# Yomiuri Prize

The Yomiuri Prize for Literature (読売文学賞, Yomiuri Bungaku Shō) 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.

## Award categories

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.

## Award winners

The Yomiuri Shimbun maintains an official list of current and past prize recipients.

### Fiction

| Year | Winner | Winning entry |
| 1949 | Masuji Ibuse | Honjitsu Kyushin (本日休診) |
| 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 | Ton Satomi | Koigokoro |
| | Aya Kōda | Kuroi suso |
| 1956 | Yukio Mishima | Kinkakuji (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion) |
| | Mantarō Kubota | San no tori |
| 1957 | Murō Saisei | Anzukko |
| | Yaeko Nogami | Meiro |
| 1958 | No award | |
| 1959 | Hakuchō Masamune | Kotoshi no aki |
| | Shigeharu Nakano | Nashi no hana |
| 1960 | Shigeru Tonomura | Miotsukushi |
| 1961 | No award | |
| 1962 | Kōbō Abe | Suna no Onna (The Woman in the Dunes) |
| 1963 | Yasushi Inoue | Fūtō |
| 1964 | Akatsuki Kambayashi | Shiroi yakatabune |
| 1965 | Junzo Shono | Yube no Kumo (Evening Clouds) |
| 1966 | Fumio Niwa | Ichiro |
| 1967 | Kiku Amino | Ichigo-ichie |
| 1968 | Taeko Kōno | Fui no koe (不意の声, A Sudden Voice) |
| | Kōsaku Takii | Yashu |
| 1969 | Haruto Kō | Ichijō no hikari |
| | Tan Onuma | Kaichūdokei |
| 1970 | Ken'ichi Yoshida | Gareki no naka |
| 1971 | No award | |
| 1972 | Tatsuo Nagai | Cochabamba-yuki |
| 1973 | Tsuneko Nakazato | Utamakura |
| | Shōtarō Yasuoka | Hashire tomahōku |
| 1974 | Yoshie Wada | Tsugiki no dai |
| 1975 | Kazuo Dan | Kataku no hito |
| | Junnosuke Yoshiyuki | Kaban no nakami |
| 1976 | Yoshinori Yagi | Kazamatsuri |
| 1977 | Toshio Shimao | Shi no toge |
| 1978 | Noguchi Fujio | Kakute arikeri |
| 1979 | Toshimasa Shimamura | Myōkō no aki |
| 1980 | No award | |
| 1981 | Hisashi Inoue | Kirikirijin |
| | Ryōtarō Shiba | Hitobito no ashioto |
| 1982 | Kenzaburō Ōe | Ame no ki (Rain Tree) |
| 1983 | No award | |
| 1984 | Akira Yoshimura | Hagoku (Prison Break) |
| 1985 | Takako Takahashi | Ikari no ko (Child of Wrath) |
| | Hideo Takubo | Kaizu |
| 1986 | Yūko Tsushima | Yoru no hikari ni owarete |
| 1987 | Tatsuhiko Shibusawa | Takaoka Shinnō kōkaiki |
| 1988 | Takehiro Irokawa | Kyōjin nikki |
| 1989 | Yūichi Takai | Yoru no ari |
| | Yoshikichi Furui | Kari ōjōden shibun |
| 1990 | Toshio Moriuchi | Hyōga ga kuru made ni |
| 1991 | Hiroshi Sakagami | Yasashii teihakuchi |
| | Sō Aono | Haha yo |
| 1992 | Eisuke Nakazono | Peking hanten kyūkan nite |
| 1993 | No award | |
| 1994 | Momoko Ishii | Maboroshi no akai mi |
| | Senji Kuroi | Kāten kōru |
| 1995 | Keizō Hino | Hikari |
| | Haruki Murakami | Nejimakidori kuronikuru (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) |
| 1996 | No award | |
| 1997 | Ryū Murakami | In za miso-sūpu (In the Miso Soup) |
| | Nobuo Kojima | Uruwashiki hibi |
| 1998 | Kunio Ogawa | Hashisshi gyangu (The Hashish Gang) |
| | Noboru Tsujihara | Tobe kirin (Fly, Kirin!) |
| 1999 | Yasutaka Tsutsui | Watashi no gurampa |
| | Taku Miki | Hadashi to kaigara |
| 2000 | Naoyuki Ii | Nigotta gekiryū ni kakaru hashi (A Bridge over a Muddy Torrent) |
| | Amy Yamada | A2Z |
| 2001 | Anna Ogino | Horafuki-Anri no bōken |
| 2002 | Minae Mizumura | Honkaku shōsetsu (A True Novel) |
| 2003 | Yōko Ogawa | Hakase no aishita sūshiki (The Housekeeper and the Professor) |
| 2004 | Hisaki Matsuura | Hantō |
| 2005 | Toshiyuki Horie | Kagan bōjitsushō |
| | Katsusuke Miyauchi | Shōshin |
| 2006 | No award | |
| 2007 | Rieko Matsuura | Kenshin |
| 2008 | Sou Kurokawa | Kamome no hi |
| 2009 | Kaoru Takamura | Taiyō o hiku uma |
| 2010 | Natsuo Kirino | Nanika aru |
| 2011 | No award | |
| 2012 | Yoko Tawada | Kumo o tsukamu hanashi |
| | Masashi Matsuie | Kazan no fumuto de |
| 2013 | Kiyoko Murata | Yūjōko |
| 2014 | Hiromi Kawakami | Suisei |
| | Tomoyuki Hoshino | Yoru wa owaranai |
| 2015 | Hideo Furukawa | Onna-tachi sanbyaku-nin no uragiri no sho (女たち三百人の裏切りの書) |
| 2016 | Hideo Levy | Mohankyo (模範郷) |
| 2017 | Akira Higashiyama | Boku ga koroshita hito to boku o koroshita hito (僕が殺した人と僕を殺した人) |
| 2018 | Keiichiro Hirano | A Man (ある男, Aru otoko) |

### Drama

| 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 | 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 | 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 |

### Poetry and haiku

| 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 | Kyōko Kuriki | Natsu no ushiro (In Back of Summer) |
| 2017 | Jeffrey Angles | Watashi no hizukehenkōsen (My International Date Line) |

### Essay and Travelogue

| Year | Winner | Winning entry |
| 1967 | Ikuma Dan | sei/zoku 'Paipu no Kemuri'(正/続「パイプのけむり」) |
| 1971 | Ibuse Masuji | Waseda no Mori (The Woods around Waseda University) |
| 1988 | Kazuo Mizuta | On the Pacific Age—Promoting a Pacific University |
| 1999 | None awarded | 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) |

### Criticism and biography

| 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) |

### Scholarship and translation

| Year | Winner | Winning entry |
| 1990 | (Translated by) Noriko Ibaragi | Kankoku gendai shi sen (「韓国現代詩選」) |
| 1999 | Yûhi Takashi | Edo shiika-ron (Edo Period Poetry) |
| 1999 | (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 | (Translated by) Noriaki Oshikawa | Rumah Kaca (Glass House) |