is an annual award given to distinguished literary works and activities in the sectors literature and art,

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

and social science, natural science, and encyclopedic work, plus a special award. It was founded in 1947 and is sponsored by the Mainichi Newspapers Co., the publishing house of the

Mainichi Shimbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English-language news website called , and publishes a bilin ...

Recipients (selected)

;1947 * Literature and art award for

Jun'ichirō Tanizaki was a Japanese author who is considered to be one of the most prominent figures in modern Japanese literature. The tone and subject matter of his work range from shocking depictions of sexuality and destructive erotic obsessions to subtle portr ...

for '' Sasameyuki'' (''The Makioka Sisters'') * Literature and art award for

Yuriko Miyamoto was a Japanese novelist, short-story writer, social activist, and literary critic active during the Taishō and early Shōwa eras of Japan. She is best known for her autobiographical fiction and involvement in proletarian and women's liberati ...

for ''Kazeshirigusa'' and ''Harimaheiya'' ;1948 * Literature and art award for Michio Takeyama for ''Biruma no tategoto'' ;1951 * Literature and art award for

Kōnosuke Hinatsu was the pen-name of a Japanese poet known for his romantic and gothic poetry patterned after English literature. His real name was Kunito Higuchi. Biography A native of what is now part of Iida city in Nagano prefecture, Hinatsu graduated fr ...

for ''Nihon gendaishi taikei'' ;1952 * Literature and art award for Hiroshi Noma for ''Shinkū chitai'' ;1954 * Literature and art award for Sue Sumii for ''Yoru ake asa ake'' ;1955 * Literature and art award for

Ken Domon was a celebrated Japanese photographer known for his work as a photojournalist and as a photographer of Buddhist temples and statuary. Domon, who began his career in the 1930s contributing photo reportages to magazines that supported the increas ...

for ''Murō-ji'' * Literature and art award for Shigeharu Nakano for ''Muragimo'' ;1958 * Literature and art award for Shūsaku Endō for ''Umi to dokuyaku'' ;1959 * Literature and art award for

Shūgorō Yamamoto , better known by the pen name of , was a Japanese people, Japanese novelist and short story, short-story writer active during the Shōwa period of Japan. He was noted for his popular literature, and is known to have published works under at leas ...

for ''Mominoki wa nokotta'' * Literature and art award for Saisei Murō for ''Waga aisuru shijin no denki'' * Literature and art award for Junji Kinoshita for ''Dorama no sekai'' ;1960 * Literature and art award for Tomie Ōhara for ''En to iu onna'' ;1961 * Literature and art award for Shōhei Ōoka for ''Kaei'' * Literature and art award for

Tarō Okamoto was a Japanese artist, art theorist, and writer. He is particularly well known for his avant-garde paintings, public sculptures, and murals, his theorization of traditional Japanese culture, and his avant-garde artistic practices. Biography ...

for ''Wasurerareta nihon'' ;1962 * Literature and art award for

Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal and ...

for '' Nemure bijo'' (''The House of the Sleeping Beauties'') ;1963 * Literature and art award for Kazuo Hirotsu for ''Nengatsu no ahioto'' ;1964 * Literature and art award for Morio Kita for ''Nireke no hitobito'' (''The House of Nire'') ;1965 * Literature and art award for

Haruo Umezaki was a Japanese writer of short stories and novels. Biography Born in Fukuoka, Kyushu, Umezaki studied at the 5th High School of Kumamoto University, later at the Tokyo Imperial University where he majored in Japanese literature. He then worked ...

for ''Genka'' ;1966 * Literature and art award for Junji Kinoshita for ''Mugenkidō'' ;1967 * Literature and art award for Shōtarō Yasuoka for ''Maku ga orite kara'' ;1968 * Literature and art award for Takeshi Kaikō for ''Kagayakeru yami'' ;1969 * Literature and art award for

Jūkichi Uno (real name ; 27 September 1914 – 9 January 1988) was a Japanese actor. In 1950, he formed the with Osamu Takizawa was a Japanese actor. He was born in Ushigome, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Starting at the Tsukiji Little Theater, Takizawa particip ...

for ''Shingeki tanoshi kanashi'' ;1972 * Literature and art award for Junzō Shōno for ''Akio to Ryoji'' ;1973 * Literature and art award for Akira Abe for ''Sennen'' ;1974 * Literature and art award for

Saburō Shiroyama Saburō Shiroyama (城山三郎, b. ''Eiichi Sugiura;'' 8 August 1927 – 22 March 2007) was a Japanese novelist. Shiroyama was born in Aichi Prefecture, and studied economics at Hitotsubashi University. He later taught economics at Nagoya Gak ...

for ''Rakujitsu moyu'' * Literature and art award for

Shin'ichirō Nakamura was a Japanese author. Prizes * 1978 Tanizaki Prize for ''Natsu'' (Summer, 夏) English translations * The Genie and Her Magic Bottle', translated by Hanabusa, ''Prism International'', Vol. 11, No. 2, Autumn 1971. Selected works * ''Kin ...

for ''Kono hyakunen no shōsetsu'' ;1976 * Literature and art award for Hideo Takubo for ''Kami no wa'' ;1977 * Literature and art award for

Kenji Nakagami was a Japanese novelist and essayist. He is well known as the first, and so far the only, post-war Japanese writer to identify himself publicly as a Burakumin The are a social grouping of Japanese people descended from members of the feudal ...

for ''Karekinada'' ;1978 * Literature and art award for Chikao Tanaka for ''Gekiteki buntairon josetsu'' ;1994 * Literature and art award for

Hiroyuki Agawa (December 24, 1920 – August 3, 2015) was a Japanese author. He was known for his fiction centered on World War II, as well as his biographies and essays. Literary career Agawa was born in Hiroshima, Japan. As a high school student Agawa was ...

for ''Shiga Naoya'' ;1995 * Literature and art award for Tadao Satō for ''Nihon eiga-shi'' ;2001 * Literature and art award for Taeko Tomioka for ''Arikuchi Shinobu nōto'' ;2004 * Literature and art award for Kazushige Abe for ''Shinsemia'' ;2005 * Literature and art award for

Ryū Murakami is a Japanese novelist, essayist and filmmaker. His novels explore human nature through themes of disillusion, drug use, surrealism, murder and war, set against the dark backdrop of Japan. His best known novels are '' Almost Transparent Blue'', ' ...

for '' Hanto o deyo'' (''From the Fatherland, with Love'') ;2007 * Literature and art award for Shuichi Yoshida for ''Akunin'' (''Villain'') ;2009 * Literature and art award for

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for hi ...

for ''

1Q84 is a novel written by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, first published in three volumes in Japan in 2009–2010. It covers a fictionalized year of 1984 in parallel with a "real" one. The novel is a story of how a woman named Aomame begins to ...

'' ;2020 * Humanities and social science award for Takehiko Kariya for ''Oitsuita Kindai Keita Kindai'' (''Who killed Japan's Modernity? What Comes after 'Catch-Up?)

References

{{Reflist Japanese literary awards Poetry awards Non-fiction literary awards