| Yomiuri Prize for Literature | |
| Subheader: | 読売文学賞 (Yomiuri Bungaku Shō) |
| Awarded For: | Best new literary works |
| Presenter: | Yomiuri Shimbun |
| Country: | Japan |
| Reward: | ¥2,000,000, inkstone |
| Year: | 1949 |
| Year2: | 2023 |
The is a literary award in Japan. The prize was founded in 1949 by the Yomiuri Shimbun Company to help form a "strong cultural nation". The winner is awarded two million Japanese yen and an inkstone.
For the first two years, awards were granted in four categories: novels and plays, poetry, literary criticism, and scholarly studies. In 1950, novels and plays were split to form a total of five categories. This was further reorganized in 1966 to form six categories: novels, plays, essays and travel journals, criticism and biography, poetry, and academic studies and translation.
The Yomiuri Shimbun maintains an official list of current and past prize recipients.[1]
| Year[2] | Winner | Winning entry | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Masuji Ibuse | ||
| 1950 | Kōji Uno | Omigawa (思ひ川, River of Thought) | |
| 1951 | Shōhei Ōoka | Nobi (Fires on the Plain) | |
| 1952 | Hiroyuki Agawa | Haru no shiro (Citadel in Spring) | |
| 1953 | No award | ||
| 1954 | Haruo Satō | (Shōshi Mandara) | |
| 1955 | Koigokoro | ||
| Kuroi suso | |||
| 1956 | Kinkakuji (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion) | ||
| San no tori | |||
| 1957 | Anzukko | ||
| Meiro | |||
| 1958 | |||
| 1959 | Kotoshi no aki | ||
| Nashi no hana | |||
| 1960 | Miotsukushi | ||
| 1961 | |||
| 1962 | Kōbō Abe | Suna no Onna (The Woman in the Dunes) | |
| 1963 | Fūtō | ||
| 1964 | Shiroi yakatabune | ||
| 1965[3] | Junzo Shono | Yube no Kumo (Evening Clouds) | |
| 1966 | Ichiro | ||
| 1967 | Ichigo-ichie | ||
| 1968 | Fui no koe (不意の声, A Sudden Voice) | ||
| Yashu | |||
| 1969 | Ichijō no hikari | ||
| Kaichūdokei | |||
| 1970 | Gareki no naka | ||
| 1971 | |||
| 1972 | Cochabamba-yuki | ||
| 1973 | Utamakura | ||
| Hashire tomahōku | |||
| 1974 | Tsugiki no dai | ||
| 1975 | Kataku no hito | ||
| Kaban no nakami | |||
| 1976 | Kazamatsuri | ||
| 1977 | Shi no toge | ||
| 1978 | Kakute arikeri | ||
| 1979 | Myōkō no aki | ||
| 1980 | |||
| 1981 | Kirikirijin | ||
| Hitobito no ashioto | |||
| 1982 | Ame no ki (Rain Tree) | ||
| 1983 | |||
| 1984[4] | Akira Yoshimura | Hagoku (Prison Break) | |
| 1985 | Takako Takahashi | Ikari no ko (Child of Wrath) | |
| Kaizu | |||
| 1986 | Yoru no hikari ni owarete | ||
| 1987 | Takaoka Shinnō kōkaiki | ||
| 1988 | Kyōjin nikki | ||
| 1989 | Yoru no ari | ||
| Kari ōjōden shibun | |||
| 1990 | Hyōga ga kuru made ni | ||
| 1991 | Yasashii teihakuchi | ||
| Haha yo | |||
| 1992 | Peking hanten kyūkan nite | ||
| 1993 | |||
| 1994 | Maboroshi no akai mi | ||
| Kāten kōru | |||
| 1995 | Hikari | ||
| Nejimakidori kuronikuru (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) | |||
| 1996 | |||
| 1997 | In za miso-sūpu (In the Miso Soup) | ||
| Uruwashiki hibi | |||
| 1998 | Hashisshi gyangu (The Hashish Gang) | ||
| Tobe kirin (Fly, Kirin!) | |||
| 1999 | Watashi no gurampa | ||
| Hadashi to kaigara | |||
| 2000 | Nigotta gekiryū ni kakaru hashi (A Bridge over a Muddy Torrent) | ||
| A2Z | |||
| 2001 | Horafuki-Anri no bōken | ||
| 2002 | Minae Mizumura[5] | Honkaku shōsetsu (A True Novel) | |
| 2003 | Hakase no aishita sūshiki (The Housekeeper and the Professor) | ||
| 2004 | Hantō | ||
| 2005 | Kagan bōjitsushō | ||
| Shōshin | |||
| 2006 | |||
| 2007 | Kenshin | ||
| 2008 | Kamome no hi | ||
| 2009 | Taiyō o hiku uma | ||
| 2010 | Nanika aru | ||
| 2011 | |||
| 2012 | Kumo o tsukamu hanashi | ||
| Kazan no fumuto de | |||
| 2013 | Yūjōko | ||
| 2014 | Suisei | ||
| Yoru wa owaranai | |||
| 2015 | |||
| 2016 | |||
| 2017 | |||
| 2018 | Keiichiro Hirano |
| Year | Winner | Winning entry |
|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Jūrō Miyoshi | Honō no hito, etc. |
| 1952 | Tsuneari Fukuda | Ryū o nadeta otoko |
| 1954 | Chikao Tanaka | Selection of works including "Kyōiku" |
| 1961 | Yukio Mishima | Toka no Kiku |
| 1964 | Mitsuo Nakamura | Kiteki issei |
| 1965 | Hideji Hōjō | Selected plays of Hideji Hōjō |
| 1967 | Tadasu Iizawa | Gonin no moyono |
| 1972 | Seiichi Yashiro | Sharaku-kō |
| 1974[6] | Kōbō Abe | Midoriiro no sutokkingu (The green stockings) |
| 1975 | Matsuyo Akimoto | Nananin no misaki |
| 1978 | Junji Kinoshita | Shigosen no matsuri |
| 1979 | Hisashi Inoue | Shimijimi nihon – Nogi-taishō, Kobayashi Issa |
| 1983 | Kunio Shimizu | Elegy |
| 1984 | Masakazu Yamazaki | Oedipus shōten |
| 1987 | Minoru Betsuyaku | Shokoku o henreki suru futari no kishi no monogatari |
| 1990 | Kouhei Tsuka | Hiryūden ’90 – satsuriku no aki |
| 1992 | Tsutsumi Harue | Kanadehon Hamlet |
| 1994 | Yoshiyuki Fukuda | Watashi no downtown – Haha no shashin |
| 1995 | Jūichiro Takeuchi | Tsuki no hikari |
| 1997 | Ryo Iwamatsu | TV Days |
| Nozomi Makino | Tokyo genshikaku club | |
| 1998[7] | Matsuda Masataka | Natsu no suna no ue (Over Summer Sands) |
| 2000 | Ai Nagai | Hagi-ke no sanshimai |
| 2001 | Kankurō Kudō | GO |
| 2002 | Sakate Yôji | Yaneura (The Attic) |
| 2003 | Kara Jûrô | Doro ningyo (Mud Mermaid) |
| 2005 | Hishida Shinya | Powder – oshiroi |
| 2006 | Miwa Nishikawa | Yureru |
| Noda Hideki | Rope | |
| 2007 | Kōki Mitani | Confidant – Kizuna |
| 2008 | Kundō Koyama | Okuribito |
| 2009 | Shoji Kokami | Globe Jungle Kyokō no gekidan hataage 3 busaku |
| 2011 | Tomohiro Maekawa | Taiyō |
| 2012 | Yang Yong-hi | Kazoku no kuni |
| Year | Winner | Winning entry (Genre) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Mokichi Saitō | Tomoshibi (Tanka) | |
| Shinpei Kusano | Kaeru no shi (Free Verse) | ||
| 1950 | Kōtarō Takamura | Tenkei (Free Verse) | |
| Yaichi Aizu | Aizu Yaichi zenkashū (Tanka) | ||
| 1951 | Satarō Satō | Kichō (Tanka) | |
| 1952 | Haruo Satō | Satō Haruo zenshishū (Free Verse) | |
| 1953 | Takashi Matsumoto | Ishidamashii (Haiku) | |
| Mitsuharu Kaneko | Ningen no higeki (Free verse) | ||
| 1954 | Hakyō Ishida | Teihon Ishida Hakyō zenkushū (Haiku) | |
| 1955 | No award | ||
| 1956 | Junzaburō Nishiwaki | Dai-san no shinwa (Free verse) | |
| 1966 | Yuji Kinoshita | TREELIKE | |
| 1969 | Ryuta Iida | Forget (Haiku) | |
| 1987 | Mutsuo Takahashi | Keiko onjiki (Tanka & haiku) | |
| Hirohiko Okano | Ame no Tazumura (Tanka) | ||
| 1993 | Akiko Baba | Akobu | |
| 1999 | Nagata Kazuhiro | Aiba | |
| 2003 | Kai Hasegawa | Kyoku (Emptiness) | |
| 2004[8] | Kyōko Kuriki | Natsu no ushiro (In Back of Summer) | |
| 2017[9] | Jeffrey Angles | Watashi no hizukehenkōsen (My International Date Line) |
| Year | Winner | Winning entry |
|---|---|---|
| 1967[10] | Ikuma Dan | sei/zoku 'Paipu no Kemuri'(正/続「パイプのけむり」) |
| 1971[11] | Ibuse Masuji | Waseda no Mori (The Woods around Waseda University) |
| 1988[12] | Kazuo Mizuta | On the Pacific Age—Promoting a Pacific University |
| 1999 | None awarded | |
| 2003 | Mikirō Sasaki | Ajia kaidô kikô (A Travel Journal of the Asian Seaboard) |
| 2004 | Wakashima Tadashi | Ranshidokusha no Ei-Bei tanpen kôgi (An Astigmatic Reader's Lectures on British and American Short Fiction) |
| 2009 | Keijiro Suga | Shasen no tabi (Transversal Journeys) |
| Year | Winner | Winning entry |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Seiko Tanabe | Dôtonbori no ame ni wakarete irai nari (Since Parting in the Rain at Dotombori) |
| 2003 | Takehiko Noguchi | Bakumatsu kibun (That Late-Bakufu Feeling) |
| 2004 | Mitsuyoshi Numano | Yūtopia bungaku ron (On Utopian Literature) |
| Year | Winner | Winning entry | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Kankoku gendai shi sen (「韓国現代詩選」) | ||
| 1999 | Yûhi Takashi | Edo shiika-ron (Edo Period Poetry) | |
| (Translated by) Kudô Yukio | Burûno Shurutsu zenshû (The Collected Works of Bruno Shultz) | ||
| 2003 | Takematsu Yûichi | Igirisu kindaishi hô (Modern British Poetry) | |
| 2004 | Tanizawa Eiichi | Bungôtachi no ôgenka (Great Fights Between the Literary Masters) | |
| 2008[13] | (Translated by) Noriaki Oshikawa | Rumah Kaca (Glass House) |