise profile of 葉室麟's 鬼神の如く 黒田叛臣伝 through its award record.

award-winning workcontemporary literaturebibliographic verification
Kazuichi Iijima いいじま かずいち award

狗賓童子の島 is a work by 飯嶋和一受賞・候補作品。賞の記録で作品名は確認できるが、Amazon JP、NDL OPAC、出版社公式で同名の単行本・文庫・短編集として確実に対応する書誌を確認できなかったため、雑誌号や応募原稿の識別子は採用しない。

Verified information on 狗賓童子の島 is organized as prize-work data.

prize workbibliographic researchliterary context
Shizuka Ijuin いじゅういん しずか award

ノボさん 小説 正岡子規と夏目漱石 is an award-winning work by 伊集院静 recognized by the 司馬遼太郎賞. The bibliographic identifiers were checked at the work level from the title and author information.

ノボさん 小説 正岡子規と夏目漱石 by 伊集院静 was recognized by the 司馬遼太郎賞.

404 pages
award-winning workcontemporary literaturebibliographic record
Kotaro Sawaki さわき こうたろう award

Capa’s Cross is nonfiction that pursues the mystery around Robert Capa’s photograph The Falling Soldier. Kotaro Sawaki examines the location, photographer, and battlefield circumstances, approaching the myth and truth carried by the image.

Field research presses toward the myth and questions embedded in a single photograph.

335 pages
nonfictionRobert CapaphotographySpanish Civil Warinvestigation
Mari Akasaka あかさか まり award

Tokyo Prison is an award-related work by 赤坂真理. It can be introduced through its subject, setting, and the emotional movement of its characters, with bibliographic identifiers recorded only when a standalone book edition could be confirmed.

Tokyo Prison offers a concise entry point into the work's setting and concerns.

441 pages
戦後日本家族史歴史認識
Morihide Katayama かたやま としひで award

未完のファシズム―「持たざる国」日本の運命 is an award-related work by 片山杜秀. It can be introduced through its subject, setting, and the emotional movement of its characters, with bibliographic identifiers recorded only when a standalone book edition could be confirmed.

未完のファシズム―「持たざる国」日本の運命 offers a concise entry point into the work's setting and concerns.

352 pages
文学賞対象作人間ドラマ物語性
Noboru Tsujihara つじはら のぼる award

A historical novel that moves from Edo to Tsushima and the Korean peninsula, using horses and human movement to depict borderland history. Broad historical currents intersect with individual fates.

韃靼の馬 is an award-recognized work that follows its subject through 辻原登's distinct perspective.

639 pages
historical fictionTsushimaborders
Yukio Ito いとう ゆきお award

A biography of Emperor Showa written in the context of political history. It examines war, occupation, and the making of postwar Japan through both the individual and the institution.

昭和天皇伝 is an award-recognized work that follows its subject through 伊藤之雄's distinct perspective.

588 pages
biographyShowa historypolitical history
Yang Haiying よう かいえい award

A two-volume documentary work on persecution and massacre in Inner Mongolia during the Cultural Revolution, based on testimony and materials. Through individual memories it follows how state violence destroyed steppe life and community.

From the memories of unnamed dead, it uncovers the history of violence carved into the steppe.

300 pages
Inner MongoliaCultural Revolutionmassacretestimonyethnic history
Teru Miyamoto みやもと てる award

“骸骨ビルの庭(上・下)” is a 2009 award-winning work by 宮本輝. 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.

“骸骨ビルの庭(上・下)” is an important work in the record of 宮本輝’s award recognition.

award-winning workcontemporary literature2009
Takeshi Hara はら たけし award

A compact historical study re-reading Emperor Showa’s political and family relationships in modern Japanese history. It seeks an image of the emperor between institution and individual, avoiding both deification and simple accusation.

A compact historical study re-reading Emperor Showa’s political and family relationships in modern Japanese history.

224 pages
Emperor Showamodern historyimperial familyinstitution
Shin'ichi Yamamuro やまむろ しんいち award

This critical study rereads Article 9 not as an idea imposed after the war but as the outcome of modern Japanese antiwar and peace thought. It links post-World War I movements to outlaw war with Japanese intellectual history.

The idea of renouncing war did not appear suddenly after 1945; it had flowed through modern Japan like an underground stream.

304 pages
Article 9antiwar thoughtmodern Japanese intellectual historypacifism
Jiro Asada あさだ じろう award

お腹召しませ is a work by 浅田 次郎. It is presented here as an award-recognized work, with publication identifiers checked against book sources where available.

お腹召しませ, a work by 浅田 次郎.

251 pages
award-recognized workcontemporary literature
Tsuyoshi Hasegawa はせがわ たけし award

暗闘 スターリン、トルーマンと日本降伏 is a work by 長谷川 毅. It is presented here as an award-recognized work, with publication identifiers checked against book sources where available.

暗闘 スターリン、トルーマンと日本降伏, a work by 長谷川 毅.

award-recognized workcontemporary literature
Kenzo Kitakata きたかた けんぞう award

Kenzo Kitakata's grand reimagining of the Chinese classic Water Margin. Beginning with the first volume, Shoko no Sho, it follows those who resist a corrupt state as they move toward Liangshan Marsh.

The resolve of men resisting a corrupt age begins to gather at Liangshan.

392 pages
historical fictionrebellionhonorensemble drama
Kenichi Matsumoto まつもと けんいち award
Natsuki Ikezawa いけざわ なつき award
Masaaki Sugiyama すぎやま まさあき award
Miyuki Miyabe みやべ みゆき award
Masayuki Yamauchi やまうち まさゆき award
Natsuo Sekikawa せきかわ かお award
青森県教育庁三内丸山遺跡発掘調査チーム あおもりけんきょういくちょう さんないまるやまいせき はっくつちょうさちーむ award
Masamitsu Miyagitani みやぎたに まさみつ award
Hayao Miyazaki みやざき はやお award
Nanami Shiono しおの ななお award
Takashi Tachibana たちばな たかし award