Hobby Japan Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Daisuke Matsushita) announced the launch of a special page for the "Kaidan Contest 2026: Scary Stories Related to the ○○ Family," a collaborative project with Takushobo's Kaidan Bunko, on its web novel submission site "Novel Up+" on June 29 (Mon).

◆ Contest Overview

An annual summer event hosted on "Novel Up+," this year marks the fifth iteration of the Kaidan (ghost story) Contest. Building on last year's success, which featured the popular YouTube channel "Kowai Hanashi Kaidan Roudoku," this year's contest welcomes a major new partner: Takushobo's Kaidan Bunko, renowned for its real-life horror anthologies—making this year's event bigger than ever.

The Grand Prize winner will receive a guaranteed publication slot in an upcoming horror anthology to be released by Takushobo's Kaidan Bunko.

Additionally, all prize-winning entries will be guaranteed to be adapted into read-aloud videos on "Kowai Hanashi Kaidan Roudoku," a YouTube channel with over 220 million total views.

Special judges for this year include Shinji Matsumura, a renowned storyteller known as "Kaidan-ya"; Sandoha Jin, a noted collector and author of true horror stories; and Higan, the administrator of the aforementioned YouTube channel. We look forward to receiving many submissions this year.

Submission Categories

We are accepting horror stories in the following three categories:

1 True Horror Category: Theme "Scary Stories Related to the ○○ Family"

2 True Horror Category: Free Theme

3 Fiction Category

Schedule

Submission Period Start

July 10, 2026 (Fri) 12:00 PM

Submission Deadline

September 30, 2026 (Wed) 11:59 PM

Results Announcement

January 2027 (tentative)

*Schedule is subject to change depending on the number of entries received. Thank you for your understanding.

Awards and Prizes

🏆 Grand Prize

Selected from True Horror Category (up to 2 works) 30,000 yen worth of Amazon gift card Guaranteed inclusion in an anthology to be published by Takushobo's Kaidan Bunko in 2027 Guaranteed adaptation into a read-aloud video on the YouTube channel "Kowai Hanashi Kaidan Roudoku"

🥈 Special Judge's Prize

Selected from each category (up to 3 works) 20,000 yen worth of Amazon gift card

Entries in the True Horror Category: Guaranteed inclusion in or co-authorship (original writing) in an anthology to be published by Takushobo's Kaidan Bunko in 2027 Entries in the Fiction Category: Consideration for co-authorship (original writing) in an anthology to be published by Takushobo's Kaidan Bunko in 2027 Guaranteed adaptation into a read-aloud video on the YouTube channel "Kowai Hanashi Kaidan Roudoku"

🏅 Honorable Mention

Selected from all categories (number of awards undetermined) 10,000 yen worth of Amazon gift card Guaranteed adaptation into a read-aloud video on the YouTube channel "Kowai Hanashi Kaidan Roudoku"

For further details on submission guidelines, please visit the official event page below.

The special page also features comments from Takushobo's Kaidan Bunko and the special judges. We look forward to your submissions!

◆ Kaidan Contest 2026 Official Page https://novelup.plus/event/horror-2026/

◆ About Novel Up+

Novel Up+ is a web novel submission service operated by Hobby Japan Co., Ltd.

With approximately 94,000 published works and over 2 million episodes currently available, its concept is "a service where users collectively support and nurture stories together." Anyone, whether a member or not, can read the published works. Members can submit their own works and support other users' stories through comments and digital stamps.

*Membership registration is free.

Stay updated via the official site and X (formerly Twitter) account: ◆ "Novel Up+" Official Website https://novelup.plus/ ◆ "Novel Up+" Official X Account https://twitter.com/Novel_Up_plus/

FACT BOX

  • Source: PR TIMES
  • Category: Event