When did junbungaku—Japanese “pure literature”—begin? Histories of Japanese literature sometimes present naturalism and the I-novel as the core of pure literature. The Akutagawa Prize, founded in 1935, is also indispensable to any discussion of pure literature today. Yet there was no single year in which “pure literature” suddenly took shape as a finished genre or institution.
The 1880s saw debates about the modern novel and new forms of prose; in the 1900s naturalism became highly influential. The 1910s and 1920s brought the growth of coterie magazines, the literary establishment (bundan), popular literature, and the cheap one-yen book sets (enpon); in the 1930s, systems in which literary magazines and literary prizes selected and categorized works became prominent. After the war, new literary magazines and new-writer prizes were added, and today the very channels for publishing literature and getting it to readers have multiplied, with events such as Bunfree (Bungaku Furima, a literary fair) and digital editions.
The history of pure literature cannot be seen simply by listing famous writers and masterpieces in chronological order. It has to include the writers who write the works, the literary magazines that publish them, the companies that bring them out as books, the prizes that select them, and the distribution that carries them to readers. This article traces roughly 140 years of the history surrounding Japanese pure literature: the formation of the modern novel in the Meiji era, naturalism, the bundan and coterie magazines, the Akutagawa Prize, wartime controls, the postwar “middlebrow novel” and new-writer prizes, the arrival of Murakami Ryū and Murakami Haruki, and on to Bunfree and digitization.
Contents
- The history of pure literature at a glance
- When did pure literature begin?
- The Meiji era: how the modern novel emerged
- From the Taishō era to the 1920s: the bundan, coterie magazines, and popular literature expand
- The 1930s: literary magazines and prizes begin to select pure literature
- The war years: literature could not stay outside state control
- After the war: literary magazines return, and the “middlebrow novel” and new-writer prizes appear
- The 1960s: the “crisis of pure literature” and institutional expansion
- The 1970s: a new generation and new literary magazines
- The 1980s and 1990s: new writers, bestsellers, and reach abroad
- From the 2000s to today: venues for literature spread beyond literary magazines
- How has pure literature been carried forward?
- Has pure literature declined?
- Frequently asked questions
- Summary: a history in which “works” and “institutions” kept being rearranged
The history of pure literature at a glance
To begin, here is a broad outline of the developments from the Meiji era to the present.
| Period | Main changes | Key writers, media, and institutions |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s–1890s | Theories of the modern novel, new prose styles, early uses of the word “pure literature” | Tsubouchi Shōyō, Futabatei Shimei, Kitamura Tōkoku |
| 1900s | Naturalism, a view of literature leading toward the I-novel, newspaper serial fiction | Shimazaki Tōson, Tayama Katai, Natsume Sōseki |
| 1910s–1920s | Coterie magazines, the bundan, the New Sensationalist school, popular literature, enpon | Shirakaba, Bungei jidai, Shinseinen |
| 1930s | Selection by literary magazines and prizes; “pure literature” as a publishing category | Bungakukai, Bungei, the Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes |
| 1940s | Wartime controls and the postwar fresh start | Patriotic Association for Japanese Literature, founding of Gunzō, revival of Bungakukai |
| 1950s–1960s | The middlebrow novel, open-submission new-writer prizes, the pure literature debate, original book-length series | Bungakukai New Writers’ Prize, Gunzō New Writers’ Prize, Abe Kōbō, Ōe Kenzaburō |
| 1970s | A new generation; more literary magazines and new-writer prizes | Furui Yoshikichi, Murakami Ryū, Murakami Haruki, Subaru |
| 1980s–1990s | Arrival of new writers, bestsellers, international circulation | Yamada Eimi, Yoshimoto Banana, Tawada Yōko, Murakami Haruki |
| 2000s– | Direct sales, digitization, coexistence with established institutions | Bunfree, digital editions of literary magazines, the Akutagawa Prize |
Even this table shows that the history of pure literature is not “something that has continued in the same form from naturalism to the present.” The ways works are written, the ways one becomes a writer, the media in which works are published, and the institutions that evaluate them have all changed. At the same time, old systems did not vanish entirely and get replaced by new ones. Some institutions, such as literary magazines and literary prizes, have continued to the present while changing their form.
When did pure literature begin?
Pure literature has no single, clear year of birth. The word junbungaku itself can be found from the Meiji era, but the pure literature that connects to the present came into being as the modern novel, new prose styles, naturalism and the I-novel, literary magazines, publishers, and literary prizes took shape at different times.
Systems for publishing literary works and getting them to readers already existed in the Edo period. Illustrated popular fiction (kusazōshi), reading books (yomihon), and other works were published, and they also circulated through lending libraries (kashihon)［1］. Of course, these cannot simply be sorted into today’s categories of pure and popular literature, but the relationship between author, publisher, and reader did not suddenly appear from nothing in the Meiji era. Tsubouchi Shōyō’s The Essence of the Novel (Shōsetsu shinzui) was published in 1885–86, and the first part of Futabatei Shimei’s Drifting Clouds (Ukigumo) in 1887. In the 1880s, new prose styles were also being explored through translation［2］. In the 1890s early uses of the word “pure literature” appear; in the 1900s naturalism became highly influential; and in the 1930s literary magazines, the Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes, and publishing projects bearing the label “pure literature” became prominent.
In other words, the answer to “when did pure literature begin?” changes depending on whether one means the beginning of the word, the beginning of the modern novel, naturalism, or the establishment of the institutions that select pure literature. When the word itself took hold and how its meaning has shifted are covered in detail in “What Is the Definition of Pure Literature? A Clear Guide to Its Changing Meaning and History of Debate”.
The Meiji era: how the modern novel emerged
The Meiji era is a major starting point for any history of Japanese pure literature. That does not mean today’s pure literature was completed in this period. Rather, several currents that would lead to later literature were emerging at the same time.
The Essence of the Novel and Drifting Clouds
In the 1880s, the very idea of what a novel should depict changed dramatically. Tsubouchi Shōyō’s The Essence of the Novel was published in 1885–86, and the first part of Futabatei Shimei’s Drifting Clouds in 1887. Futabatei also translated Russian literature［2］. These literary activities did not directly give rise to later pure literature alone. In the same period there were political novels, translated literature, reading matter in newspapers and magazines, and many other kinds of writing. What matters is that the questions of what the novel is for, what it depicts, and in what kind of Japanese it should be written were being fundamentally reworked.
The current leading to naturalism and the I-novel
In 1906 Shimazaki Tōson published The Broken Commandment (Hakai), and in 1907 Tayama Katai published “The Quilt” (“Futon”). Japanese naturalism had a great influence on the later I-novel and on a view of literature that tied it closely to the writer’s own life and inner world. But before naturalism there were already theories of the modern novel, translations, romanticism, and more, and in the same period writers with different literary positions, such as Natsume Sōseki and Mori Ōgai, were also active. The history of Japanese pure literature did not grow from the single trunk of naturalism.
There was more than one way to become a writer
Even in this period, there were already several ways to bring a work before the public. Shimazaki Tōson’s The Broken Commandment was self-published by the author in 1906, while Tayama Katai’s “The Quilt” appeared in 1907 in the commercial magazine Shinshōsetsu. In the same year, 1907, Natsume Sōseki joined the Asahi Shimbun company［3］. Today the image of a debut as “winning a new-writer prize and being published in a literary magazine” is strong, but that system did not yet exist. From the very start, the history of pure literature was not a history of becoming a writer through a single official route.
From the Taishō era to the 1920s: the bundan, coterie magazines, and popular literature expand
Shirakaba (White Birch) was founded in 1910. Known for the activities of Mushanokōji Saneatsu, Shiga Naoya, and others, Shirakaba, unlike the major commercial literary magazines of later times, was a medium for literary and artistic activity centered on a coterie of members［4］. In 1924 Bungei jidai (The Literary Age) was founded, and became linked with Yokomitsu Riichi, Kawabata Yasunari, and others and with the activities of the New Sensationalist school (Shinkankakuha)［5］. Literary movements are not made by works alone. Writers gathering, having their own magazine, and publishing works and criticism there was itself a mechanism that created new currents in literature.
Popular literature developed in the same period
In 1920 Hakubunkan founded Shinseinen (New Youth), a magazine closely tied to detective fiction, translated literature, and urban culture［6］. In the 1920s the publishing market itself also shifted significantly: Kaizōsha announced its project in 1926 and began issuing its Gendai Nihon bungaku zenshū (Collected Works of Modern Japanese Literature) the following year, 1927, as the so-called enpon (one-yen books) spread. In that same year, 1927, Heibonsha also began publishing its Gendai taishū bungaku zenshū (Collected Works of Modern Popular Literature)［7］. Here the term “popular literature” (taishū bungaku) was already being used not only in criticism but also to categorize publishing products. The differences between pure and popular literature are covered in detail in “What Is the Difference Between Pure Literature and Popular Literature? Characteristics, Works, and Criteria of Evaluation Explained”.
The bundan also begins to take institutional form
In 1926 the Novelists’ Association and the Playwrights’ Association merged to form the Writers’ Association (Bungeika Kyōkai). In 1931 the association drew up a model publishing contract［8］. In the same 1920s, discourse that placed the I-novel and the “mental-state novel” (shinkyō shōsetsu) at the center of literature became strong, yet the New Sensationalists, detective fiction, and mass-market publishing all existed in the same period. The 1920s were a time when the values later called pure literature were strongly formed, and at the same time a time when the literary market itself expanded in many directions.
The 1930s: literary magazines and prizes begin to select pure literature
The 1930s are an important period for understanding the institutions of pure literature that continue today. In October 1933 the Bungakukai (Literary World) that continues to the present was founded, and in November of the same year Kaizōsha launched Bungei. In 1935 the Akutagawa Ryūnosuke Prize and the Naoki Sanjūgo Prize began, and in 1937 Shinchōsha started publishing its 19-volume “Shinsen junbungaku sōsho” (New Selection of Pure Literature) series［9］. Here, distinct institutions became prominent: literary magazines that publish works, literary prizes that select and honor works, and publishing projects that gather works under the name of pure literature.
The Akutagawa Prize did not create pure literature
Before the Akutagawa Prize began in 1935, both the word “pure literature” and debates over artistic versus commercial or popular literature already existed. So the Akutagawa Prize did not invent the genre of pure literature from scratch. On the other hand, the emergence of an institution that selects works, awards them a prize, and presents them widely to society as prizewinners was significant. Ishikawa Tatsuzō’s “Sōbō” (The Emigrants), which won the first Akutagawa Prize, first appeared not in a major publisher’s leading literary magazine but in the coterie magazine Seiza［10］. This example also shows that there was no one-way road from the start whereby “you cannot enter the pure literature system unless you are published in a major literary magazine.” What literary prizes have rewarded is examined in detail in “What Makes Pure Literature Good? What Determines the Quality of Pure Literature”.
Institutions arrived, but the boundaries were not settled
In the same year, 1935, Yokomitsu Riichi published “Junsui shōsetsu ron” (On the Pure Novel). Rather than simply separating pure literature from popular fiction, it argued for a direction of “pure literature that is also popular fiction.” In other words, at the very time when literary classifications were becoming highly visible within the publishing system, there was also debate about how those boundaries should be understood. Pure literature did not have its meaning fixed at the moment it was institutionalized.
The war years: literature could not stay outside state control
From the late 1930s to 1945, the conditions surrounding literature changed greatly. Literary history tends to focus on works and ideas, but publishing a book requires paper, issuing a magazine requires an organization, and writers themselves need an environment in which they can work. During the war, these physical and institutional conditions themselves came under the influence of state control.
The Writers’ Association’s own chronology records that in 1938, at the request of the Cabinet Information Division, the association selected writers to accompany the army. Also in 1938, restrictions on the supply of newsprint began, and cuts in paper for magazines were pursued. In May 1940 a cabinet understanding accompanying the establishment of the Newspaper and Magazine Paper Control Committee was adopted, institutionalizing decisions on paper allocation for new publications, increased print runs, and the like［11］. In 1940 the Japan Central Literary Association (Nihon Bungei Chūōkai) was launched, and in 1942 the Patriotic Association for Japanese Literature (Nihon Bungaku Hōkokukai) was formed and the Writers’ Association was dissolved. In 1944 Bungei moved from Kaizōsha to Kawade Shobō［12］.
This period is not a blank in the history of pure literature. It was a time when literature was affected not only by what writers wrote but by who could be active, which organizations they belonged to, which magazines could be published, and whether paper could be obtained. That said, the existence of controls cannot uniformly explain the stance of individual writers. Each writer’s activities and relationship to the war need to be examined individually.
After the war: literary magazines return, and the “middlebrow novel” and new-writer prizes appear
In December 1945 the Japan Writers’ Association was re-established. In October 1946 Kōdansha founded Gunzō, and in 1947 Bungakukai resumed publication. In the same year, 1947, magazines such as Nihon shōsetsu and Shōsetsu Shinchō were also founded［13］. Postwar literature did not begin from nothing; the restart of prewar institutions and the addition of new ones happened at the same time.
The postwar school and the “Third Generation of New Writers”
After the war, generational labels such as the “postwar school” (sengoha), including Noma Hiroshi and Ōoka Shōhei, came into use in literary history. Later, writers who entered the literary world from the late 1940s and early 1950s—Yasuoka Shōtarō, Yoshiyuki Junnosuke, Kojima Nobuo, Shōno Junzō, Endō Shūsaku, and others—came to be called the “Third Generation of New Writers” (daisan no shinjin). The term derives from Yamamoto Kenkichi’s essay “Daisan no shinjin,” published in the January 1953 issue of Bungakukai［14］. However, the “Third Generation of New Writers” is not the name of a group of writers who won the same new-writer prize at the same time; it is a generational category in literary history and criticism. A “generation” in literary history is not the same thing as a grouping produced by institutions such as literary magazines or prizes.
What was the “middlebrow novel”?
An important element of postwar literary history is the chūkan shōsetsu, or “middlebrow novel.” It was described as fiction located between pure and popular literature, but what counted as a middlebrow novel was never consistent from the start. Research has pointed out that the position defining the middlebrow novel by the content of the works and the position defining it by the magazines in which they appeared did not coincide. Around 1947, breaking away from the I-novel became an issue, and afterwards changes on the “pure literature” side itself also came to be recognized［15］. The boundary between pure and popular literature was not decided before the war and then left fixed.
Open-submission prizes become an entry point for writers
In the 1950s, open-submission new-writer prizes that continue today became prominent. The first Bungakukai New Writers’ Prize in 1955 went to Ishihara Shintarō’s “Season of the Sun” (“Taiyō no kisetsu”), and in 1958 the first results of the Gunzō New Writers’ Prize were announced. In that first round there was no winner in the fiction category, though there was a winner in the criticism category［16］. Here, the entry route of sending a manuscript to a publisher, going through selection, and having the work published in a literary magazine becomes clearly visible as an institution. It did not, however, become the only path.
The 1960s: the “crisis of pure literature” and institutional expansion
In 1961–62 the so-called “pure literature debate” (junbungaku ronsō) took place. What is pure literature? How should the norms of the I-novel be regarded? How does literature relate to contemporary society? It was a time when the position of pure literature itself was called into question once again. We have not found evidence supporting the simple explanation that the debate “happened because pure literature stopped selling.” The history of the debate is covered in detail in “What Is the Definition of Pure Literature?”.
While a “crisis” was discussed, new institutions also emerged
What is interesting about this period is that, even though a “crisis of pure literature” was being debated, the systems for publishing and selecting pure literature did not disappear. In 1961 Shinchōsha began publishing its “Junbungaku kakioroshi tokubetsu sakuhin” (Special Original Works of Pure Literature) series. Abe Kōbō’s The Woman in the Dunes (Suna no onna, 1962) and Ōe Kenzaburō’s A Personal Matter (Kojinteki na taiken, 1964) were both published as volumes in this series［17］. In other words, pure literature was not only works first published in literary magazines and then turned into books. In 1962 the Bungei Prize began, and in 1969 the first Shinchō New Writers’ Prize was announced［18］. That a “crisis of pure literature” was discussed is not the same as the institutions of pure literature disappearing. If anything, new entry points for producing new writers and works were being added in this period as well.
The 1970s: a new generation and new literary magazines
In the 1970s, too, the institutions that publish and select pure literature kept changing. In 1970 Shūeisha founded the quarterly Subaru, and in 1974 Kadokawa Shoten founded Yasei jidai. The Subaru Literary Prize began in 1977［19］. Meanwhile, a term used to describe the literature of this period is the “introverted generation” (naikō no sedai). It is a critical label applied to a generation that includes Furui Yoshikichi and others, but there was no single publisher or organization called the “introverted generation,” and these writers’ works were spread across several outlets, including Shinchō, Bungakukai, Gunzō, Bungei, Chūō kōron, and Umi［20］.
Did Murakami Ryū and Murakami Haruki appear from “outside the system”?
In 1976 Murakami Ryū’s Almost Transparent Blue (Kagirinaku tōmei ni chikai burū) won the Gunzō New Writers’ Prize and went on to receive the 75th Akutagawa Prize. In 1979 Murakami Haruki’s Hear the Wind Sing (Kaze no uta o kike) also won the Gunzō New Writers’ Prize［21］. The two would later develop very different profiles as writers, but at the point of their debuts both were connected to Gunzō’s system for selecting new writers. So the explanation that “Murakami Ryū and Murakami Haruki suddenly appeared from completely outside the established pure literature system” is not accurate. It is closer to reality to say that writers with subject matter and styles different from what came before, who would reach an even wider readership, emerged from within the existing system of literary magazines and new-writer prizes.
The 1980s and 1990s: new writers, bestsellers, and reach abroad
From the 1980s on, literary magazines and new-writer prizes continued to discover new writers. In 1982 the literary magazine Kaien was founded, and the Kaien New Writers’ Prize began; in 1987 Yoshimoto Banana’s Kitchen (Kitchin) won it. Yamada Eimi won the Bungei Prize in 1985 with Bedtime Eyes (Beddotaimu aizu), and Tawada Yōko in 1991 and Abe Kazushige in 1994 won the Gunzō New Writers’ Prize［22］. What this shows is that the open-submission new-writer prize system established in the 1950s and 1960s, while not frozen in place, spread across multiple outlets and continued to supply new writers in the 1980s and 1990s. Meanwhile, Bungei changed from monthly to quarterly in 1986, and Kaien ceased publication in 1996［23］.
Bestselling writers also emerged from pure-literature new-writer systems
In 1987 Murakami Haruki’s Norwegian Wood (Noruwei no mori) was published and gained an enormous readership. Murakami Haruki was a writer who emerged through the Gunzō new-writer prize, and he came to reach a readership on a scale that cannot be explained by literary-magazine readers alone. Yoshimoto Banana’s works, too, went on to be published outside Japan. In other words, pure-literature new-writer systems are not opposed to reaching a broad readership or circulating internationally. However, the success of a single writer or a single work cannot be taken as a stand-in for the sales of pure literature as a whole in that period.
From the 2000s to today: venues for literature spread beyond literary magazines
On November 3, 2002, the first Bunfree (Bungaku Furima) was held［24］. Bunfree is now one of the largest venues where authors can sell literary works directly, without going through a commercial publisher. Interestingly, its founding was not entirely cut off from the established commercial literary magazines. The organizers’ own account of its history explicitly notes the connection between a provocation by Ōtsuka Eiji published in Gunzō and the founding of Bunfree［24］. Commercial literary magazines and direct sales are not simply divided into “old literature” and “new literature.”
The link between literary magazines and the Akutagawa Prize continues
Meanwhile, the traditional institutions remain. In 2016 Murata Sayaka’s Convenience Store Woman (Konbini ningen), published in Bungakukai, won the Akutagawa Prize［25］. In the 2020s, too, works published in several literary magazines have been Akutagawa Prize nominees and winners. The increase in new publishing channels does not mean that the system of literary magazines and prizes has disappeared.
Literary magazines are going digital too
Bungakukai launched a digital edition starting with its September 2023 issue. Shōsetsu Yasei jidai has also sold a digital edition alongside print since its December 2020 issue; the National Diet Library’s bibliographic record confirms continuous publication of the print edition through the April 2021 issue, and announcements of digital-edition issues continue after that［26］. The shift from paper to digital shows that the very media through which literature reaches readers are changing. Web fiction platforms, social media, digital literary magazines, Bunfree, and online coterie activity are, however, each different mechanisms. Pure literature today is not a world in which the old institutions have been swept away, but a state in which the system of literary magazines, literary prizes, and new-writer prizes coexists with new channels for publishing and selling.
How has pure literature been carried forward?
Looking back over this history, today’s pure literature has a well-known route: submit to a new-writer prize → be selected → be published in a literary magazine → be published as a book → in some cases, go on to literary prizes such as the Akutagawa Prize. In an official interview, Bungei Shunjū editor Asai Mariko explains the practical workflow in which the editorial staff divide up and read the manuscripts submitted for the Bungakukai New Writers’ Prize and discuss the finalists［27］.
But this system is not the only path to pure literature. The Broken Commandment was self-published. “Sōbō” went from a coterie magazine to the Akutagawa Prize. The Woman in the Dunes was published through an original book-length pure literature series. Murakami Haruki began his career by winning the Gunzō New Writers’ Prize, but he did not need to win the Akutagawa Prize. Pure literature has not produced writers by means of a single conveyor belt. In every period there have been multiple entry points: coterie magazines, newspapers, literary magazines, publishers, new-writer prizes, original book-length works, literary prizes, direct sales, and more.
Nor do institutions alone determine the value of a work. Magazines and prizes can publish and honor works, but whether a work’s prose, structure, understanding of human beings, originality, and so on are excellent is a separate question. The meaning of pure literature itself is laid out in “What Is Pure Literature?”, and the evaluation of works in “What Makes Pure Literature Good? What Determines the Quality of Pure Literature”.
Has pure literature declined?
Explanations such as “people used to read pure literature, but now it doesn’t sell” or “pure literature magazines are already in decline” are common. It is true that the environment around literary magazines has changed. Bungei moved from monthly to quarterly publication, and Kaien ceased publication. Yasei jidai ended continuous publication of its print edition, while its digital edition continues. On the other hand, outlets such as Shinchō, Bungakukai, Gunzō, Bungei, and Subaru still exist, and new-writer prizes and the Akutagawa Prize continue. So one can say neither that “nothing has changed” nor that “the institutions of pure literature have disappeared.”
Even harder to assess is the claim that “pure literature no longer sells.” Statistics exist for Japan’s overall publishing market in 2025, combining print and digital, but these do not measure the market for pure literature alone［28］. In our research, we could not find statistics that classify books belonging to “pure literature” by a consistent standard over a long period and allow their sales value or copies to be compared. Therefore, it is not possible—at least from the materials used here—to present a figure such as “the pure literature market has shrunk by X% compared with the past” on a sound basis. When thinking about pure literature today, one needs to separate what has ended, what has shrunk, what has gone digital, and what still continues.
Frequently asked questions
When did pure literature begin?
There is no single year of birth. The word “pure literature” can be found from the Meiji era, but the pure literature that connects to the present came into being as the modern novel, naturalism, the I-novel, literary magazines, publishers, and literary prizes took shape at different times.
Did Japanese pure literature begin with naturalism?
Naturalism had a great influence on the later history of pure literature, but it was not the only starting point. Before naturalism there were The Essence of the Novel, translated literature, romanticism, and more, and in the same period there were different literary activities, such as those of Natsume Sōseki and Mori Ōgai.
Did the Akutagawa Prize create pure literature?
The word “pure literature” and the literary distinction it implies existed before the Akutagawa Prize was established in 1935. So it cannot be said that the Akutagawa Prize created pure literature from scratch. It has, however, played a major role as an institution that selects works of pure literature, honors them, and presents them to society.
Were pure and popular literature completely separate in the past?
Not completely. In the 1930s there were debates questioning the relationship between pure literature and popular fiction, and after the war the boundary itself became an issue in discussions of the middlebrow novel.
Who are the representative writers of pure literature?
It depends on the period. Writers often cited as important to the history of pure literature include Futabatei Shimei in the formative period of the modern novel; Shimazaki Tōson and Tayama Katai in naturalism; Shiga Naoya, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, Yokomitsu Riichi, and Kawabata Yasunari from the Taishō era to the early Shōwa era; and, from the postwar period on, Abe Kōbō, Ōe Kenzaburō, Furui Yoshikichi, Murakami Ryū, and Murakami Haruki. However, not all of a single writer’s works necessarily belong to the same category.
Has pure literature disappeared today?
No. Literary prizes, literary magazines, and open-submission new-writer prizes devoted to pure literature still exist. At the same time, the ways of publishing and circulating works, such as digital editions and Bunfree, have increased.
Do you have to win a literary magazine’s new-writer prize to become a pure literature writer?
There is no such rule. New-writer prizes are one of the important entry points today, but historically other routes such as coterie magazines, original book-length works, and self-publishing have also existed. Winning the Akutagawa Prize is not a requirement for a sustained writing career either.
Summary: a history in which “works” and “institutions” kept being rearranged
The history of pure literature is not the history of a single literary movement that was born and has continued unchanged to the present. In the Meiji era, a modern conception of the novel and new prose styles took shape, and multiple kinds of literature, including naturalism and newspaper fiction, developed in parallel. From the Taishō era to the 1920s, coterie magazines, the bundan, the New Sensationalists, detective fiction, enpon, and more spread, and in the 1930s institutions that publish, select, and classify works became prominent: Bungakukai and Bungei, the Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes, and publishing projects bearing the name “pure literature.”
During the war, writers’ organizations, magazines, and even paper came under the influence of state control. After the war, literary magazines were revived and founded, and a new literary landscape emerged with the middlebrow novel, new-writer prizes, and the “Third Generation of New Writers.” The institutions were not completed at that point either: in the 1960s, while a “crisis of pure literature” was debated, new original book-length series and new-writer prizes began. From the 1970s through the 1990s new magazines and writers continued to appear, and there were cases of writers who came out of literary magazines’ new-writer systems reaching huge readerships and audiences abroad. Since the 2000s, new mechanisms for publishing and distribution such as Bunfree and digital editions have been added, while traditional institutions such as literary magazines, new-writer prizes, and the Akutagawa Prize have continued to the present.
The history of pure literature is neither a history of works alone nor a history of literary prizes alone. It is a history in which multiple mechanisms—writers, works, readers, literary magazines, publishers, literary prizes, criticism, coterie magazines, direct sales, and more—have been added, disappeared, and changed form from one period to the next. That is why it cannot be explained by a single storyline in which pure literature “began with naturalism, was completed by the Akutagawa Prize, and declined because of the internet.” Pure literature has continued to the present while changing not only how works are written but also the very mechanisms by which they are published, selected, evaluated, and delivered to readers.
About the research for this article
This article is based on unpublished research materials on literary and institutional history prepared by the Viscera editorial team for the production of this article, and examines publishing, literary magazines, writers’ organizations, literary prizes, new-writer prizes, book distribution, and related matters from the Meiji era to the 2020s. Rather than simply listing writers and works in chronological order, the research distinguished institutional questions such as “who enabled a work to be published,” “which outlet printed it,” “which institution selected new writers,” “how war and paper controls affected publishing,” and “how to treat the shift from print to digital.”
We also distinguished between publishers’ own company histories, official bibliographic records, records kept by prize organizers, research papers, and other sources, and did not treat a publisher’s own retrospective account as equivalent to independent third-party confirmation. For matters where we did not directly check the original magazines, or where no market statistics exist, we have not made assertions beyond that scope. For this reason, this article does not adopt linear historical narratives such as “pure literature began with naturalism,” “the pure literature system was completed in the 1930s,” “the boundary between pure and popular literature disappeared after the war,” “pure literature stopped selling,” or “the internet destroyed the pure literature system.”
Notes
Most sources below are in Japanese. Original titles are given with English translations in brackets.
［1］On Edo-period publishers, lending libraries, kusazōshi, yomihon, and related topics, we referred to the National Diet Library’s exhibitions on the history of publishing culture. 国立国会図書館「日本の出版文化史」 [National Diet Library, “History of Publishing Culture in Japan”]
［2］On Tsubouchi Shōyō’s The Essence of the Novel, Futabatei Shimei’s Drifting Clouds, and Futabatei’s translation work, we referred to National Diet Library bibliographic records, biographical materials, and its exhibition on translated literature. 国立国会図書館サーチ『小説神髄』 [NDL Search, Shōsetsu shinzui]／国立国会図書館「近代日本人の肖像 二葉亭四迷」 [National Diet Library, “Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures: Futabatei Shimei”]／国立国会図書館「翻訳文学」関連展示 [National Diet Library, exhibition on translated literature]
［3］On the first-edition bibliographic record of Shimazaki Tōson’s The Broken Commandment, the first publication of Tayama Katai’s “The Quilt,” and Natsume Sōseki’s joining the Asahi Shimbun company in 1907. CiNii Books『破戒』 [CiNii Books, Hakai]／さいたま文学館関連資料 [Saitama Museum of Literature, related materials]／新宿区立漱石山房記念館「夏目漱石の生涯」 [Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum, Shinjuku City, “Soseki’s Life”]
［4］On the founding and publication of Shirakaba, we referred to a bibliographic explanation in the National Diet Library’s Collaborative Reference Database. レファレンス協同データベース「白樺」関連資料 [Collaborative Reference Database, materials on Shirakaba]
［5］On Bungei jidai, we referred to the CiNii Books bibliographic record. CiNii Books『文藝時代』 [CiNii Books, Bungei jidai]
［6］On the founding and publication of Shinseinen, we referred to the NDL Search bibliographic record. 国立国会図書館サーチ『新青年』 [NDL Search, Shinseinen]
［7］On Kaizōsha’s enpon, we referred to the National Diet Library’s digital exhibition; on Heibonsha’s Gendai taishū bungaku zenshū, to the National Diet Library’s bibliographic record. This does not mean we audited the publication order of every volume in the series. 国立国会図書館「円本」関連展示 [National Diet Library, exhibition on enpon]／国立国会図書館『現代大衆文学全集』 [National Diet Library, Gendai taishū bungaku zenshū]
［8］Japan Writers’ Association, “Chronology.” We referred to it for the founding of the Writers’ Association in 1926, the preparation of a publishing contract in 1931, and related events. 日本文藝家協会「沿革」 [Japan Writers’ Association, “Chronology”]
［9］On the founding of Bungakukai and Bungei in 1933, the establishment of the Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes in 1935, and the “Shinsen junbungaku sōsho” series of 1937. CiNii Books『文學界』 [CiNii Books, Bungakukai]／河出書房新社「文藝」 [Kawade Shobō Shinsha, “Bungei”]／文藝春秋「文学賞」 [Bungei Shunjū, “Literary Prizes”]／新潮社「新潮社の沿革」 [Shinchōsha, “History of Shinchōsha”]
［10］On Ishikawa Tatsuzō’s “Sōbō,” winner of the first Akutagawa Prize, and the magazine in which it first appeared, Seiza, we referred to the prize records of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature. 日本文学振興会「芥川賞受賞者一覧」 [Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature, “List of Akutagawa Prize Winners”]
［11］On the 1938 restrictions on the supply of newsprint, we referred to a research document compiling publishing-related laws and regulations. For the “Cabinet Understanding Accompanying the Establishment of the Newspaper and Magazine Paper Control Committee” of May 17, 1940, we referred to the text posted by the National Diet Library. On the 1938 selection of writers to accompany the army, we referred to the Japan Writers’ Association chronology. 日比嘉高「内地・外地の出版関連主要法令対照年表・稿」 [Hibi Yoshitaka, “A Draft Comparative Chronology of Major Publishing-Related Laws in the Japanese Mainland and Overseas Territories”]／国立国会図書館「新聞雑誌用紙統制委員会設置に伴う閣議了解事項」 [National Diet Library, “Cabinet Understanding Accompanying the Establishment of the Newspaper and Magazine Paper Control Committee”]／日本文藝家協会「沿革」 [Japan Writers’ Association, “Chronology”]
［12］On the Japan Central Literary Association, the Patriotic Association for Japanese Literature, the dissolution of the Writers’ Association, and the transfer of Bungei from Kaizōsha to Kawade Shobō, we referred to the Japan Writers’ Association chronology, bibliographic records, and Kawade Shobō Shinsha’s history of the magazine. 日本文藝家協会「沿革」 [Japan Writers’ Association, “Chronology”]／河出書房新社「文藝」 [Kawade Shobō Shinsha, “Bungei”]
［13］On the re-establishment of the Japan Writers’ Association, the founding of Gunzō, the revival of Bungakukai, and related events. 日本文藝家協会「沿革」 [Japan Writers’ Association, “Chronology”]／講談社「群像について」 [Kōdansha, “About Gunzō”]／CiNii Books『文學界』 [CiNii Books, Bungakukai]／新潮社「新潮社の沿革 II 基盤」 [Shinchōsha, “History of Shinchōsha II: Foundations”]
［14］The “Third Generation of New Writers” is a literary-historical term for writers such as Yasuoka Shōtarō, Yoshiyuki Junnosuke, Kojima Nobuo, Shōno Junzō, and Endō Shūsaku who entered the literary world from the late 1940s and early 1950s on (the latter half of Shōwa 20–29); it derives from Yamamoto Kenkichi’s essay “Daisan no shinjin” (Bungakukai, January 1953). コトバンク「第三の新人」 [Kotobank, “Daisan no shinjin”]
［15］丸山倫世「昭和20年代における中間小説―その文学的位置づけと変遷」 [Maruyama, “The Middlebrow Novel in the Shōwa 20s (1945–1954): Its Literary Position and Development”], Jinbun kenkyū 66, 2015. Some of the primary discourse was confirmed through this paper, and we did not directly check all of the original magazines. 大阪市立大学学術機関リポジトリ掲載ページ [Osaka City University institutional repository page]
［16］On the first Bungakukai New Writers’ Prize and the early history of the Gunzō New Writers’ Prize. According to the official history of the Gunzō New Writers’ Prize, the first results were announced in the August 1958 issue; there was no winning work in the fiction category, but there was a winning work in the criticism category. 文藝春秋「文學界新人賞」 [Bungei Shunjū, “Bungakukai New Writers’ Prize”]／講談社「群像新人文学賞 当選作・優秀作一覧」 [Kōdansha, “Gunzō New Writers’ Prize: List of Winning and Commended Works”]
［17］Shinchōsha began publishing its “Junbungaku kakioroshi tokubetsu sakuhin” series in 1961. Abe Kōbō’s The Woman in the Dunes and Ōe Kenzaburō’s A Personal Matter can both be confirmed as works in this series. 新潮社「新潮社の沿革 II 基盤」 [Shinchōsha, “History of Shinchōsha II: Foundations”]／新潮社『波』編集長欄 [Shinchōsha, Nami, editor’s column]
［18］On the history of the Bungei Prize and the Shinchō New Writers’ Prize, we referred to materials from each organizing publisher. 河出書房新社「文藝賞」 [Kawade Shobō Shinsha, “Bungei Prize”]／新潮社「新潮新人賞」 [Shinchōsha, “Shinchō New Writers’ Prize”]
［19］On the founding of Subaru, the Subaru Literary Prize, and the bibliographic record of Yasei jidai. 集英社「沿革」 [Shūeisha, “History”]／集英社「すばる文学賞」関連ページ [Shūeisha, page on the Subaru Literary Prize]／国立国会図書館サーチ『野性時代』 [NDL Search, Yasei jidai]
［20］The “introverted generation” is a critical generational label, and the magazines in which these writers’ works first appeared are spread across multiple outlets. 講談社『内向の世代』関連書誌 [Kōdansha, bibliographic record related to Naikō no sedai]
［21］On Murakami Ryū’s Almost Transparent Blue and Murakami Haruki’s Hear the Wind Sing winning the Gunzō New Writers’ Prize, we referred to Kōdansha’s official history. 講談社「群像新人文学賞 当選作・優秀作一覧」 [Kōdansha, “Gunzō New Writers’ Prize: List of Winning and Commended Works”]
［22］On Kaien and the Kaien New Writers’ Prize, Yoshimoto Banana’s award, Yamada Eimi’s Bungei Prize, and the Gunzō New Writers’ Prizes of Tawada Yōko and Abe Kazushige. 国立国会図書館サーチ『海燕新人文学賞受賞作品集 1982–1996』 [NDL Search, Kaien New Writers’ Prize Winning Works 1982–1996]／吉本ばなな公式サイト「プロフィール」 [Yoshimoto Banana official website, “Profile”]／河出書房新社「文藝賞」 [Kawade Shobō Shinsha, “Bungei Prize”]／講談社「群像新人文学賞 当選作・優秀作一覧」 [Kōdansha, “Gunzō New Writers’ Prize: List of Winning and Commended Works”]
［23］On the publication format of Bungei and the end of Kaien, we referred to bibliographic records. CiNii Books『文藝』 [CiNii Books, Bungei]／国立国会図書館サーチ『海燕新人文学賞受賞作品集 1982–1996』 [NDL Search, Kaien New Writers’ Prize Winning Works 1982–1996]
［24］On the founding of Bunfree, the date of the first event, and the organizers’ own definition of its activities, we referred to the organizers’ materials. 文学フリマ「文学フリマとは」 [Bunfree, “What Is Bunfree?”]／文学フリマ「文学フリマの歴史」 [Bunfree, “History of Bunfree”]
［25］Murata Sayaka’s Convenience Store Woman won the 155th Akutagawa Prize (first half of 2016). For the magazine of publication and the prize record, we referred to the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature. 日本文学振興会「芥川賞受賞者一覧」 [Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature, “List of Akutagawa Prize Winners”]
［26］The digital edition of Bungakukai began with the September 2023 issue. For Yasei jidai, we referred separately to the National Diet Library’s bibliographic record of the print edition and to KADOKAWA’s announcements of the digital edition. 文藝春秋「『文學界』電子版、9月号よりスタート」 [Bungei Shunjū, “Bungakukai Digital Edition Starts with the September Issue”]／国立国会図書館サーチ『野性時代』 [NDL Search, Yasei jidai]／KADOKAWA『小説 野性時代』刊行案内 [KADOKAWA, publication notice for Shōsetsu Yasei jidai]
［27］In an official Bungei Shunjū interview, editor Asai Mariko explains the selection of manuscripts submitted for the Bungakukai New Writers’ Prize and her editorial work. We use it as one present-day example and do not generalize it to all publishers or all periods. 文藝春秋「MISSION #01 文藝編集者に一番大切なのは、『好き！』を伝える熱量」 [Bungei Shunjū, “MISSION #01: What Matters Most for a Literary Editor Is the Passion to Convey ‘I Love This!’”]
［28］Estimate of the 2025 print and digital publishing market by the All Japan Magazine and Book Publisher’s and Editor’s Association’s Research Institute for Publications. These are statistics for the publishing market as a whole and are not used as a measure of the market size of pure literature alone. 全国出版協会・出版科学研究所「2025年出版市場」ニュースリリース [Research Institute for Publications, “2025 Publishing Market” news release]
References and main sources
- 国立国会図書館「日本の出版文化史」 [National Diet Library, “History of Publishing Culture in Japan”]
- 日本文藝家協会「沿革」 [Japan Writers’ Association, “Chronology”]
- 日本文学振興会「芥川賞受賞者一覧」 [Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature, “List of Akutagawa Prize Winners”]
- 日本文学振興会「各賞紹介」 [Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature, “About the Prizes”]
- 新潮社「新潮社の沿革」 [Shinchōsha, “History of Shinchōsha”]
- 河出書房新社「文藝」 [Kawade Shobō Shinsha, “Bungei”]
- 講談社「群像について」 [Kōdansha, “About Gunzō”]
- 講談社「群像新人文学賞 当選作・優秀作一覧」 [Kōdansha, “Gunzō New Writers’ Prize: List of Winning and Commended Works”]
- 集英社「沿革」 [Shūeisha, “History”]
- 文学フリマ「文学フリマとは」 [Bunfree, “What Is Bunfree?”]
- 文学フリマ「文学フリマの歴史」 [Bunfree, “History of Bunfree”]
- 丸山倫世「昭和20年代における中間小説―その文学的位置づけと変遷」 [Maruyama, “The Middlebrow Novel in the Shōwa 20s (1945–1954): Its Literary Position and Development”]
- 木村政樹「『アクチュアリティ』の時代―純文学論争における平野謙」 [Kimura Masaki, “The Age of ‘Actuality’: Hirano Ken in the Pure Literature Debate”]
- 大澤聡「脱神聖化する文学領域―大宅壮一の文壇ジャーナリズム論」 [Ōsawa Satoshi, “The Desacralizing Literary Field: Ōya Sōichi’s Theory of Bundan Journalism”]
- 文藝春秋「『文學界』電子版、9月号よりスタート」 [Bungei Shunjū, “Bungakukai Digital Edition Starts with the September Issue”]
- 文藝春秋・浅井茉莉子インタビュー [Bungei Shunjū, interview with Asai Mariko]
- 全国出版協会・出版科学研究所「2025年出版市場」ニュースリリース [Research Institute for Publications, “2025 Publishing Market” news release]
Translated from the Japanese original, “純文学の歴史をわかりやすく解説｜明治から現代まで、文芸誌・文学賞・出版社から見る”. Quotations from Japanese sources are our own translations.