The is a Japanese photography award.
The award has been given every year since 1975 (except 1983) by the Asahi Shimbun Company, publisher of Asahi Shimbun and the magazine Asahi Camera, in honor of the photographer Ihei Kimura. It is given to one or more new photographers whose work has been exhibited or published during the previous year and is announced in Asahi Camera: its original name, soon shortened, was Asahi Kamera Kimura Ihei Shashin-shō ().
The award is usually given to a single photographer. In 2000, the unprecedented awarding of three prizes, each to a female photographer, caused a stir.
Its major rival for attention in the mass media is the Domon Ken Award, given annually to a single photographer, usually one with a longer career than those who win the Kimura Award.
Winners year photographer 1975 Kazuo Kitai 1976 Kōshichi Taira 1977 Shin'ya Fujiwara 1978 Miyako Ishiuchi 1979 Mitsuaki Iwagō Seiji Kurata 1980 Tsuneo Enari 1981 Kanendo Watanabe 1982 Keizō Kitajima 1983 (no award) 1984 Keiichi Tahara 1985 Kazuyoshi Miyoshi 1986 Hisashi Wada 1987 Ikuo Nakamura 1988 Ryūji Miyamoto 1989 Hana Takeda Michio Hoshino 1990 Michiko Kon 1991 Toshio Shibata 1992 Mitsugu Ōnishi Norio Kobayashi 1993 Yasuhisa Toyohara 1994 Mitsuhiko Imamori 1995 Masato Seto 1996 Naoya Hatakeyama 1997 Kyōichi Tsuzuki 1998 Takashi Homma 1999 Risaku Suzuki 2000 Yurie Nagashima Hiromix Mika Ninagawa 2001 Taiji Matsue Rinko Kawauchi (for the books Utatane and Hanabi) 2002 Yuki Onodera Masafumi Sanai 2003 Tomoko Sawada 2004 Masataka Nakano (for the book Tokyo Windows) 2005 Ryūdai Takano (for the book How to Contact a Man) 2006 Naoki Honjō (for the book small planet) Kayo Ume (for the book Ume-me) 2007 Atsushi Okada (for the book I am) Lieko Shiga (for the books Lilly and Canary) 2008 Masashi Asada (for the book Asadake) 2009 Cozue Takagi (for the books Mid and Ground) 2010 Eiko Shimozono (for the book Kizuna)Page about this award , Asahi Shinbunsha. Accessed 25 February 2012. 2011 Masaru Tatsuki (for the book Tohoku)Page about this award , Asahi Shinbunsha. Accessed 25 February 2012. 2012 Arata Dodo (for the book Taigan) Tomoko Kikuchi (for the exhibition I and I)菊地智子さんと百々新さんに木村伊兵衛賞 , Sankei Shinbun, 14 February 2013. Accessed 19 March 2013. 2013 Eiki Mori (for the book intimacy) 2014 Ryūichi Ishikawa (for the books Zekkei no Polyphony and okinawan portraits 2010-2012) Kotori Kawashima (for the book Myōjō) 2015 Takashi Arai (for the book Monuments) 2016 Mikiko Hara (for the book Change) 2017 Hiroko Komatsu (for the exhibition Jinkakuteki jiritsu shori and others) Aya Fujioka (for the book Kawa wa yuku and others) 2018 Ai Iwane (for the book Kipuka and the exhibition Fukushima Ondo)2019Mari Katayama (for the book GIFT and the exhibition May You Live in Interesting Times at the 58th Venice Biennale)Daisuke Yokota (for the book Sediment and the exhibition Room. Pt. 1)
Notes
Bibliography Kimura Ihei Shashinshō no nijūnen (, "20 years of the Kimura Ihei Award". Mōru, 1995. . With sample photographs from each of the award-winners (more from each of them than appear in the later, thirty-year compilation). Kimura Ihei Shashinshō no kiseki: 1975–1999 (, "Remains of the Kimura Ihei Award: 1975–1999"). An exhibition catalogue. Sanjūroku fotogurafāzu: Kimura Ihei Shashinshō no sanjūnen (, "36 photographers: 30 years of the Kimura Ihei Award"). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbun, 2005. . With sample photographs from each of the award-winners.
External links Site within that of Asahi Shinbun. Edan Corkill, "Prize-winning photographers put medium's evolution in focus", Asahi.com, 20 May 2005. Exhibition review.