Naoki Prize

 ( Japanese Literary Awards ) 

The Naoki Prize, officially Naoki Sanjūgo Shō, is a Japanese literary award presented biannually. It was created in 1935 by Kikuchi Kan, then editor of the Bungeishunjū magazine, and named in memory of novelist Naoki Sanjugo. Sponsored by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature, the award recognizes "the best work of popular literature in any format by a new, rising, or (reasonably young) established author." The winner receives a watch and one million yen.

Kikuchi founded the Naoki Prize with the Akutagawa Prize, which targets a new or rising author of literary fiction. The two prizes are viewed as "two sides of the same coin" and inseparable from one another. Because of the prestige associated with the Naoki Prize and the considerable attention the winner receives from the media, it, along with the Akutagawa Prize, is one of Japan's most sought after literary awards of recognition.

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Winners Bungeishunjū maintains the official archive of past Naoki Prize winners.

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1st–100th

1935	1	Matsutarō Kawaguchi	鶴八鶴次郎, lit. Song of the Refined Fuka River, lit. Meiji Era Woman
	2	Uko Washio	lit. Chronicles of the Yoshino Era of Peace, etc.
1936	3	Chōgorō Kaionji	lit. Tenshō Women's Battle, lit. Martial Arts Chronicles
	4	Takatarō Kigi	lit. A Fool's Life
1937	5	No prize awarded
	6	Masuji Ibuse	lit. The Drifting Chronicles of John Manjirō, etc.
1938	7	Sotoo Tachibana	lit. Recollections of His Highness Narin
	8	Tadao Ooike	lit. Helmet, lit. The Akitaguchi Siblings
1939	9	No prize awarded
	10	No prize awarded
1940	11	Chiyo Tsutsumi Sensuke Kawachi	lit. Pinky Finger, etc. lit. Military Postal Service
	12	Genzō Murakami	上総風土記, etc.
1941	13	Sōjū Kimura	lit. Guards of the Southern Clouds
	14	No prize awarded
1942	15	No prize awarded
	16	Norio Taoka Takio Kanzaki	lit. Stubborn Ichigo, etc. lit. Generosity, etc.
1943	17	No prize awarded	(Shūgorō Yamamoto's lit. Chronicles of a Japanese Woman's Duties was chosen, but he declined the prize.)
	18	Sōichi Mori	山畠, lit. The Moth and the Toy Boat
1944	19	Seizō Okada	lit. New Guinea Mountain War
	20	No prize awarded
1949	21	Tsuneo Tomita	lit. Face, lit. Tattoo
	22	Katsurō Yamada	lit. Abandoned Garden of the Sea
1950	23	Hidemi Kon Itoko Koyama	lit. The Emperor's Hat lit. Stay of Execution
	24	Kazuo Dan	lit. Chōgon Song lit. True Theory Ishikawa Goemon
1951	25	Keita Genji	lit. Mr. English Shop, lit. Mr. Typhoon, lit. I Appreciate Your Hard Work
	26	Juran Hisao Renzaburō Shibata	鈴木主水 lit. Descendant of Jesus
1952	27	Shinji Fujiwara	lit. Sinful Woman, etc.
	28	Nobuyuki Tateno	lit. Insurrection
1953	29	No prize awarded
	30	No prize awarded
1954	31	Yorichika Arima	lit. Unconvicted Prisoner For Life
	32	Haruo Umezaki Yukio Togawa	lit. Spring and Autumn of the Scrap Merchant lit. Takayasu Dog Story
1955	33	No prize awarded
	34	Jirō Nitta Eikan Kyū	lit. The Life of A Mountain Carrier lit. Hong Kong
1956	35	Norio Nanjo Kanichi Kon	lit. Lighthouse Demon lit. Wallflower
	36	Tōkō Kon Miharu Hozumi	お吟さま lit. Victory Crows
1957	37	Masanori Esaki	lit. Valley of the Luzon
	38	No prize awarded
1958	39	Toyoko Yamasaki Eiji Shinba	lit. Flower Shop Sign lit. Red Snow
	40	Saburō Shiroyama Kyō Takigawa	lit. Extortionist Kinjō lit. Fall Down
1959	41	Kieko Watanabe Yumie Hiraiwa	馬淵川 lit. Master Engraver
	42	Ryōtarō Shiba Yasuji Toita	Owls' Castle lit. The Danjūrō Seppuku Incident
1960	43	Shōtarō Ikenami	lit. Confusion
	44	Daikichi Terauchi Jūgo Kuroiwa	lit. Stray Prayer lit. Invitation to Corruption
1961	45	Tsutomu Minakami	Gan no tera
	46	Keiichi Itō	lit. River of Fireflies
1962	47	Hisahide Sugimori	lit. Between a Genius and a Madman
	48	Yamaguchi Hitomi Sonoko Sugimoto	lit. The Elegant Lives of the Everyman Family lit. Lonely Contemplation on the Shore
1963	49	Tokuji Satō	lit. The Women's War
	50	Tsuruo Andō Yoshie Wada	lit. Talking about Honmokutei lit. In the Dust
1964	51	No prize awarded
	52	Michiko Nagai Atsuko Anzai	lit. Ring of Fire lit. The Story of Zhang Shaozi
1965	53	Shigeo Fujii	lit. Rainbow
	54	Yūkichi Shinbashi Jihei Chiba	lit. Rigged Game lit. Sad Tale of a Prisoner
1966	55	Masaaki Tachihara	lit. White Poppy
	56	Hiroyuki Itsuki	lit. See the Pale Horse
1967	57	Jirō Ikushima	lit. Cornered
	58	Akiyuki Nosaka Tooru Miyoshi	Amerika Hijiki, Hotaru no Haka lit. Holy Girl
1968	59	No prize awarded
	60	Chin Shunshin Mitsugu Saotome	lit. Sapphire Shishi Incense Burner 僑人の檻
1969	61	Aiko Satō	lit. The Day of Battle's End Draws to a Close
	62	No prize awarded
1970	63	Junichi Watanabe Yūki Shōji	lit. Light and Shadow lit. Beneath the Fluttering Battle Flag
	64	Jō Toyoda	lit. Nagara River
1971	65	No prize awarded
	66	No prize awarded
1972	67	Hisashi Inoue Kenjō Tsunabuchi	lit. Shackled Double Suicide lit. Beheading
	68	No prize awarded
1973	69	Shuhei Fujisawa Embassy of Japan in the UK Hideo Osabe	lit. Annals of Assassination 津軽世去れ節, 津軽じょんから節
	70	No prize awarded
1974	71	Giichi Fujimoto	lit. Song of Demons
	72	Ryō Hanmura Magoroku Ide	lit. Shelter From the Rain lit. The Legend of Atlas
1975	73	No prize awarded
	74	Ryuzo Saki	lit. Vengeance is Mine
1976	75	No prize awarded
	76	Kyōzō Miyoshi	lit. Playing at Raising Children
1977	77	No prize awarded
	78	No prize awarded
1978	79	Yō Tsumoto Takehiro Irokawa	lit. Jinjū's Sea lit. Divorce
	80	Tomiko Miyao Natsuo Ariake	lit. One-Stringed Harp lit. The Comings and Goings of the Many People of Great Naniwa
1979	81	Takashi Atōda – Kyoto SU Komimasa Tanaka	Naporeon Kyō lit. The Tales of Master Storyteller Asahimaru, lit. Matters of the Ear
	82	No prize awarded
1980	83	Kuniko Mukōda Kageki Shimoda	lit. Name of the Flower, lit. Otter, lit. Dog House lit. Yellow Fang
	84	Masanori Nakamura	lit. Sovereign's Rebellion
1981	85	Yukio Aoshima	lit. Everything Happens Unpredictably in the Year of the Horse
	86	Kôhei Tsuka Akira Mitsuoka	lit. Kamata March lit. Sea Mine
1982	87	Yūsuke Fukada Tomomi Muramatsu	lit. Unbearable Heat Merchant lit. Wife of the Shop Era
	88	No prize awarded
1983	89	Kurumizawa Koshi	lit. Chronicle of the Brown Bread Prisoners
	90	Takurō Kanki Osamu Takahashi	lit. Private Life lit. Mystery
1984	91	Mikihiko Renjō Toshizō Nanba	lit. Love Letter lit. Tennoji Village
	92	No prize awarded
1985	93	Yōko Yamaguchi	lit. Enka Insects, lit. Old Plum
	94	Seigo Morita Mariko Hayashi	lit. Fish Market Story lit. If I'm in Time for the Last Trip, lit. Until Kyōto
1986	95	Hiroko Minagawa	lit. Crimson Love
	96	Gō Ōsaka Shinpei Tokiwa	Kadisu no Akai Hoshi lit. Far Off America
1987 Museion site – winners to 2005	97	Amy Yamada Ichirō Shiraishi	lit. Soul Music Lovers Only lit. Legend of the Sea Wolf
	98	Makio Abe	lit. The End of Each Musical Movement
1988	99	Tamio Kageyama Masaaki Nishiki	lit. From a Distant Ocean Came Coo lit. An Eye Freezing Over, Hashima Island]] Woman''
	100	Akiko Sugimoto Shizuko Tōdō	lit. Tokyo New Big Bridge Path Plan lit. Ripening Summer

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101st to present

1989	101	Nejime Shōichi Akira Sasakura	lit. Kōenji Purehearted Shopping District lit. Murderer from a Distant Land
	102	Seiji Hashikawa Ryō Hara	lit. Precise Biographical Sketch lit. The Girl I Killed
1990	103	Tsumao Awasaka	lit. Shadow Bellflower
	104	Kaoru Furukawa	lit. A Vagabond's Aria
1991	105	Masamitsu Miyagitani Sunao Ashihara	lit. Summer Princess Spring and Autumn lit. Youth Dendekedekedeke
	106	Yoshio Takahashi Katsuhiko Takahashi	lit. Wolf Magistrate lit. Red Memory
1992	107	Shizuka Ijūin	lit. Receiving Month
	108	Tatsurō Dekune	lit. Tsukuda Island Two Bookstores
1993	109	Kaoru Takamura Aiko Kitahara	lit. Marks' Mountain Koi Wasuregusa
	110	Arimasa Osawa Masayoshi Satō	lit. Shinjuku Sharks: Infinite Puppets lit. Ebisu Shop Kihei Memorandum
1994	111	Akihiko Nakamura Yasuhisa Ebisawa	lit. Two Mountains and Rivers lit. Homecoming
	112	No prize awarded
1995	113	Shun Akasegawa	白球残映
	114	Mariko Koike Iori Fujiwara	lit. Love lit. The Terrorist's Parasol
1996 Kodansha	115	Asa Nonami	Kogoeru Kiba
	116	Masako Bandō	lit. Mountain Mother
1997	117	Setsuko Shinoda Jirō Asada	lit. The Women's Jihad Poppoya
	118	No prize awarded
1998	119	Chōkitsu Kurumatani	Akame Shijūya-taki Shinjū Misui
	120	Miyuki Miyabe	lit. The Reason
1999	121	Kenichi Satō Natsuo Kirino	lit. The Queen's Divorce lit. Soft Cheeks
	122	Rei Nakanishi	lit. Ballad of a Nagasaki Stroll
2000	123	Yoichi Funado Kazuki Kaneshiro	Niji no Tani no Gogatsu Go
	124	Kiyoshi Shigematsu Fumio Yamamoto	lit. Vitamin F lit. Planaria
2001	125	Yoshinaga FujitaAnnounced July 18th 2001 Japan Weekly Monitor, Kyodo News International, Tokyo, Japan July 23rd 2001	lit. Territory of Love
	126	Ichiriki Yamamoto Kei Yuikawa	lit. A Deep-Red Sky lit. Over-the-Shoulder Lover
2002	127	Yuzaburō Otokawa	lit. To Live
	128	No prize awarded
2003	129	Ira Ishida Yuka Murayama	4TEEN フォーティーン lit. Ship of Stars
	130	Kaori Ekuni Natsuhiko Kyogoku	lit. Preparations for Crying Have Been Made lit. Further Gossip Hundred Tales
2004	131	Hideo Okuda Tatsuya Kumagai	lit. Trapeze lit. Forest of the Chance Meeting
	132	Mitsuyo Kakuta	lit. The Woman on the Opposite Shore
2005	133	Minato Shukawa	lit. As a Flower
	134	Keigo Higashino	Yōgisha X no Kenshin
2006	135	Shion Miura Eto Mori	lit. The Convenience Shop Just Before Mahoro Station lit. A Vinyl Sheet Dancing in the Wind
	136	No prize awarded
2007	137	Kesako Matsui	lit. Yoshiwara Handbook
	138	Kazuki Sakuraba	lit. My Man
2008	139	Areno Inoue	lit. To the Face
	140	Arata Tendo Ken'ichi Yamamoto	lit. Mourned Person lit. Go Ask Rikyū
2009	141	Kaoru Kitamura	lit. Herons and Snow
	142	Joh Sasaki Kazufumi Shiraishi	lit. An Invitation to the Ruins lit. To None Other Than
2010	143	Kyoko Nakajima	lit. A Small House
	144	Nobori Kiuchi Shūsuke Michio	lit. The Singing of the Sands lit. The Moon and Crabs
2011	145	Jun Ikeido	lit. Shitamachi Rocket
	146	Rin Hamuro	lit. Cicada Chronicles
2012	147	Mizuki Tsujimura	lit. I Saw a Dream Without a Key
	148	Asai Ryo Abe Ryutaro	lit. Who Is This? 等伯
2013	149	Shino Sakuragi	ホテルローヤル
	150	Makate Asai Kaoruko Himeno	lit. Love Song lit. Dog of Showa
2014	151	Hiroyuki Kurokawa	lit. Expulsion
	152	Kanako Nishi	lit. Farewell!
2015	153	Akira Higashiyama
	154	Bunpei Aoyama	lit. If You Marry a Wife
2016	155	Hiroshi Ogiwara	lit. The Barber Shop with an Ocean View
	156	Riku Onda	Mitsubachi to Enrai
2017	157	Shogo Sato	lit. The Waxing and Waning of the Moon
	158	Yoshinobu Kadoi	lit. Father of the Galaxy Railroad
2018	159	Rio Shimamoto	lit. First Love
	160	Junjō Shindō	lit. Hero's Island
2019	161	Masumi Oshima	lit. Whirlpool, Husband and Wife Mountains: A Mirror of Virtuous Women, Requiem
	162	Soichi Kawagoe	lit. Heat Source
2020	163	Hase Seishū	Shonen to Inu
	164	Naka Saijo	lit. Lonely River
2021	165	Toko Sawada Norikazu Sato	lit. The Stars Have Fallen テスカトリポカ
	166	Shogo Imamura Honobu Yonezawa	lit. Shield of the Fortress King Kokurōjō
2022	167	Misumi Kubo	lit. The Night of Shooting Stars
	168	Satoshi Ogawa Akane Chihaya	lit. Map and Fist lit. Silver Leaf
2023	169	Ryōsuke Kakine Sayako Nagai	lit. General of the Paradise lit. Revenge in Kobikicho
	170	Akiko Kawasaki Manabu Makime	ともぐい lit. The Imperial Palace Grounds in August
2024	171	Michi Ichiho	ツミデミック
	172	Shin Iyohara	藍を継ぐ海
2025	173	No prize awarded
	174	Teru Shimazu	カフェーの帰り道

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Winners and nominees available in English translation

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Winners

• 1961 (45th) - Tsutomu Mizukami, The Temple of the Wild Geese (In The Temple of the Wild Geese and Bamboo Dolls of Echizen, trans. Dennis C. Washburn, Dalkey Archive Press, 2008)
• 1967 (57th) - Akiyuki Nosaka, American Hijiki (In The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories, trans. Jay Rubin, Penguin Books, 2017) / Grave of the Fireflies, trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori, Penguin Classics, 2025.
• 1973 (69th) - Hideo Osabe, Tsugaru Jonkarabushi and Tsugaru Yosarebushi (In Voices from the Snow, trans. James N. Westerhoven, Hirosaki University Press, 2009)
• 1979 (81st) - Takashi Atōda, "Napoleon Crazy", "The Visitor", and "The Transparent Fish" (In Napoleon Crazy and Other Stories, trans. Stanleigh H. Jones, Kodansha International, 1986) / "Of Golf and Its Beginnings" and "A Treatise on Count St. German" (In The Square Persimmon and Other Stories, trans. Millicent M. Horton, Tuttle Publishing, 1991)
• 1986 (96th) - Go Osaka, The Red Star of Cadiz (trans. Usha Jayaraman, Kurodahan Press, 2008)
• 1993 (109th) - Aiko Kitahara, The Budding Tree (trans. Ian MacDonald, Dalkey Archive Press, 2008)
• 1996 (115th) - Asa Nonami, The Hunter (trans. Juliet Winters Carpenter, Kodansha International, 2006)
• 1997 (117th) - Jirō Asada, The Stationmaster (trans. Terry Gallagher, Viz Media, 2009)
• 1998 (119th) - Chōkitsu Kurumatani, The Paradise Bird Tattoo (trans. Kenneth J. Bryson, Counterpoint, 2010)
• 2000 (123rd)
• Yoichi Funado, May in the Valley of the Rainbow (trans. Eve Alison Nyren, Vertical, 2006)
• Kazuki Kaneshiro, Go (trans. Takami Nieda, AmazonCrossing, 2018)
• 2005 (134th) - Keigo Higashino, The Devotion of Suspect X (trans. Alexander O. Smith, Minotaur Books, 2011)
• 2010 (143rd) - Kyoko Nakajima, The Little House (trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori, Darf Publishing, 2019)
• 2015 (153rd) - Akira Higashiyama, Ryu (trans. Alison Watts, 26letters, 2025)
• 2016 (156th) - Riku Onda, Honeybees and Distant Thunder (trans. Philip Gabriel, Pegasus Books, 2023)
• 2018 (159th) - Rio Shimamoto, First Love (trans. Louise Heal Kawai, Honford Star, 2024)
• 2020 (163rd) - Hase Seishū, The Boy and the Dog (trans. Alison Watts, Viking Press, 2022)
• 2021 (166th) - Honobu Yonezawa, The Samurai and the Prisoner (trans. Giuseppe di Martino, Yen Press, 2023)

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Nominees

• 1938 (7th) - Sakae Kubo, Land of Volcanic Ash (trans. David G. Goodman, Cornell University East Asia Program, 1986)
• 1963 (49th) - Toshiyuki Kajiyama, The Remembered Shadow of the Yi Dynasty (In The Clan Records: Five Stories of Korea, trans. Yoshiko Dykstra, University of Hawaii Press, 1995)
• 1963 (50th) - Masako Togawa, The Lady Killer (trans. Simon Grove, Pushkin Press, 2018)
• 1983 (89th) - Kenzo Kitakata, The Cage (trans. Paul Warham, Vertical, 2006)
• 1986 (95th) - Keiichiro Ryu, The Blade of the Courtesans (trans. James M. Vardaman, Vertical, 2008)
• 1988 (100th) - Joh Sasaki, Zero Over Berlin (trans. Hiroko Yoda, Vertical, 2004)
• 1991 (105th) - Miyuki Miyabe, The Sleeping Dragon (trans. Deborah Iwabuchi, Kodansha International, 2009)
• 1996 (115th) - Koji Suzuki, Dark Water (trans. Glynne Walley, Vertical, 2004)
• 1997 (118th) - Natsuo Kirino, Out (trans. Stephen Snyder, Vintage Books, 2005)
• 1998 (120th)
• Keigo Higashino, Naoko (trans. Kerim Yasar, Vertical, 2004)
• Hideo Yokoyama, Prefecture D (trans. Jonathan Lloyd-Davies, Riverrun, 2019)
• 1999 (122nd) - Keigo Higashino, Journey Under the Midnight Sun (trans. Alexander O. Smith, Little, Brown, 2015)
• 2001 (126th) - Ira Ishida, Call Boy (trans. Lamar Stone, Shueisha, 2013)
• 2004 (132nd) - Kōtarō Isaka, 3 Assassins (trans. Sam Malissa, Harvill Secker, 2022)
• 2005 (133rd)
• Hideo Furukawa, Belka, Why Don't You Bark? (trans. Michael Emmerich, Viz Media, 2012)
• Akiko Itoyama, In Pursuit of Lavender (trans. Charles de Wolf, Anthem Press, 2013)
• 2007 (137th)
• Kazuki Sakuraba, Red Girls: The Legend of the Akakuchibas (trans. Jocelyne Allen, Viz Media, 2015)
• Tomihiko Morimi, The Night is Short, Walk on Girl (trans. Emily Balistrieri, Yen Press, 2019)
• 2011 (145th) - Kazuaki Takano, Genocide of One (trans. Philip Gabriel, Mulholland Books, 2014)
• 2015 (153rd) - Asako Yuzuki, Hooked (trans. Polly Barton, Ecco Press, 2026)
• 2015 (154th) - Natsu Miyashita, The Forest of Wool and Steel (trans. Philip Gabriel, Doubleday, 2019)
• 2017 (157th) - Asako Yuzuki, Butter (trans. Polly Barton, Ecco Press, 2024)

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Current members of the selection committee (As of 2024)

• Jirō Asada
• Kakuta Mitsuyo
• Natsuhiko Kyogoku
• Natsuo Kirino
• Kaoru Takamura (ja)
• Mariko Hayashi (ja)
• Shion Miura
• Miyuki Miyabe

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See also

• List of Japanese literary awards

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External links

• J'Lit | Awards : Naoki Prize | Books from Japan

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