Makoto Furukawa's "The Ship that Approaches and Recedes" Wins the 50th Kawabata Yasunari Literature Prize

The 50th Kawabata Yasunari Literature Prize (organized by the Kawabata Yasunari Memorial Foundation, supported by Shinchosha Publishing Co., Ltd., and the AEON 1% Club Foundation), Japan's most prestigious short story award born from the Nobel Prize in Literature, was awarded to Makoto Furukawa's "The Ship that Approaches and Recedes" (published in the September 2025 issue of "Bungakukai") after a rigorous selection process on Monday, April 6, 2026.

【Winner's Biography】

Makoto Furukawa

Born in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture in July 1988. Dropped out of the Department of Literature at Kokugakuin University. In 2016, he won the Shincho New Writer's Prize for "Nuwambanaran." The same work was nominated for the 156th Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize, "A Ship Past Four O'clock" was nominated for the 157th, and he won the 162nd prize for "Seitaka Awadachisou." His other books include "Gift Life" and "Minato-tachi." He resides in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture.

The winning work will be published in the June issue of "Shincho," on sale Thursday, May 7, 2026, along with reviews from each selection committee member. The prize money is 1 million yen. The award ceremony is scheduled to be held at a hotel in Tokyo on Friday, June 26.

【About the Kawabata Yasunari Literature Prize】

The Kawabata Yasunari Literature Prize (organized by the Kawabata Yasunari Memorial Foundation, supported by Shinchosha Publishing Co., Ltd., and the AEON 1% Club Foundation) was established after the death of Japan's first Nobel laureate in literature, Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972), using his prize money as a fund. It has a 50-year history as Japan's most prestigious award for short stories.

Past winners include Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe, as well as leading Japanese writers from Yoshikichi Furui, Shotaro Yasuoka, and Yasutaka Tsutsui to Eimi Yamada, Kaori Ekuni, and Ko Machida. Although it was regrettably suspended from 2019, it made a long-awaited comeback in 2021, the year before the 50th anniversary of Kawabata's death.

As Yasunari Kawabata wrote many masterpieces of short fiction known as "Palm-of-the-Hand Stories," the prize is limited to short stories and is awarded to the most accomplished work of the year.

The Kawabata Yasunari Literature Prize is known for its careful and rigorous selection process, with the main selection by the committee conducted in two stages: a preliminary selection meeting and a final selection meeting.

■ 50th (2026) Kawabata Yasunari Literature Prize Selection Committee

Yoji Arakawa, Mitsuyo Kakuta, Noboru Tsujihara, Toshiyuki Horie, Kiyoko Murata (titles omitted, in alphabetical order)

(Past Winners)

1st (1974) Akira Kambayashi "The Bronze Neck"

2nd (1975) Tatsuo Nagai "Autumn"

3rd (1976)