Japanese Literary Awards

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Translated Mystery Grand Award

ほんやくミステリーたいしょう

A literary award for translated mystery novels (foreign works translated into Japanese), selected by votes from active translators. Founded in 2009 by translators Nobumitsu Kodaka, Mariko Fukamachi, Ro Shiraishi, Toshiya Echizen, and Toshiki Taguchi. The award concluded with its 15th ceremony announced in 2024.

MysteryTranslated literature
Established
2010
Organizer
Translated Mystery Grand Award Syndicate
Category
Research, Translation, and Scholarship
Selection Method
Vote
Target
Professional
Frequency
1 per year
Status
Ended

Description

Founded by translators Nobumitsu Kotaka, Mariko Fukamachi, Akira Shiraishi, Toshiya Ekuni, and Toshiki Taguchi, the first edition was announced in 2010. It concluded with the 15th edition announced in 2024, and the recognition of translated mysteries has been elevated to an official category in the translation division of the Japan Mystery Writers Association Awards.

Selection

Selection Process

First round
Judges Translators who have translated or co-translated at least one book (fiction and non-fiction)
Announcement Candidate works are selected by the preliminary committee
Second round
Judges Translators who have read the works that passed the first round
Announcement Grand prize work is selected by secondary voting
Announcement
Judges
Announcement The winning work is announced in April of the following year

Related Awards

  • Japan Mystery Writers Association Award

Official Resources

https://honyakumystery.jp

Past Winners

小山内園子 おさない そのこ grand prize
東野さやか ひがしの さやか readers prize
加賀山卓朗 かがやま たくろう readers prize
吉野弘人 よしの ひろと grand prize

A short story collection about the loneliness and hope of people caught in crime and loss. It traces the ordinary lives left in the wake of violence with a restrained, lucid style.

The silences of wounded people rise in slightly different shapes from story to story.

288 pages
short storiescrimelosslonelinesshope
舩山むつみ ふなやま むつみ readers prize

A Holmes pastiche set in late-Qing Hong Kong, where the braided-hair detective Fu Er solves difficult cases. It combines the texture of historical fiction with the drive of a classic mystery.

Starting from the premise of Holmes in Hong Kong rather than London, the book brings a different detective figure to life.

352 pages
mysteryHong KongSherlock Holmeshistorypastiche
舩山むつみ ふなやま むつみ grand prize

A Chinese-language hard-boiled novel set in surveillance-saturated Taipei, following a depressed playwright and university professor, Wu Cheng, as he poses as a private detective and hunts a serial killer to clear his name.

From the backstreets of Taipei, a detective pursues the true killer.

560 pages
hard-boiledTaiwandetectiveserial murdertranslated mystery
服部京子 はっとり きょうこ readers prize

High school student Pip uses a school research project to get closer to the truth behind a local disappearance, in a mystery that balances momentum with tension.

A school project becomes the key to a hidden truth.

581 pages
mysteryhigh schooldisappearanceinvestigationtruth
池央耿・東江一紀・宮脇孝雄・日暮雅通 いけお こう・とうえ いちき・みやわき たかお・ひぐらし まさみち grand prize

A historical mystery that follows a poisoning case in 17th-century Oxford through the separate records of four narrators. It was published in two volumes, so it is handled without forcing a single bibliographic identifier.

Four voices illuminate one case from different angles.

historical mysterymultiple viewpointsOxfordtranslationtwo volumes
友廣純 ともひろ じゅん readers prize

A mystery in which a coming-of-age story about a girl who lives in the marshlands intertwines quietly with a suspicious death. The natural scenery and the accumulation of lonely time gradually bring the shape of the case into view.

Deep in the stillness of the marsh, the case lies in wait.

512 pages
translated fictionmarshlandcoming of agemysteryloneliness
加賀山卓朗 かがやま たくろう grand prize

11月に去りし者 is an award-winning work by 加賀山卓朗. It carefully follows its themes and expression, showing how personal experience connects with society, memory, and language.

11月に去りし者 looks closely at the relationship between people and the world with the density expected of an award-winning work.

351 pages
award-winning workcontemporary literaturememorysocietyexpression
高橋恭美子 たかはし きょうみこ readers prize

指名手配 is an award-winning work by 高橋恭美子. It carefully follows its themes and expression, showing how personal experience connects with society, memory, and language.

指名手配 looks closely at the relationship between people and the world with the density expected of an award-winning work.

award-winning workcontemporary literaturememorysocietyexpression
Ran Yamada やまだ らん award

Ran Yamada's Japanese translation of Anthony Horowitz's formal mystery novel combines a classic English village mystery with a contemporary publishing-world puzzle. Readers follow both Atticus Pund's case and the mystery surrounding the manuscript itself.

A double-layered mystery where homage to classic detective fiction meets a contemporary narrative trick.

742 pages
translated mysteryfair-play detectionstory within a storyEnglish village mysterypublishing world
Megumi Serizawa せりざわ めぐみ award

The Japanese translation of the final Inspector Frost novel, in which Frost faces removal from Denton while pursuing a pile of cases.

The Japanese translation of the final Inspector Frost novel, in which Frost faces removal from Denton while pursuing a pile of cases.

453 pages
翻訳ミステリ警察小説英国ミステリ
Megumi Suzuki すずき めぐみ award

その雪と血を is an award-winning work by 鈴木恵. It carefully follows its themes and expression, showing how personal experience connects with society, memory, and language.

その雪と血を looks closely at the relationship between people and the world with the density expected of an award-winning work.

award-winning workcontemporary literaturememorysocietyexpression
Yumiko Yanagisawa やなぎさわ ゆみこ award

声 is an award-recognized work by 柳沢由実子. It is presented as a work shaped by character choices, a sense of time and place, and a lingering question after the final page.

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

literaturelifememory
Junko Aoki あおき じゅんこ award

秘密 is a work by 青木純子 associated with the 翻訳ミステリー大賞. Based on the award record, it is presented as a work that invites readers to follow the intersections of character, period, society, and memory.

秘密 by 青木純子 is a work whose shape becomes clearer when its award history is read together with bibliographic traces.

award-recognized workpersonal choicessociety and memory
Ro Shiraishi しらいし あきら award

11/22/63 is an award-recognized 翻訳小説 by スティーヴン・キング/白石朗訳. 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.

11/22/63 looks at the relationship between individual lives and their times through the shape of an award-winning work.

529 pages
award-winning workmemoryrelationshipssocietyconflict
Kaoru Ninomiya にのみや かおる award

無罪 INNOCENT is a ミステリ by 二宮馨 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 無罪 INNOCENT, recorded as a 2013 award-winning work.

award-winning workミステリ2013
Junko Aoki あおき じゅんこ award

This work is introduced as a literary award-winning title. It focuses on its central motif and characters while reflecting the genre and period in which it appeared.

忘れられた花園 invites readers into its world through its central motif and award-winning premise.

349 pages
literary award winnerpersonal choicesmemory and relationships
Mari Morishima もりしま まり award

A historical mystery tracing the centuries-long journey of a rare book through a conservator’s investigation and episodes from the past. The memories of those who protected the volume illuminate histories of war and persecution.

古書の来歴 by 森嶋マリ is recorded here at the work level from the award record.

508 pages
rare bookshistorymemorytranslated mystery
Kazuki Agarie ひがしえ かずのり 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.

574 pages
crimenoirtranslated mystery