The Japanese Literature Home Page

na ni shi owaba

Ōsakayama no

   sanekazura

hito ni shirarede

kuru yoshi mogana

 

 

   If the "bedsharing vine"

Found on Mount Ōsaka were

   Only true to its name,

I would have the perfect means

To draw you unseen to my side.

 

--Minister of the Right Sanjō
Poem 25 from One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets
(See notes and more poems.)

Literary News

Monthly journal Kokubungaku to cease publication (May 18, 2009)

Gakutōsha, publisher of the monthly journal Kokubungaku, has announced that the journal will cease publication after the July issue (on sale June 11). The reasons given were declining sales and the general lack of interest in "pure" literature. Kokubungaku was first published in 1956.

Correspondance between Arishima Takeo and Hatano Akiko discovered (June 29, 2009)

The discovery of six letters exchanged between novelist Arishima Takeo (1878-1923) and Hatano Akiko, the married woman with whom he committed suicide, has been announced by the Hokkaido Museum of Literature in Sapporo. The letters were part of a collection of materials the museum purchased from a dealer in antiques that also included the suicide note Hatano wrote to her husband. The three letters written by Arishima, along with one of Hatano's letters, had previously been displayed but had gone missing; the text of Hatano's suicide note had also been published by her husband shortly after the double suicide. Two of the letters written by Hatano are fresh discoveries describing both her sense of guilt and her continuing devotion to Arishima. The letters and the suicide note will be on display at the Hookaido Museum of Literature from July 1 to September 30.

Number of published copies of Murakami Haruki's 1Q81 exceeds 2 million (July 7, 2009)

Shinchōsha has announced that the number of copies it has printed of Murakami Haruki's 1Q81 has now exceeded 2 million. There are now 1.1 million copies of the first volume in print, compared with 900,000 copies for the second volume.

141st Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes announced (July 15, 2009)

The 141st Akutagawa Prize has been won by Isozaki Ken'ichirō for Tsui no sumika (A Final Home, published in the June issue of Shinchō). The 141st Naoki Prize will go to Kitamura Kaoru for Sagi to yuki (Heron and Snow, published by Bungei Shunjū). The presentation ceremony will be held in Tokyo on August 21.

Murakami Haruki's Norwegian Wood exceeds 10 million copies printed (August 6, 2009)

The publishing company Kodansha announced that total number of printed copies of Murakami Haruki's novel Noruei no mori (Norwegian Wood) has now reached 10 million, including about 4.5 million for the two-volume hardback edition and the remainded for the paperback version. Sales of the novel have benefited substantially from the best-seller status of Murakami's 1Q81.

19th Murasaki Shikibu Prize for Literature announced (August 12, 2009)

The 19th Murasaki Shikibu Prize for Literature has been won by Kirino Natsuo for Joshinki (Record of a Goddess, published by Kadokawa Shoten). The presentation ceremony will be held in Kyoto on November 15.

45th Tanizaki Jun'ichirō Prize not awarded (August 21, 2009)

The publishing company Chūō Kōron Shinsha has announced that no work qualified to receive the Tanizaki Jun'ichirō Prize this year. The last time the prize was not awarded was 2002.

46th Literary Arts Prize announced (August 25, 2009)

The 46th Literary Arts Prize will be shared by the Ōmori Brothers, for Inu wa itsumo ashimoto ni ite (A Dog Always Underfoot), and Fujishiro Izumi, for Re:. "Ōmori Brothers " is a pen name used by an unidentified pair of brothers, one of whom is a heathcare worker and the other a company employee. The brothers wrote their book jointly, and this is the first time that the Literary Arts Prize has been won by such a "team." The winning stories will be published in the Winter issue of the journal Bungei. The presentation ceremony will be held in Tokyo on October 16.

Japan PEN Club to file objection to proposed Google Books settlement (August 28, 2009)

The Japan PEN Club, currently chaired by Atōda Takashi, has announced that it will file an objection to the proposed Google Books settlement with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The objection will be based primarily on the settlement's failure to take into account differences in legal rights between Japan and the United States, and on the lack of adequate notification in Japan.