Mystery Writers of Japan

Mystery Writers of Japan (Japanese: 日本推理作家協会, Hepburn: Nihon Suiri Sakka Kyōkai) is an organization for mystery writers in Japan.

The organization was founded on 21 June 1947 by Edogawa Rampo. It is currently chaired by Bin Konno and claims about 600 members.

It presents the Mystery Writers of Japan Award to writers every year. It also presents the Edogawa Rampo Prize to amateur writers who has had few or no novels published commercially.

History

On 21 June 1947, Edogawa Rampo founded the Detective Fiction Writers Club (探偵作家クラブ, Tantei Sakka Kurabu), which was based in Tokyo. In 1954, the Club merged with the Detective Fiction Writers Club of Kansai (関西探偵作家クラブ, Kansai Tantei Sakka Kurabu), the counterpart based in Kansai region, and changed its name to the Detective Fiction Writers Club of Japan (日本探偵作家クラブ, Nihon Tantei Sakka Kurabu). On 31 January 1963, the club changed its name to Mystery Writers of Japan (日本推理作家協会, Nihon Suiri Sakka Kyōkai).

Awards

The MWJ presents two annual awards.

• Mystery Writers of Japan Award (since 1948)
  • Best Novel
  • Best Short Story
  • Best Critical/Biographical Work

• Edogawa Rampo Prize (since 1955): sponsored by Kodansha and Fuji Television, open to anyone who has had few or no novels published commercially. The winner receives a small bust of Edogawa Rampo and a prize of 10,000,000 yen. The novel of the winner is published by Kodansha. The members of the selection committee of 2012 are Natsuo Kirino, Natsuhiko Kyogoku, Ira Ishida, Bin Konno (ja) and Keigo Higashino.

Presidents

• Detective Fiction Writers Club (of Japan)
  1. Edogawa Rampo (1947–1952)
  2. Udaru Oshita (1952–1954) (ja:大下宇陀児)
  3. Takataro Kigi (1954–1960) (ja:木々高太郎)
  4. Keisuke Watanabe (1960–1963) (ja:渡辺啓助)
• Mystery Writers of Japan
  1. Edogawa Rampo (1963)
  2. Seichō Matsumoto (1963–1971)
  3. Kazuo Shimada (1971–1973) (ja:島田一男)
  4. Yo Sano (1973–1979) (ja:佐野洋)
  5. Toru Miyoshi (1979–1981) (ja:三好徹)
  6. Masao Yamamura (1981–1985) (ja:山村正夫)
  7. Kawataro Nakajima (1985–1989)
  8. Jiro Ikushima (1989–1993) (ja:生島治郎)
  9. Takashi Atoda (1993–1997) (ja:阿刀田高) ^[1]
  10. Kenzo Kitakata (1997–2001)
  11. Go Osaka (2001–2005) (ja:逢坂剛) ^[2]
  12. Arimasa Osawa (2005–2009) (ja:大沢在昌) ^[3]
  13. Keigo Higashino (2009–2013)
  14. Bin Konno (2013– ) (ja:今野敏) ^[4]

Anthologies

The MWJ started compiling the annual anthology of members in 1948.

• The Best Mysteries 2001 (Kodansha, Tokyo, 2001, ISBN 4-06-114902-4)
• The Best Mysteries 2002 (Kodansha, Tokyo, 2002, ISBN 4-06-114903-2)
• The Best Mysteries 2003 (Kodansha, Tokyo, 2003, ISBN 4-06-114904-0)
• The Best Mysteries 2004 (Kodansha, Tokyo, 2004, ISBN 4-06-114905-9)
• The Best Mysteries 2005 (Kodansha, Tokyo, 2005, ISBN 4-06-114906-7)
• The Best Mysteries 2006 (Kodansha, Tokyo, 2006, ISBN 4-06-114907-5)
• The Best Mysteries 2007 (Kodansha, Tokyo, 2007, ISBN 978-4-06-114908-3)
• The Best Mysteries 2008 (Kodansha, Tokyo, 2008, ISBN 978-4-06-114909-0)
• The Best Mysteries 2009 (Kodansha, Tokyo, 2009, ISBN 978-4-06-114910-6)
• The Best Mysteries 2010 (Kodansha, Tokyo, 2010, ISBN 978-4-06-114911-3)
• The Best Mysteries 2011 (Kodansha, Tokyo, 2011, ISBN 978-4-06-114912-0)
• The Best Mysteries 2012 (Kodansha, Tokyo, 2012, ISBN 978-4-06-114913-7)

References

• Shimpo, Hirohisa (2000), "Nihon Suiri Sakka Kyōkai". Nihon Misuteri Jiten(日本ミステリー事典), Shinchosha, Tokyo

1. ↑ J'Lit | Authors : Takashi Atoda | Books from Japan (English)
2. ↑ J'Lit | Authors : Go Osaka | Books from Japan (English)
3. ↑ J'Lit | Authors : Arimasa Osawa | Books from Japan (English)
4. ↑ J'Lit | Authors : Bin Konno | Books from Japan (English)

See also

• Japanese detective fiction
• Mystery Writers of America
• Crime Writers' Association
• Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan

External links

• Official site(Japanese)
• Official English site