The Dakotsu Prize is a

haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...

award established in honor of the haiku poet

Dakotsu Iida was a Japanese haiku poet from what is now part of the city of Fuefuki, Yamanashi, Japan. Commonly referred to as Dakotsu, his real name was . He trained under Kyoshi Takahama, and was a frequent contributor to such haiku journals as ''Hototogis ...

. It is awarded to the best collection of haiku published between January and December of the previous year. It is considered the most prestigious award in the haiku world. It is sponsored by the Kadokawa Culture Promotion Foundation, and the first award was held in 1967. The winner is awarded a certificate, a commemorative gift, and a monetary prize. The award ceremony is held every June, together with the Teiku Award, a

tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature. Etymology Originally, in the time of the influential poetry anthology (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to disti ...

award. Previously, the nominees were not made public, but from the 47th award in 2013, the final candidates have been announced in advance.

Past winners

* 1979: Ayako Hosomi * 1987: Sumio Mori * 1990:

Haruki Kadokawa is a Japanese entrepreneur and filmmaker. He is the son of Genyoshi Kadokawa, the founder of the publishing company Kadokawa Shoten. He took over as president of the company in 1975 after his father's death. He entered the film industry as a pro ...

* 1996: Kin'ichi Sawaki * 2002: Tōta Kaneko * 2011:

Momoko Kuroda was a Japanese haiku poet and essayist. Early life and career Born in Tokyo, Japan, she moved at the age of six with her family to Tochigi Prefecture to flee the wartime B-29 aerial bombing of Tokyo. She spent the rest of her childhood in the Toc ...

* 2017:

Mutsuo Takahashi is one of the most prominent and prolific poets, essayists, and writers of contemporary Japan, with more than three dozen collections of poetry, several works of prose, dozens of books of essays, and several major literary prizes to his name. He ...

* 2018:

Akito Arima was a Japanese nuclear physicist, politician, and haiku poet, known for the interacting boson model. Early life and career Arima was born 1930 in Osaka. He studied at the University of Tokyo, where he received his doctorate in 1958. He became a ...

References

{{poetry-stub Haiku