# Japan–U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature

The Japan–U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature was established in 1979 and is administered by the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture at Columbia University. It is the oldest prize for Japanese literary translation in the United States.
Works entered into competition are judged on the literary merit of the translation and the accuracy with which it reflects the spirit of the Japanese original.
The Keene Center annually awards $6,000 (USD) in Japan–U.S. Friendship Commission Prizes for the Translation of Japanese Literature. A prize is given for the best translation of a modern work or a classical work, or the prize is divided between equally distinguished translations.

## List of winners

The following is a list of the winners:
| Year | Winner(s) | Publisher | Notes |
| 1979 | Mr. Ian Hideo Levy for Man'yōshū (万葉集) and Prof. Robert Epp for Poetry by Kinoshita by Yuji Kinoshita | Princeton University Press, Yuji Katydid Books | The first prize ever given was a shared prize. |
| 1980 | Prof. Juliet Winters Carpenter for Secret Rendezvous (密会, Mikkai) by Kōbō Abe | Alfred A. Knopf | |
| 1981 | Prof. Kären Wigen for A View by the Sea (海辺の光景, Kaihen no kōkei) by Shōtarō Yasuoka, a collection of short fiction including the titular novella | Columbia University Press | |
| 1982 | Prof. Laurel Rasplica Rodd for Kokinshū: A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (古今集, Kokinshū) | Princeton University Press | |
| 1983 | Prof. Phyllis Lyons for The Selected Works of Dazai Osamu by Osamu Dazai | Stanford University Press | |
| 1984 | - | - | No prize was awarded |
| 1985 | Mr. Lane Dunlop for A Late Chrysanthemum: Twenty-four Stories from the Japanese (a short story collection including works by Naoya Shiga, Yasunari Kawabata, Osamu Dazai, Fumiko Hayashi, among others) | North Point Press | |
| 1986 | - | - | No prize was awarded |
| 1987 | Prof. William E. Naff for Before the Dawn (夜明け前, Yoakemae) by Tōson Shimazaki | University of Hawaiʻi Press | |
| 1988 | Prof. Carol Apollonio Flath for The Phoenix Tree and Other Stories (青桐, Aogiri) by Satoko Kizaki | Kodansha International | |
| 1989 | Modern: Ms. Phyllis Birnbaum for Confessions of Love (色ざんげ, Iro zange) by Chiyo Uno Classical: Prof. Steven Carter for Waiting for the Wind: 36 Poets of Japan's Late Medieval Period | University of Hawaiʻi Press, Columbia University Press | |
| 1990 | Modern: Prof. Stephen Snyder for The Signore (安土 往還記, Azuchi ōkanki) by Kunio Tsuji Classical: Prof. Paul Gordon Schalow for The Great Mirror of Male Love (男色大鏡, Nanshoku Ōkagami) by Ihara Saikaku | Kodansha International, Stanford University Press | |
| 1991 | Modern: Prof. Paul McCarthy for A Cat, A Man, and Two Women (猫と庄造と二人の女, Neko to Shōzō to futari no onna) by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki Classical: Prof. Margaret Childs for Rethinking Sorrow: Revelatory Tales of Late Medieval Japan | Kodansha International, University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies | |
| 1992 | Modern: Ms. Eve Zimmerman for Strawberry Road by Ishikawa Yoshimi Classical: Prof. Edwin Cranston for A Waka Anthology: The Gem-Glistening Cup. Vol I | Kodansha International, Stanford University Press | |
| 1993 | - | - | No prize was awarded |
| 1994 | Modern: Mr. Wayne P. Lammers for Still Life and Other Stories (静物, Seibutsu) by Junzo Shono Classical: Prof. H. Mack Horton for The Journal of Socho by Saiokuken Socho | Stone Bridge Press, Stanford University Press | |
| 1995 | - | - | No prize was awarded |
| 1996 | Modern: Prof. John Solt Glass Beret for The Selected Poems of Kitasono Katsue (1902-78) by Katué Kitasono Classical: Prof. Makoto Ueda for Modern Japanese Tanka | Morgan Press, Columbia University Press | |
| 1997 | - | - | No prize was awarded |
| 1998 | Modern: Prof. Elaine Gerbert for Love of Mountains (Yamagoi) by Kōji Uno Classical: Prof. J. Thomas Rimer and Prof. Jonathan Chaves for Japanese and Chinese Poems to Sing: The Wakan Roei-shu | University of Hawaiʻi Press, Columbia University Press | |
| 1999 | Modern: Prof. Jay Rubin for The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (ねじまき鳥クロニクル, Nejimakidori Kuronikuruu) by Haruki Murakami Classical: Mr. Hiroaki Sato for Breeze Through Bamboo by Ema Saikō | Alfred A. Knopf, Columbia University Press | |
| 2000 | Modern: Ms. Meredith McKinney for Ravine and Other Stories by Yoshikichi Furui Classical: Prof. Roger K. Thomas for A Tale of False Fortunes (Namamiko Monogatari) by Fumiko Enchi | Stone Bridge Press, University of Hawai’i Press | |
| 2001 | Modern: Prof. James Philip Gabriel for Life in the Cul-De-Sac (群棲, Gunsei) by Kuroi Senji Classical: Prof. Mae J. Smethurst for Dramatic Representations of Filial Piety: Five Noh in Translation | Stone Bridge Press, Cornell University Press | |
| 2002 | Prof. Royall Tyler for The Tale of Genji (源氏物語, Genji monogatari) by Murasaki Shikibu | Viking Press | |
| 2003 | Modern: Shogo Oketani and Leza Lowitz for America and Other Poems by Ayukawa Nobuo Classical: Charles S. Inouye for Japanese Gothic Tales (Volume Two) by Kyōka Izumi | Kaya Press, University of Hawai’i Press | |
| 2004 | Prof. Lawrence Rogers for Tokyo Stories: A Literary Stroll, a collection of short fiction set in different areas of Tokyo, including pieces by Kyūsaku Yumeno, Yukio Mishima, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Yasunari Kawabata, Natsume Sōseki and others | University of California Press | |
| 2005 | Modern: Prof. Yosei Sugawara The Gift of Numbers by Yōko Ogawa Classical: Prof. Damian Flanagan for The Tower of London by Natsume Sōseki | Picador, Peter Owen Publishers | |
| 2006 | Modern: Prof. Edward Fowler A Man with No Talents: Memoirs of a Tokyo Day Laborer by Ōyama Shirō Classical: Prof. Joel Cohn for Botchan: A Modern Classic by Natsume Sōseki | Cornell University Press, Kodansha USA | |
| 2007 | Modern: Prof. Kozue Uzawa and Ms. Amelia Fielden for Ferris Wheel: 101 Modern and Contemporary Tanka Classical: Prof. Anthony H. Chambers for Tales of Moonlight and Rain (雨月物語, Ugetsu Monogatari) by Ueda Akinari | Cheng & Tsui, Columbia University Press | |
| 2008 | Prof. Dennis C. Washburn for The Temple of the Wild Geese (雁の寺, Gan no tera) and Bamboo Dolls of Echizen (越前竹人形, Echizen takeningyō) by Tsutomu Mizukami. | Dalkey Archive Press | |
| 2009 | Modern: Prof. Jeffrey M. Angles for Forest of Eyes: Selected Poems of Tada Chimako by Tada Chimako Classical: Prof. Esperanza Ramirez-Christensen Murmured Conversations. A Treatise on Poetry and Buddhism by the Poet-Monk Shinkei by Shinkei | University of California Press, Stanford University Press | |
| 2010 | Modern: Prof. Michael Emmerich for Manazuru (真鶴) by Hiromi Kawakami Classical: Prof. Tom Hare for Zeami: Performance Notes by Zeami Motokiyo | Counterpoint, Cambridge University Press | |
| 2011 | Matthew Fraleigh for New Chronicles of Yanagibashi and Diary of a Journey to the West: Narushima Ryūhoku Reports from Home and Abroad by Narushima Ryūhoku J. Keith Vincent for A Riot of Goldfish (金魚撩乱, Kingyo ryōran) by Kanoko Okamoto, including The Food Demon (Shokuma). | Cornell University Press, Hesperus Press | |
| 2012 | - | - | No prize was awarded |
| 2013 | W.S. Merwin and Takako Lento for Collected Haiku of Yosa Buson by Yosa Buson | Copper Canyon Press | |
| 2014 | Juliet Winters Carpenter for A True Novel (本格小説, Honkaku Shōsetsu) by Minae Mizumura Rebecca Copeland for The Goddess Chronicle (女神記, Joshinki) by Natsuo Kirino | Other Press, Canongate Books | |
| 2015 | Steven D. Carter for The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Essay Terry Gallagher for Self-Reference ENGINE by Toh EnJoe Stephen D. Miller and Patrick Donnelly for The Wind from Vulture Peak | Columbia University Press, VIZ Media, Cornell University Press | |
| 2016 | - | - | No prize was awarded |
| 2017 | David Boyd for Slow Boat by Hideo Furukawa Hiroaki Sato for The Silver Spoon: Memoir of a Boyhood in Japan by Kansuke Naka | Pushkin Press, Stone Bridge Press | |
| 2018 | Takako Lento for Pioneers of Modern Japanese Poetry by Mitsuharu Kaneko | Cornell University Press | |
| 2019 | Janine Beichman for Beneath the Sleepless Tossing of the Planets, Selected Poems 1972-1989 by Makoto Ōoka Sam Bett for Star by Yukio Mishima | Kurodahan Press, New Directions Publishing | |
| 2020 | Gerald Groemer for Portraits of Edo and Early Modern Japan: The Shogun's Capital in Zuihitsu Writings, 1657-1855 | Palgrave Macmillan | |
| 2021 | David Boyd for The Hole (穴, Ana) by Hiroko Oyamada Glynne Walley for Eight Dogs, or Hakkenden: Part One—An Ill-Considered Jest by Kyokutei Bakin | New Directions Publishing, Cornell University Press |
| 2022 | Brian Bergstrom for Trinity, Trinity, Trinity by Erika Kobayashi | Astra House | |
| 2023 | Torquil Duthie for The Kokinshū: Selected Poems Kendall Heitzman for Nails and Eyes by Kaori Fujino | Columbia University Press, Pushkin Press | |
| 2024 | David Boyd for Takaoka’s Travels by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa | Stone Bridge Press, MONKEY imprint | |
    $^1$ Note: From 1979 to 1988, only a single translation prize was given annually. Beginning in 1989, the prize was given in two categories: translations from Japanese classical literature and translation from Japanese modern literature (although such distinctions vary as does the number of winners in a given year).
    $^2$ Note: Where it applies, first the publisher of the first work mentioned then the publisher of the second work mentioned, separated by a comma.