Waseda Culture早稲田文化

Waseda University established the "Waseda University Tsubouchi Shoyo Award" in 2007 to continue the spirit of Shoyo Tsubouchi, who founded the university's humanities department. The purpose of this award is to select one "Grand Prize" winner and one "Encouragement Prize" winner every two years from among those who have demonstrated outstanding literary, cultural, or artistic activity. As additional prizes, a commemorative medal, the Grand Prize of 1 million yen, and the Encouragement Prize of 500,000 yen will be awarded.

As we enter the 21st century, exposed to the waves of globalization and cultures colliding or integrating with each other, we are now facing a great cultural turning point. In such a situation, we must examine the diverse cultural heritage inherited from the past, inherit those traditions, and reconstruct new creations. Since its founding, Waseda University has produced many talented people in various cultural fields, including literature, theater, and performing arts, and we are deeply aware of our mission to play a central role as a place for new cultural creation and as a source for its dissemination.

In commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the founding of our university in 2007, we established the Waseda University Tsubouchi Shoyo Grand Prize to honor individuals (or groups) who have made outstanding contributions in the field of literature and other cultural and artistic activities, in order to honor the great achievements of Dr. Waseda University Tsubouchi Shoyo Award Shoyo, who could be called the creator of modern Japanese literature and culture, and to spread his spirit widely to the creation of new culture for the future. We also established an Encouragement Award to support the talents of those who will carry on culture in the future. We hope to create an award that is widely open and has a unique significance among the many literature and culture-related awards available.

The award named after Shoyo Tsubouchi was established in 1994 by Shoyo's hometown, Minokamo City, Gifu Prefecture. Aiming to honor the achievements of Shoyo Tsubouchi and promote the development of theatrical culture, each time the award is given to someone who has been active in the theatrical world. The Minokamo City Tsubouchi Shoyo Grand Award was selected every year until the 10th award in 2004, but since then it has been awarded every other year.

Waseda University signed a cultural exchange agreement with Minokamo City in the spring of 2007, when Cultural Affairs Division, which includes The Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Aizu Museum, and Waseda University Archives, was launched in April of the same year. The spirit of this agreement is based on the university's philosophy of Regional collaboration, and as part of that, it promises to support the Tsubouchi Shoyo Grand Prize together. Specifically, Waseda University and Minokamo City will select the Tsubouchi Shoyo Grand Prize every other year, each based on their own selection criteria, and ultimately present the prize every year. While the Minokamo City Tsubouchi Shoyo Grand Prize is an award to those who have contributed to theater, Waseda University Tsubouchi Shoyo Award is an award to those who have contributed to culture in general, including literature, in light of the achievements of Tsubouchi Shoyo.

Shoyo Tsubouchi took up his post at Waseda University in 1883, and published "Tosei Shosei Katagi" and "Shosetsu Shinzui" two years later. Since then, he has played a central role in the development of literature in Japan and the introduction and import of Western culture through translation. As is well known, he was a pioneer in the creation of novels, a new Western literary form, and in the absorption of their theories. He built the foundations for the coming movement for unifying spoken and written language, founded the Literary Association in his own home, and, influenced by Western theatrical theory, successfully implemented theatrical theory and its practice, becoming a theoretical leader in the Japanese theatrical world. During this time, he also devoted himself to education, founding the Department of Literature at Waseda University when it was still Tokyo Senmon Gakko, and achieving outstanding results as an educator. In his later years, he published "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" in 40 volumes and "The New Revised Complete Works of Shakespeare" in 40 volumes, and completed a complete translation of Shakespeare, making him an active figure in many fields. It was Shoyo who believed in the possibility that cultural projects within a country could contribute to world civilization, and he undertook a wide range of cultural projects, including creation, criticism, research, and translation, and promoted a number of educational projects as a result of these efforts.

In this age of globalization, which could be called a new civilization, shouldn't we remember Shoyo's footsteps, reaffirm our feelings about the importance of the role he played in the dawn of modern Japan, and present a truly meaningful cultural guide for the times we are entering? This is why, in October 2007, marking the 125th anniversary of the founding of our university, we established this award, which we have named the Tsubouchi Shoyo Grand Prize.