The Japanese Literature Home Page

Ogurayama

mine no momijiba

    kokoro araba

ima hitotabi no

miyuki matanamu

 

 

    O autumn leaves

On Mount Ogura’s peak

    If you have a heart,

Before falling you might at least wait

For a second imperial excursion.

 

-- Tei Shinkō
Poem 26 from One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets
(See notes and more poems.)

Literary News

146th Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes announced (January 17, 2012)

The 146th Akutagawa Prize has been awarded to two writers: Tanaka Shin'ya, for Tomogui (Cannibals, published in the October 2011 issue of Subaru), and Enjō Tō, for Dokē no chō (The Harlequin Butterfly, published in the July 2011 issue of Gunzō). The 146th Naoki Prize will go to Homuro Rin for Higurashi no ki (Everyday Life, published by Shōdensha). Both Kuroi Senji and Ishihara Shintarō have announced that they are leaving the Akutagawa Prize selection committee, the former citing old age (he is 80 years old) and the latter comlaining that he has wearied of the low quality of new literary Japanese fiction. Tanaka Shin'ya created a bit of a media stir (and stimulated sales) by announcing that he would be accepting the prize to avoid giving an "unnamed" committee member such a shock that it would disrupt Tokyo politics (Ishihara is, of course, the governor of Tokyo).