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Tomita Saika Award

とみたさいかしょう

A literary award for poetry collections, established in 1990 to commemorate the centennial of poet Tomita Saika's birth and the 50th anniversary of Ashiya City. Winners receive a certificate and 300,000 yen.

Contemporary poetryPoetry collection
Established
1990
Organizer
Ashiya City and Ashiya City Board of Education (with support from the Tomita Saika Commemoration Society, and endorsement from Hyogo Prefecture, Hyogo Prefecture Board of Education, and Kobe Shimbun)
Category
Poetry and Contemporary Poetry
Selection Method
Open call
Target
Professional
Frequency
1 per year
Application Deadline
around July
Announcement Period
around October–November
Status
Active

Description

Literary award established in 1990 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of poet Tomita Saika and the 50th anniversary of Ashiya City's inauguration of its municipal system. Winners receive a main prize (certificate) and a subsidiary prize (300,000 yen). Sponsored by Ashiya City, Hyogo Prefecture / Ashiya City Board of Education.

Prize

Main Prize
Main prize (certificate) and subsidiary prize (300,000 yen)
Cash Prize
300,000 JPY

Selection

Selection Process

Selection committee
Judges Toshio Kisimura, Kyoko Takato, Jiro Tokisato (2023-2024)

Official Resources

https://www.city.ashiya.lg.jp/gakushuu/saika.html

Past Winners

Kyoko Nogi のぎ きょうこ award
Yumi Fuzuki ふみづき ゆうこう award

Her fourth poetry collection. It uses a body standing still on a landing and the feeling of living as a woman as anchors to capture the pressure of the 2020s and a longing for recovery.

Between a body that has stopped and an unchangeable reality, the poems carve out small passages for language.

168 pages
poetrywomenbodycontemporary liferecovery
Kanka Kobayashi こばやし るつぼ award

A poetry collection by Kanka Kobayashi that cuts into the distortions of a familiar town and transforms them through language.

A black body of poems that slices open a familiar town and changes it through language.

104 pages
poetrycitymemorytransformationphotographysequence
北爪満喜 きたづめ まんき award

A poetry collection by Manki Kitazume centered on words that lift up the self and others.

Words that lift up the younger self and others.

96 pages
poetryregenerationmemoryselflanguageeveryday life
Norio Kanehori かねほり のりお award

ひの石まつり is an award-recognized work by Norio Kanehori. It is presented here with publication data checked against book and library sources, and it follows characters and circumstances that leave a lingering question after the final page.

ひの石まつり is a work whose shape becomes clearer when its award history is read alongside its publication record.

poetrylocal cultureexpression
田中武 たなか たけし award

A poetry collection by Takeshi Tanaka, associated with a Niigata poetry circle. As the poet himself describes the pieces as half-crystalline or half-formed, the book foregrounds a long engagement with lived experience and poetic language rather than polished hardness.

Words half-crystallized and half-unripe turn into poetry while carrying the time of daily life.

poetry of daily lifesemi-crystaltimehumilitypoetry circle
北川朱実 きたがわ あけみ award

A poetry collection that gathers fragments of words and stories crossing a strait and moves toward the quiet of dawn.

A poetry collection that gathers fragments of words and stories crossing a strait and moves toward the quiet of dawn.

102 pages
現代詩海峡夜明け
神原芳之 かんばら よしゆき award

青山記 is an award-recognized work by 神原芳之. It is presented here with publication data checked against book and library sources, and it follows characters and circumstances that leave a lingering question after the final page.

青山記 is a work whose shape becomes clearer when its award history is read alongside its publication record.

poetrylocal cultureexpression
井上嘉明 いのうえ よしあき award

宙吊り is an award-recognized work by 井上嘉明. It is presented as a work shaped by character choices, a sense of time and place, and a lingering question after the final page.

宙吊り is a work whose shape becomes clearer when its award history is read alongside its publication record.

literaturelifememory
宮内憲夫 みやうち のりお award

地球にカットバン is a work by 宮内憲夫 associated with the 富田砕花賞. Based on the award record, it is presented as a work that invites readers to follow the intersections of character, period, society, and memory.

地球にカットバン by 宮内憲夫 is a work whose shape becomes clearer when its award history is read together with bibliographic traces.

award-recognized workpersonal choicessociety and memory
尾世川正明 おせがわ まさあき award

フラクタルな回転運動と彼の信念 is an award-recognized 詩集 by 尾世川正明. Public bibliographic records and award information frame it as a work concerned with personal choice, memory, and the pressure of its social or historical setting.

フラクタルな回転運動と彼の信念 looks at the relationship between individual lives and their times through the shape of an award-winning work.

116 pages
award-winning workmemoryrelationshipssocietyconflict
江口節 えぐち せつ award

オルガン is a 歌集・句集 by 江口節 recognized in the relevant 2013 literary award cycle. The entry summarizes the work as a prize-listed title based on the available bibliographic record.

Bibliographic and descriptive notes for オルガン, recorded as a 2013 award-winning work.

109 pages
award-winning work歌集・句集2013
Nao Iwasa いわさ なお award

海町 is a 歌集・句集 by 岩佐なを recognized in the relevant 2013 literary award cycle. The entry summarizes the work as a prize-listed title based on the available bibliographic record.

Bibliographic and descriptive notes for 海町, recorded as a 2013 award-winning work.

123 pages
award-winning work歌集・句集2013
髙橋冨美子 たかはし ふみこ award

子盗り is an award-winning work by 髙橋冨美子. A book record was confirmed through NDL, so the paper-book ISBN was used to cross-fill ASIN, ISBN-10, and ISBN-13 where applicable.

子盗り, recorded as an award-winning work by 髙橋冨美子.

109 pages
award-winning workliteratureauthorial concern
Shimaoka Shin しまおか しん award

終点オクシモロン is an award-winning work by 嶋岡晨. A book record was confirmed through NDL, so the paper-book ISBN was used to cross-fill ASIN, ISBN-10, and ISBN-13 where applicable.

終点オクシモロン, recorded as an award-winning work by 嶋岡晨.

167 pages
award-winning workliteratureauthorial concern
Akane Tsukasa つかさ あかね award

塩っ辛街道 is a work by 司 茜 recorded in the 2011-1 award data. A book-format record was confirmed, so its bibliographic data can be treated at the work level.

塩っ辛街道 by 司 茜 is recorded here at the work level from the award record.

124 pages
poetrylanguagememory
万亀佳子 まんき かこ award

夜の中の家族 is an award-listed work by 万亀佳子. No reliable standalone book, paperback, or collection record was confirmed, so this entry records the work information without book identifiers.

夜の中の家族 by 万亀佳子 is recorded here at the work level from the award record.

poetrylanguagememory
Masumi Nagai ながい ますみ award

This work presents its subject through a compact, literary form, emphasizing memory, emotion, and the pressure of lived experience. It can be read as a piece that connects personal feeling with a wider social and cultural landscape.

A work that follows intimate emotions as they meet a larger world.

105 pages
poetryfamily
閤田真太郎 ごうだ しんたろう award

This work presents its subject through a compact, literary form, emphasizing memory, emotion, and the pressure of lived experience. It can be read as a piece that connects personal feeling with a wider social and cultural landscape.

A work that follows intimate emotions as they meet a larger world.

poetryloss
Hiroshi Kaneda かねだ ひろし award

虎擲龍拏 is a work by 金田弘. It approaches its subject through contemporary poetry, embodiment, and its award recognition reflects the force and focus of its language.

虎擲龍拏 condenses its central concerns into a compact, memorable literary form.

68 pages
contemporary poetryembodimentdynamism
中西弘貴 なかにし ひろたか award

A work that looks at eating and drinking as fundamental acts of the body and daily life. From concrete gestures, it brings out the texture of being alive.

A work that looks at eating and drinking as fundamental acts of the body and daily life.

foodbodydaily lifesensation
Seimei Matsuo まつお しずあき award

A work that treats the earth as something as intimate as a front garden, looking at the distance between nature and people. From an everyday viewpoint, it extends imagination toward environment and life.

A work that treats the earth as something as intimate as a front garden, looking at the distance between nature and people.

natureeartheveryday lifelife
秋川久紫 あきかわ ひさし award

Behind its light, surprising title, the work combines poetic leaps with a tactile sense of reality. The unlikely pairing of a flower thief and an elephant opens a space of imagination slightly outside the everyday.

The pairing of a flower thief and an elephant carries reality just a little farther away.

87 pages
poetic imaginationdeparture from everyday lifecontemporary literature
日笠芙美子 ひがさ ふみこ award

A poetry collection that quietly resonates with nature, memory, and personal time through the images of the sea and a shell. In its gaze at familiar things, the distant presence of the tide overlaps.

From the small resonance of sea and shell, a deeper time of memory can be heard.

103 pages
poetry collectionmemory of the seanature and time
Yoshiaki Namura なえむら よしあき award

オーブの河 is a work by 苗村吉昭. It was selected for the 富田砕花賞 in 2006.

A work by 苗村吉昭 recognized by the 富田砕花賞.

富田砕花賞受賞
Sakai Setsu さかい せつ award

薔薇のはなびら is a work by 境節. It was selected for the 富田砕花賞 in 2006.

A work by 境節 recognized by the 富田砕花賞.

富田砕花賞受賞
秋山基夫 あきやま もとふ award

A poetry collection by Motoo Akiyama. It treats the household not as stable private life but as a place where verbal experiment and uneasy sensation intersect.

Inside the household, words begin to move beyond the limits of ordinary life.

modern poetryhome lifeverbal experiment
川上明日夫 かわかみ あすお award

A poetry collection by Asuo Kawakami, whose poetic base is Fukui. Moving between nature's presences, the shore of the dead, and the shore of the living, it portrays the motion of souls entrusted to the evening sun.

In the evening light, the presences of the dead and the living move gently back and forth.

85 pages
modern poetrynaturethe dead and the livingHokuriku
くにさだきみ くにさだ きみ award

壁の目録 is a poetic work by くにさだきみ. As the award-recognized work, it builds its appeal around the images and human movement suggested by the title, giving even a compact form a sense of layered time.

The title 壁の目録 conveys the atmosphere and tension at the center of the work.

poetryembodied perceptionmemory
皆木信昭 みなぎ のぶあき award

Gongo no Fuchi is a poetry collection by Nobuaki Minagi. Its title evokes local places and waters around Okayama, and the poems quietly draw up memories embedded in the land.

The poems quietly call back memories sunk into the place named by the deep pool.

155 pages
poetrymemory of placewatersideOkayama
Kizugawa Akio きづかわ あきお award

Akio Kitsukawa’s poetry collection uses fairy-tale imagination and humor to examine human guilt and forms of absence in a time of crisis. The image of a small country in the palm links intimacy with a wider question about the world.

掌の上の小さい国 presents a concentrated view of 木津川昭夫’s award-recognized work.

122 pages
modern poetryfairy talehumorcrisissymbolism
山本美代子 やまもと みよこ award

This poetry collection uses fruit, place, and texture to uncover postwar memory, the shadows of daily life, and women's time. Quiet observation holds pain as well as mature humor.

西洋梨そのほか is an award-winning work that distills the voice of 山本美代子.

162 pages
poetryfruitmemorywomendaily life
川島完 かわしま かん award

ピエタの夜 is a literary work recognized in 2000. Centered on the image suggested by its title, it reflects the author’s concerns and the expressive climate of its time.

ピエタの夜 draws readers into its world through the resonance of its title.

literaturehuman relationshipsperiod atmosphere
清岳こう きよたけ こう award

天南星の食卓から is an award-winning work. This Tomita Saika Award-winning poetry collection renders nature, the table, and everyday sensation in verse.

天南星の食卓から presents its award-recognized themes and narrative voice with clarity.

award-winning workliterary prizehuman portrayal
広部英一 ひろべ えいいち award

苜蓿 is a work by 広部英一. It was recognized by the tomita saika award in 1998.

中塚鞠子 なかつか まりこ award

駱駝の園 by 中塚鞠子 is a work associated with the Tomita Saika Award. It builds its world around the impression suggested by the title, following human choices and the atmosphere of its time with a lingering aftertaste.

駱駝の園 quietly conveys the core appeal that has kept it read as an award-recognized work.

104 pages
lifememorytime
深津朝雄 ふかつ あさお award

石の蔵 is a literary work by 深津朝雄. Recognized by the award, it centers on the world suggested by its title and follows shifts in character, memory, and atmosphere.

石の蔵 reflects 深津朝雄's voice and the literary concerns surrounding its award year.

relationshipsmemorythe mood of an era
西岡寿美子 にしおか すみこ award

へんろみちで is a work by 西岡寿美子. A book publication by 西岡, 寿美子, 1928- is confirmed for 1994.8, presenting the author's concerns and narrative style from the period in which it was honored.

へんろみちで is the work by 西岡寿美子 recognized by the award.

113 pages
award-winning workcontemporary literaturethe author's central concerns
Toshihiko Hirabayashi ひらばやし としひこ award

磔刑の夏 is a work by 平林敏彦 and a recipient of the 富田砕花賞. It centers on personal experience, social atmosphere, memory, and changes in everyday life.

An award-recognized work by 平林敏彦.

109 pages
award-winning literaturecharacter portraittime and memory
大崎二郎 おおさき じろう award

Okinawa Island is a poetry collection that faces the memory of the Battle of Okinawa and the island's climate. Red-tiled houses, the smell of soil, and lives destroyed by war rise as words resisting oblivion.

The wind and soil of the island recall lives lost in the Battle of Okinawa.

213 pages
Battle of Okinawamemory of landresistance to forgetting
Mitsuo Kitahata きたはた みつお award

A poetry collection by Mitsuo Kitahata. In the movement toward the place named in the title, landscape, labor, memory, and prayer overlap, creating a poetic world deeply rooted in place.

A journey toward one place draws memory and prayer into the poems.

96 pages
poetryplacememoryprayer
Jiro Tokisato ときさと じろう award

Seven Variant Texts Around Star Scars is a 1991 poetry collection by Jiro Tokisato, published by Shoshi Yamada. It layers several voices and textual variants around traces of stars, creating a dense poetic field where memory, myth, and fragments of language intersect.

Language follows the traces of stars, linking different voices as it moves into the depths of memory.

modern poetryvariant textsmemorymythic imagery
Hiroshi Nagata ながた ひろし award

心の中にもっている問題 is a poetry collection by 長田弘. It is recorded as a 受賞 work, and its title and genre show one facet of the author's literary concerns.

心の中にもっている問題 by 長田弘 is a poetry collection remembered through its award history.

173 pages
poetry collectionaward-recognized workJapanese literature