The is a Japanese literary award presented semi-annually. Because of its prestige and the considerable attention the winner receives from the media, it is, along with the Naoki Prize, one of Japan's most sought after literary prizes.

History

The Akutagawa Prize was established in 1935 by Kan Kikuchi, then-editor of Bungeishunjū magazine, in memory of author Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. It is sponsored by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature, and is awarded in January and July to the best serious literary story published in a newspaper or magazine by a new or rising author. The winner receives a pocket watch and a cash award of 1 million yen. The judges usually include contemporary writers, literary critics, and former winners of the prize. Occasionally, when consensus cannot be reached between judges over disputes about the winning story or the quality of work for that half year, no prize is awarded. From 1945 through 1948 no prizes were awarded due to postwar instability. The prize has frequently been split between two authors.

On January 15, 2004, the awarding of the 130th Akutagawa Prize made significant news when two women became the award's youngest winners. The prize went to both Risa Wataya, 19, for her novel and to Hitomi Kanehara, 20, for her debut novel . In 2013 Natsuko Kuroda won the 148th Akutagawa Prize at age 75, making her the oldest recipient in the history of the prize.

Controversies In 1972, Akutagawa winner was found to have committed plagiarism. In 2018, a similar controversy occurred when the candidate novel by Yuko Hojo was found to have reused text from its nonfiction source material without attribution, but the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature did not remove the book from the candidate list.

Records

The youngest recipient of the prize to date is Risa Wataya who was 19 when she received the award for I Want to Kick You in the Back (). The best-seller title (in Japan only) is Spark (), by Naoki Matayoshi which sold 2,29 millions of copies.

Winners Bungeishunjū maintains an official archive of current and past winners on behalf of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature.

+Key 上 Indicates the first half of the given year. 下 Indicates the second half of the given year.

# Year Author Work Published in 1 1935上 Tatsuzō Ishikawa 2 1935下 No prize awarded. 3 1936上 4 1936下 Jun Ishikawa 5 1937上 6 1937下 Ashihei Hino 7 1938上 Gishū Nakayama Bungakukai 8 1938下 Tsuneko Nakazato 9 1939上 10 1939下 11 1940上 refused by the author 12 1940下 13 1941上 14 1941下 Yoshiko Shibaki 15 1942上 No prize awarded. 16 1942下 17 1943上 18 1943下 19 1944上 Yoshinori Yagi 20 1944下 Motoyoshi Shimizu 21 1949上 Shigeko Yuki 22 1949下 Yasushi Inoue Bungakukai 23 1950上 24 1950下 No prize awarded. 25 1951上 Kōbō Abe Bungakukai 26 1951下 Yoshie Hotta Chūōkōron 27 1952上 No prize awarded. 28 1952下 Kōsuke Gomi Shinchō Seichō Matsumoto Mita Bungaku 29 1953上 Shōtarō Yasuoka Gunzō Shinchō 30 1953下 No prize awarded. 31 1954上 Junnosuke Yoshiyuki Bungakukai 32 1954下 Nobuo Kojima Junzō Shōno Gunzō 33 1955上 Shūsaku Endō 34 1955下 Shintarō Ishihara Bungakukai 35 1956上 36 1956下 No prize awarded. 37 1957上 Bungakukai 38 1957下 Takeshi Kaikō 39 1958上 Kenzaburō Ōe 40 1958下 No prize awarded. 41 1959上 Waseda Bungaku 42 1959下 No prize awarded. 43 1960上 Morio Kita Shinchō 44 1960下 Tetsuo Miura 45 1961上 No prize awarded. 46 1961下 Kōichirō Uno Bungakukai 47 1962上 48 1962下 No prize awarded. 49 1963上 Kōno Taeko Bungakukai 50 1963下 Seiko Tanabe 51 1964上 52 1964下 No prize awarded. 53 1965上 Setsuko Tsumura Bungakukai 54 1965下 Yūichi Takai 55 1966上 No prize awarded. 56 1966下 Kenji Maruyama Bungakukai 57 1967上 Tatsuhiro Ōshiro 58 1967下 Shinchō 59 1968上 Saiichi Maruya Bungakukai Minako Ōba Gunzō 60 1968下 No prize awarded. 61 1969上 Chūōkōron Hideo Takubo Shinchō 62 1969下 Takayuki Kiyooka Gunzō 63 1970上 Tomoko Yoshida Shinchō Bungei 64 1970下 Yoshikichi Furui 65 1971上 No prize awarded. 66 1971下 Kaisei Ri Mineo Higashi Bungakukai 67 1972上 Bungei 68 1972下 Michiko Yamamoto Shinchō Shizuko Gō Bungakukai 69 1973上 Taku Miki 70 1973下 Bungakukai 71 1974上 No prize awarded. 72 1974下 Keizō Hino Shinchō Bungakukai 73 1975上 Kyōko Hayashi Gunzō 74 1975下 Kenji Nakagami Bungakukai Kazuo Okamatsu 75 1976上 Ryū Murakami Gunzō 76 1976下 No prize awarded. 77 1977上 Bungei Masuo Ikeda 78 1977下 Teru Miyamoto Shinchō 79 1978上 Bungei 80 1978下 No prize awarded. 81 1979上 Yoshiko Shigekane Bungakukai Sō Aono 82 1979下 Reiko Mori Shinchō 83 1980上 No prize awarded. 84 1980下 Katsuhiko Otsuji Bungakukai 85 1981上 Rie Yoshiyuki Shinchō 86 1981下 No prize awarded. 87 1982上 88 1982下 Yukiko Katō Shinchō Jūrō Kara Bungei 89 1983上 No prize awarded. 90 1983下 Nobuko Takagi Shinchō 91 1984上 No prize awarded. 92 1984下 Satoko Kizaki Bungakukai 93 1985上 No prize awarded. 94 1985下 Fumiko Kometani Shinchō 95 1986上 No prize awarded. 96 1986下 97 1987上 Kiyoko Murata Bungakukai 98 1987下 Natsuki Ikezawa Chūōkōron Kiyohiro Miura 99 1988上 Man Arai Bungakukai 100 1988下 Lee Yangji Gunzō 101 1989上 No prize awarded. 102 1989下 Bungakukai Mieko Takizawa 103 1990上 Noboru Tsujihara 104 1990下 Yōko Ogawa 105 1991上 Anna Ogino 106 1991下 Eiko Matsumura 107 1992上 Gunzō 108 1992下 Yōko Tawada 109 1993上 110 1993下 Hikaru Okuizumi Bungakukai 111 1994上 Gunzō Yoriko Shōno Bungakukai 112 1994下 No prize awarded. 113 1995上 Kazushi Hosaka Shinchō 114 1995下 Eiki Matayoshi Bungakukai 115 1996上 Hiromi Kawakami 116 1996下 Hitonari Tsuji Shinchō Yū Miri Gunzō 117 1997上 Shun Medoruma Bungakukai 118 1997下 No prize awarded. 119 1998上 Bungakukai Shū Fujisawa Bungei 120 1998下 Keiichirō Hirano Shinchō 121 1999上 No prize awarded. 122 1999下 Bungakukai Chiya Fujino Gunzō 123 2000上 Kō Machida Bungakukai Hisaki Matsuura Gunzō 124 2000下 Bungakukai Toshiyuki Horie Gunzō 125 2001上 Bungakukai 126 2001下 127 2002上 Shūichi Yoshida 128 2002下 Tamaki Daidō 129 2003上 130 2003下 Hitomi Kanehara Risa Wataya Bungei 131 2004上 Bungakukai 132 2004下 Kazushige Abe Gunzō 133 2005上 Fuminori Nakamura Shinchō 134 2005下 Akiko Itoyama Bungakukai 135 2006上 Takami Itō 136 2006下 Nanae Aoyama Bungei 137 2007上 Tetsushi Suwa Gunzō 138 2007下 Mieko Kawakami Bungakukai 139 2008上 Yang Yi 140 2008下 Kikuko Tsumura Gunzō 141 2009上 Shinchō 142 2009下 No prize awarded. 143 2010上 Akiko Akazome Shinchō 144 2010下 Mariko Asabuki Kenta Nishimura 145 2011上 No prize awarded. 146 2011下 Toh EnJoe Gunzō 147 2012上 Maki Kashimada Bungei 148 2012下 Natsuko Kuroda 149 2013上 Kaori Fujino Shinchō 150 2013下 Hiroko Oyamada 151 2014上 Tomoka Shibasaki Bungakukai 152 2014下 Masatsugu Ono Gunzō 153 2015上 Bungakukai Naoki Matayoshi 154 2015下 Yukiko Motoya Gunzō 155 2016上 Sayaka Murata Bungakukai 156 2016下 Sumito Yamashita Shinchō 157 2017上 Shinsuke Numata Bungakukai 158 2017下 Chisako Wakatake Bungei Yūka Ishii Shinchō 159 2018上 Bungakukai 160 2018下 Ryōhei Machiya Shinchō Takahiro Ueda Gunzō 161 2019上 Natsuko Imamura 162 2019下 Makoto Furukawa 163 2020上 Haruka Tono Bungei Haneko Takayama Shinchō 164 2020下 Rin Usami Bungei 165 2021上 Li Kotomi Bungakukai Gunzō 166 2021下 Gunzō 167 2022上 Gunzō 168 2022下 Gunzō Shinchō 169 2023上 Saou Ichikawa Bungei 170 2023下 Rie Kudan Shinchō 171 2024上 Shinchō Gunzō 172 2024下 Dtopia Bungei Shōsetsu Tripper 173 2025上 No prize awarded. 174 2025下 Kodansha Shinchō 175 2026上Gunzō

Winners and nominees available in English translation

Winners 1936 (4th) - Jun Ishikawa, The Bodhisattva (trans. William J. Tyler, Columbia University Press, 1990) 1937 (5th) - Kazuo Ozaki, Rosy Glasses (in Rosy Glasses and Other Stories, trans. Robert Epp, Paul Norbury Publications, 1988) 1949 (22nd) - Yasushi Inoue, The Bullfight (trans. Michael Emmerich, Pushkin Press, 2013) 1953 (29th) - Shōtarō Yasuoka, Bad Company (in A View by the Sea, trans. Karen Wigen Lewis, Columbia University Press, 1984) 1954 (31st) - Junnosuke Yoshiyuki, Sudden Shower (In New Writing in Japan, trans. Geoffrey Bownas, Penguin, 1972) 1954 (32nd) Nobuo Kojima, The American School (In Contemporary Japanese Literature, trans. William F. Sibley, Alfred A. Knopf, 1977) Junzo Shono, Evenings at the Pool (In Still Life and Other Stories, trans. Wayne P. Lammers, Stone Bridge Press, 1992) 1955 (33rd) - Shūsaku Endō, White Man (In White Man, Yellow Man, trans. Teruyo Shimizu, Paulist Press, 2014) 1955 (34th) - Shintaro Ishikawa, Season of Violence (In Season of Violence, trans. John G. Mills, Toshie Takahama, and Ken Tremayne, Tuttle, 1966) 1957 (38th) - Takeshi Kaiko, The Naked King (In Japan Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 2, trans. Howard Curtis, 1977) 1958 (39th) - Kenzaburō Ōe, Prize Stock (In Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness, trans. John Nathan, Grove Press, 1977) 1960 (44th) - Tetsuo Miura, A Portrait of Shino (In Shame in the Blood, trans. Andrew Driver, Catapult, 2007) 1963 (49th) - Taeko Kono, Crabs (In Toddler-Hunting and Other Stories, trans. Lucy North, New Directions Publishing, 1996) 1965 (53rd) - Setsuko Tsumura, Playthings (In Japan Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 1, trans. Kyoko Evanhoe and Robert N. Lawson, 1980) 1967 (57th) - Tatsuhiro Ōshiro, The Cocktail Party (In Okinawa: Two Postwar Novellas, trans. Steve Rabson, Institute of East Asian Studies, 1989) 1968 (59th) - Minako Oba, The Three Crabs (in This Kind of Woman: Ten Stories by Japanese Women Writers, 1960-1976, trans. Yukiko Tanaka and Elizabeth Hanson, Stanford University Press, 1982) 1970 (64th) - Yoshikichi Furui, Yoko (In Child of Darkness: Yoko and Other Stories, trans. Donna George Storey, University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, 1997) 1971 (66th) Kaisei Ri, The Woman Who Fulled Clothes (In Flowers of Fire: Twentieth-Century Korean Stories, trans. Beverly Nelson, University of Hawaii Press, 1986) Mineo Higashi, Child of Okinawa (In Okinawa: Two Postwar Novellas, trans. Steve Rabson, Institute of East Asian Studies, 1989) 1972 (68th) Michiko Yamamoto, Betty-san (In Betty-san, trans. Geraldine Harcourt, Kodansha International, 1985) Shizuko Gō, Requiem (trans. Geraldine Harcourt, Kodansha International, 1983) 1975 (73rd) - Kyoko Hayashi, Ritual of Death (In Nuke Rebuke: Writers and Artists against Nuclear Energy and Weapons, trans. Kyoko Selden, The Spirit That Moves Us Press, 1984) 1975 (74th) - Kenji Nakagami, The Cape (In The Cape and Other Stories from the Japanese Ghetto, trans. Eve Zimmerman, Stone Bridge Press, 1999) 1976 (75th) - Ryū Murakami, Almost Transparent Blue (trans. Nancy Andrew, Kodansha International, 1977) 1977 (78th) - Teru Miyamoto, River of Fireflies (in Rivers, trans. Roger K. Thomas and Ralph McCarthy, Kurodahan Press, 2014) 1979 (81st) - Yoshiko Shigekane, The Smoke in the Mountain Valley (In Mississippi Review, vol. 39, no. 1/3, trans. John Wilson and Motoko Naruse, 2012) 1981 (85th) - Rie Yoshiyuki, The Little Lady (In Japanese Literature Today, no. 7, trans. Geraldine Harcourt, 1982) 1984 (92nd) - Satoko Kizaki, The Phoenix Tree (In The Phoenix Tree and Other Stories, trans. Carol A. Flath, Kodansha International, 1990) 1985 (94th) - Fumiko Kometani, Passover (In Passover, trans. by the author, Carroll and Graf, 1989) 1987 (97th) - Kiyoko Murata, In the Pot (In Japanese Women Writers: Twentieth Century Short Fiction, trans. Kyoko Iriye Seldon, Routledge, 2015) 1987 (98th) Natsuki Ikezawa, Still Life (In Still Lives, trans. Dennis Keene, Kodansha International, 1997) Kiyohiro Miura, He's Leaving Home: My Young Son Becomes a Zen Monk (trans. Jeff Shore, Tuttle, 1996) 1990 (104th) - Yōko Ogawa, Pregnancy Diary (In The Diving Pool, trans. Stephen Snyder, Picador, 2008) 1992 (108th) - Yoko Tawada, The Bridegroom was a Dog (In The Bridegroom was a Dog, trans. Margaret Mitsutani, Kodansha International, 2003) 1993 (110th) - Hikaru Okuizumi, The Stones Cry Out (trans. James Westerhoven, Harcourt, 1999) 1996 (115th) - Hiromi Kawakami, Record of a Night Too Brief (trans. Lucy North, Pushkin Press, 2017)