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Yamamoto Kenkichi Literary Award

やまもとけんきちぶんがくしょう

A literary award for haiku and poetry sponsored by "Bungaku no Mori," the publisher of "Haiku Kai."

HaikuTankaPoetryCriticismLyrics
Established
2001
Organizer
Bungaku no Mori
Category
Haiku and Haikai
Selection Method
Recommendation
Target
Professional
Frequency
1 per year
Announcement Period
around April–May
Status
Active

Description

Established in 2001 bearing the name of Yamamoto Kenkichi, it initially honored categories of haiku, tanka, poetry, criticism, and lyrics. From the 5th edition, the lyrics category was abolished; from the 11th edition, the tanka and poetry categories were abolished; and starting with the 13th edition in 2014, it was renamed "Yamamoto Kenkichi Award" and became an award solely for haiku collections.

Prize

Main Prize
Award in Each Category

Related Awards

  • Yamamoto Kenkichi Criticism Award

Official Resources

http://www.bungak.com/info/yamamoto.php

Past Winners

Taniko Terai てらい たにこ award
Hiroshi Oomaki おおまき ひろし award
Hinao Goto ごとう ひなお award
Kenji Fukami ふかみ けんじ award

菫濃く is an award-recognized 句集 by 深見けん二. 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.

菫濃く looks at the relationship between individual lives and their times through the shape of an award-winning work.

152 pages
award-winning workmemoryrelationshipssocietyconflict
山陰石楠 さんいん しゃくなん award

天心 is an award-winning work by 山陰石楠. Amazon JP, NDL, and related publisher records were checked, but no ISBN for a standalone book or paperback containing the work could be confirmed. Magazine and article identifiers were not reused.

天心, recorded as an award-winning work by 山陰石楠.

176 pages
award-winning workliteratureauthorial concern
鈴木豊一 すずき とよいち award

俳句編集ノート is an award-winning work by 鈴木豊一. Amazon JP, NDL, and related publisher records were checked, but no ISBN for a standalone book or paperback containing the work could be confirmed. Magazine and article identifiers were not reused.

俳句編集ノート, recorded as an award-winning work by 鈴木豊一.

award-winning workliteratureauthorial concern
Ikuo Kato かとう いくお award

晩節 is a work by 加藤 郁乎 recorded in the 2011-1 award data. A book-format record was confirmed, so its bibliographic data can be treated at the work level.

晩節 by 加藤 郁乎 is recorded here at the work level from the award record.

204 pages
poetrylanguagememory
いわおか なかまさ award

虚子と現代 is a work by 岩岡中正 recorded in the 2011-1 award data. A book-format record was confirmed, so its bibliographic data can be treated at the work level.

虚子と現代 by 岩岡中正 is recorded here at the work level from the award record.

207 pages
poetrylanguagememory
Takeo Nakaoka なかおか たけお haiku category

A 俳句 work by 中岡毅雄. Landscape, memory, and bodily sensation overlap in compressed language, leaving a quiet resonance.

A sequence of spare words illuminates feelings hidden behind familiar scenery.

俳句landscapememorylanguage
Kazuhiro Nagata ながた かずひろ tanka category

A 短歌 work by 永田和宏. Landscape, memory, and bodily sensation overlap in compressed language, leaving a quiet resonance.

A sequence of spare words illuminates feelings hidden behind familiar scenery.

短歌landscapememorylanguage
Harumi Kawaguchi かわぐち はるみ poetry category

A 詩 work by 川口晴美. Landscape, memory, and bodily sensation overlap in compressed language, leaving a quiet resonance.

A sequence of spare words illuminates feelings hidden behind familiar scenery.

landscapememorylanguage
Ito Michiaki いとう みちあき haiku category

荒神 is a work by 伊藤通明. It approaches its subject through haiku, place, and its award recognition reflects the force and focus of its language.

荒神 condenses its central concerns into a compact, memorable literary form.

243 pages
haikuplacefixed form
Shuzo Shimada しまだ しゅうぞう tanka category

東洋の秋 is a work by 島田修三. It approaches its subject through tanka, seasons, and its award recognition reflects the force and focus of its language.

東洋の秋 condenses its central concerns into a compact, memorable literary form.

257 pages
tankaseasonsmemory
Hiroya Takagai たかがい ひろや poetry category

子葉声韻 is a work by 高貝弘也. It approaches its subject through contemporary poetry, voice, and its award recognition reflects the force and focus of its language.

子葉声韻 condenses its central concerns into a compact, memorable literary form.

contemporary poetryvoiceemergence
中村雅樹 なかむら まさき criticism category

俳人 宇佐美魚目 is a work by 中村雅樹. It approaches its subject through haiku criticism, author study, and its award recognition reflects the force and focus of its language.

俳人 宇佐美魚目 condenses its central concerns into a compact, memorable literary form.

227 pages
haiku criticismauthor studyUsami Gyomoku
Murakoshi Kaseki むらこし かせき haiku category

A haiku collection that receives the bodily feeling and memories of one's eighties through a brief poetic form. Rather than only lamenting age, it finds the certainty of life in seasonal change.

A haiku collection that receives the bodily feeling and memories of one's eighties through a brief poetic form.

haikuagingseasonsmemory
Chikako Yonekawa よねかわ ちかこ tanka category

A tanka collection that looks at a maiden painted on a screen and reads the distance of time and changing images of womanhood. Behind its painterly stillness lies tension between viewer and viewed.

A tanka collection that looks at a maiden painted on a screen and reads the distance of time and changing images of womanhood.

tankapaintingimages of womentime
Arthur Binard あーさー びなーど poetry category

A poetic work that rethinks ordinary language and political feeling through the metaphor of left and right. With humor and critique, it illuminates unease hidden in everyday expressions.

A poetic work that rethinks ordinary language and political feeling through the metaphor of left and right.

poetrylanguagepoliticseveryday life
山田春生 やまだ はるお criticism category

A critical history tracing how haiku was written, read, and carried from wartime into the postwar period. It examines the relation between historical pressure and literary expression within haiku circles.

A critical history tracing how haiku was written, read, and carried from wartime into the postwar period.

haikucriticismpostwar literatureliterary history
Haruki Kadokawa かどかわ はるき haiku category

This haiku collection follows Haruki Kadokawa’s family and postwar time through verse. Family history, publishing culture, and postwar memory overlap, turning personal experience into a sequence of haiku.

角川家の戦後 is an award-recognized 句集 by 角川春樹.

223 pages
memoryrelationshipsaward-recognized work
Kyoko Kuriki くりき きょうこ tanka category

This tanka collection by Kyoko Kuriki gathers sensations of body, time, and daily life through images of transparency and wavering light. It condenses the delicate sensibility of contemporary tanka.

けむり水晶 is an award-recognized 歌集 by 栗木京子.

222 pages
memoryrelationshipsaward-recognized work
Fuminori Yoshida よしだ ふみのり poetry category

This poetry collection follows the feel of memory and time through seasonal light and the quiet of daily life. Its restrained language leaves a steady gaze on passing time.

六月の光、九月の椅子 is an award-recognized 詩集 by 吉田文憲.

121 pages
memoryrelationshipsaward-recognized work
前田霧人 まえだ きりひと criticism category

This critical work reads the haiku poet Shinohara Hosaku by connecting his poems with their era and the course of haiku history. Through haiku, it looks closely at the seasons and life of a single writer.

鳳作の季節 is an award-recognized 評論 by 前田霧人.

298 pages
memoryrelationshipsaward-recognized work
Hiroshi Yoshikawa よしかわ ひろし tanka category

海雨 is a work by 吉川宏志. It was selected for the 山本健吉文学賞 in 2006.

A work by 吉川宏志 recognized by the 山本健吉文学賞.

山本健吉文学賞短歌部門
Tetsuo Shimizu しみず てつお poetry category

黄燐と投げ縄 is a work by 清水哲男. It was selected for the 山本健吉文学賞 in 2006.

A work by 清水哲男 recognized by the 山本健吉文学賞.

山本健吉文学賞詩部門
うさみとしお うさみ としお criticism category

長谷川素逝 圓光の生涯 is a work by うさみとしお. It was selected for the 山本健吉文学賞 in 2006.

A work by うさみとしお recognized by the 山本健吉文学賞.

山本健吉文学賞評論部門
Shunichi Niikura にいくら しゅんいち criticism category

評伝 西脇順三郎 is a work by 新倉俊一. It was selected for the 山本健吉文学賞 in 2006.

A work by 新倉俊一 recognized by the 山本健吉文学賞.

山本健吉文学賞評論部門
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound えずら ぱうんど criticism category

ピサ詩篇の翻訳と注釈 is a work by エズラ・パウンド. It was selected for the 山本健吉文学賞 in 2006.

A work by エズラ・パウンド recognized by the 山本健吉文学賞.

山本健吉文学賞評論部門
Haruki Kadokawa かどかわ はるき haiku category

海鼠の日 by 角川春樹 is introduced as a work that 獄中で詠まれた俳句を軸に、閉ざされた時間の中で自然、身体、記憶を見つめる句集。限られた空間に置かれた言葉が、外界への感覚と自己凝視を鮮烈に響かせます。

海鼠の日 is a concise gateway into 角川春樹's literary world.

229 pages
literary craftmemory and placehuman experience
Shion Mizuhara みずはら しおん tanka category

あかるたへ by 水原紫苑 is introduced as a work that 戦争の記憶と日本人の魂の行方を、鋭い言葉と祈りの感覚で編み上げた歌集。古典的な響きと現代への切実なまなざしが重なり、救済を求める声が全体を貫いています。

あかるたへ is a concise gateway into 水原紫苑's literary world.

227 pages
literary craftmemory and placehuman experience
季村敏夫 きむら としお poetry category

木端微塵 by 木村敏男 is introduced as a work that 俳句を中心に、断片化された感覚や日常の細部を凝縮して提示する作品。単独書籍の確実な流通情報を確認できず、作品内容の詳細は受賞記録を中心に補っています。

木端微塵 is a concise gateway into 木村敏男's literary world.

literary craftmemory and placehuman experience
Kato Ikuya かとう いくこ criticism category

市井風流 by 加藤郁乎 is introduced as a work that 俳諧の歴史と人物をめぐる随筆を集め、江戸の風流と近現代の俳句精神を自在に往還する評論的作品。洒脱な語り口の中に、古典への深い読みと批評眼が息づいています。

市井風流 is a concise gateway into 加藤郁乎's literary world.

224 pages
literary craftmemory and placehuman experience
Yasumasa Soda そうだ やすまさ criticism category

昭和の名句集を読む by 宗田安正 is introduced as a work that 昭和俳句を代表する句集を読み解き、時代ごとの俳句の達成と変化をたどる評論。個々の句集への精読を通して、昭和という時間の中で俳句が獲得した表現の幅を示します。

昭和の名句集を読む is a concise gateway into 宗田安正's literary world.

249 pages
literary craftmemory and placehuman experience
きちせあや きちせ あや haiku category

消息 is a poetic work by きちせあや. 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 消息 conveys the atmosphere and tension at the center of the work.

poetryembodied perceptionmemory
Sasaki Yukitsuna ささき ゆきつな tanka category

はじめての雪 is a poetic work by 佐佐木幸綱. 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 はじめての雪 conveys the atmosphere and tension at the center of the work.

poetryembodied perceptionmemory
東聖子 ひがし せいこ criticism category

蕉風俳諧における<季語・季題>の研究 is a poetic work by 東聖子. 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 蕉風俳諧における<季語・季題>の研究 conveys the atmosphere and tension at the center of the work.

poetryembodied perceptionmemory
Kimio Yamagami やまうえ じゅみお haiku category

Shijisho is the fifth haiku collection by Jumio Yamaue. Rooted in the lineage of Shuoshi Mizuhara and Sodo Yamaguchi, it turns seasonal change and the passage of aging into haiku marked by clarity, lightness, and shadow.

A haiku collection where a longing for life and a quiet shadow breathe beneath transparent seasonal words.

215 pages
seasonsagingclear lyricismlonging for life
きくちつねこ きくち つねこ haiku category

Kashin is a haiku collection by Tsuneko Kikuchi. Issued in the Bairi Haiku Selection series, it carefully gathers everyday scenes and seasonal presences, reflecting a firm sensibility within quiet language.

With the freshness of morning flowers, this collection reconnects daily time to the language of the seasons.

212 pages
haikuseasonseveryday lifeHeisei-era haiku
Fumihiro Oshima おおしま ふみひろ tanka category

Okibi is a tanka collection by Fumihiro Oshima. It sets heightened emotions from work and daily life within a restrained form, portraying a will that keeps burning beneath a calm surface.

A tanka collection that preserves the heat of feelings that rise even as they are being calmed.

284 pages
tankaworkemotionfixed form
成瀬有 なるせ ゆう tanka category

Ryuriden is a tanka collection by Yu Naruse. Taking wandering and displacement as its central feeling, it renders personal memory and the atmosphere of an era through a sequence of composed tanka.

Carrying a sense of wandering, the book moves memory and landscape into the order of tanka.

258 pages
tankawanderingmemorylife
Yasuhiro Yotsumoto よつもと こうすけ poetry category

Sekai Chunen Kaigi is a poetry collection by Kosuke Yotsumoto. It draws on the sensibility of a mobile businessperson, cities, media, family, and world affairs, surveying the world from the vantage point of middle age.

From the midst of everyday life and global events, the book launches a new adventure in contemporary poetry.

120 pages
contemporary poetrymiddle ageborder crossingcitiesmedia
深沢了子 ふかさわ りょうこ criticism category

Kinsei Chuki no Kamigata Haidan is a study of early modern haikai by Ryoko Fukasawa. It examines the Kyoto and Osaka haikai circles after Basho and before the revival of the Basho style, focusing on figures such as Matsuki Tantan and changes in poetic style.

The book illuminates how Edo's share-style haikai changed in Kamigata through the haikai circles of Kyoto and Osaka.

365 pages
haikai studiesKamigata haikai circlesMatsuki TantanBasho-style revivalearly modern literature
Masaru Nihira にひら まさる criticism category

Haiku no Modan is a work of haiku criticism by Masaru Nihei. It reads changes in modern haiku expression through the tension between modernist sensibility and fixed form, considering how haiku acquired modernity.

A critical collection that asks what happened to haiku expression from the perspective of the modern.

261 pages
haiku criticismmodernismfixed formmodern haiku
BEGIN びぎん lyrics category

Shimanchu nu Takara is a song by BEGIN. Inspired by writings from junior high school students on Ishigaki Island, it asks how much people raised on an island truly know of its songs, language, and memories.

A signature song that hands the desire to know one's home songs on to the island's future.

Okinawahomeinheritanceisland memorylyrics
Madoka Mayuzumi まゆずみ まどか haiku category

Madoka Mayuzumi’s haiku collection pairs poems with photographs to portray Kyoto’s seasons and mature love. Through seasonal words rooted in Kyoto, it joins travel atmosphere with quiet passion.

京都の恋 presents a concentrated view of 黛まどか’s award-recognized work.

119 pages
haikuKyotoloveseasonsphotography
Kiyohiro Tamai たまい きよひろ tanka category

Roppaku is Kiyohiro Tamai’s fifth tanka collection, grounded in introspective lyricism. Rooted in a Shikoku sense of place, it captures the shades of life through quiet language and sustained self-observation.

六白 presents a concentrated view of 玉井清弘’s award-recognized work.

tankaintrospectionShikokulyricismdaily life
Takaaki Morinaka もりなか たかあき poetry category

Takaaki Morinaka’s long poetry collection echoes the figure of Antigone while setting the law of the state against the law of mourning. It calls back voices pushed outside history through a stage of memory, forgetting, and unrest.

シスター・アンティゴネーの暦のない墓 presents a concentrated view of 守中高明’s award-recognized work.

165 pages
long poemAntigonememorymourningstate
Hirotoshi Ikawa いがわ ひろとし criticism category

Hirotoshi Ikawa’s poetry collection has been described as a Heisei-era book of devoted feeling. Through elegy for a friend, urban scenes, and a light touch reminiscent of popular song, it turns loss and attachment to beauty into plain, resonant language.

そして、船は行く presents a concentrated view of 井川博年’s award-recognized work.

84 pages
modern poetryelegylosstownscapefriendship
Terutoshi Hirai ひらい てるとし criticism category

蛇笏と楸邨 by 平井照敏 is a work that draws readers into its subject through carefully shaped scenes and language.

A compact work that leaves a clear afterimage through its voice and structure.

memoryrelationshipslanguage
原満三寿 はら みつみず criticism category

金子光晴の世界 by 原満三寿 is a work that draws readers into its subject through carefully shaped scenes and language.

A compact work that leaves a clear afterimage through its voice and structure.

memoryrelationshipslanguage
The Gospellers ごすぺらーず lyrics category

ひとり by ゴスペラーズ is a work that draws readers into its subject through carefully shaped scenes and language.

A compact work that leaves a clear afterimage through its voice and structure.

32 pages
memoryrelationshipslanguage
Keiko Ito いとう けいこ haiku category

This haiku collection frames landscapes as a hundred scenes, accumulating details of season and place. Precise observation resonates with an awareness of the time behind each view.

百景 is an award-winning work that distills the voice of 伊藤敬子.

241 pages
haikulandscapeseasonssketching
Shimada Shuji しまだ しゅうじ tanka category

This tanka collection turns the journey of life into poetic time, marking travel, aging, and memory with restraint. Its calm diction opens the perspective of someone who has walked a long road.

行路 is an award-winning work that distills the voice of 島田修二.

238 pages
tankajourneyagingmemorylife
Tanaka Kiyomitsu たなか きよみつ poetry category

This poetry collection reshapes feelings after rupture and loss into language of renewal. Beneath its quiet voice lies a firm will to recover life.

再生 is an award-winning work that distills the voice of 田中清光.

109 pages
poetryrenewallosswill
田中義信 たなか よしのぶ criticism category

This critical work rereads the haikai poet Takarai Kikaku through the vitality of Genroku culture and urban wit. It portrays Kikaku through both tradition and deviation.

元禄の鬼才 宝井其角 is an award-winning work that distills the voice of 田中義信.

criticismhaikaiTakarai KikakuGenroku culture
Shizuo Miyasaka みやさか しずお criticism category

This critical book rereads haiku through bodily sensation, treating season words and natural imagery as physical response. It links appreciation and practice by asking how haiku language reaches the body.

俳句からだ感 is an award-winning work that distills the voice of 宮坂静生.

315 pages
haikucriticismbodily sensationseason words
Masaharu Fukuyama ふくやま まさはる lyrics category

This lyric places parting and memory on a cherry-blossom slope. Widely known as a popular song, it uses spare language to evoke elapsed time and the ache of a love that will not return.

桜坂 is an award-winning work that distills the voice of 福山雅治.

lyricslovememorycherry blossomsparting