is an official Japanese recognition and honour which is awarded annually to select people who have made outstanding cultural contributions. This distinction is intended to play a role as a part of a system of support measures for the promotion of creative activities in Japan. By 1999, 576 people had been selected as Persons of Cultural Merit.
System of recognition
The Order of Culture and Persons of Cultural Merit function in tandem to honor those who have contributed to the advancement and development of Japanese culture in a variety of fields, including academia, arts, science and sports.
Persons of Cultural Merit
The 1951 Law on Pensions for the Persons of Cultural Merit honors persons of cultural merit by providing a special government-sponsored pension. Since 1955, the new honorees have been announced on the same day as the award ceremony for the Order of Culture.
Order of Culture
The award ceremony, which takes place at the Imperial Palace on the Day of Culture (November 3). Candidates for the Order of Culture are selected from the Persons of Cultural Merit by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, who then recommends the candidates to the Prime Minister. The final decisions are made by the Cabinet.
Selected recipients
Makoto Asashima, developmental biologist
Seiji Ozawa, conductor
Hisao Domoto, abstract painter
Toru Funamura, composer
Toshi Ichiyanagi, composer
Akira Isogai, bio-organic chemistry researcher
Tota Kaneko, haiku poet
Asami Maki, choreographer
Kyoko Matsuoka, author and translator
Makoto Nagao, information engineering
Tomijuro Nakamura, Kabuki actor
Tatsuo Nishida, linguist
Man Nomura, Kyogen actor
Sayume Okuda, craftswoman
Hiroyuki Sakaki, electronic engineer
Koichi Shimoda, physicist
Kiichi Sumikawa, sculptor
Kenichi Tominaga, economic sociologist
Naoya Shiga (1951), author
Hideki Yukawa (1951), physicist
Masuji Ibuse (1966), author (for the work Black Rain). Haruko Sugimura (1974), actress Motoo Ōtaguro (1977), music critic Susumu Tonegawa (1983), medical researcher Hisaya Morishige (1984), actor Fuku Akino (1991), Nihonga painter Ryotaro Shiba (1991), writer Isuzu Yamada (1993), actress Migishi Setsuko (1994), painter Jakucho Setouchi (1997), Buddhist nun and author Mitsuko Mori (1998), actress Koji Nakanishi (1999), chemist Marius Berthus Jansen (1999), historian Ito Masami (2000), judge Ishimura Uzaemon XVII (2000), Kabuki actor Shotaro Yasuoka (2001), writer Donald Keene (2002), educator Akira Ifukube (2003), composer Shozo Shimada (2004), artist Ken Takakura (2006), actor Tatsuya Nakadai (2007), actor Makoto Asashima (2008), biologist Nakamura Tomijyuro V (2008), Kabuki actor Taiho Koki (2009), sumo wrestler Yoshihide Kozai (2009), astronomer Sayuri Yoshinaga (2010), actress Hideji Ōtaki (2011), actor Matsumoto Kōshirō IX (2012), Kabuki actor Hayao Miyazaki (2012), film director, animator, manga artist, producer, and screenwriter Shun'ichi Amari (2012), mathematician Hiroko Takenishi (2012), author Mitsumasa Anno (2012), artist, children's author Nobutaka Hirokawa (2013), neuroscientist and cell biologist Tamio Yamakawa (2014), biochemist Tsuneko Okazaki (2015), molecular biologist Tsumura Setsuko (2016), novelist Nakamura Kichiemon II (2017), Kabuki actor Mutsuo Takahashi (2017), poet Hisashi Yamamoto (2018), chemist Moto Hagio (2019), manga artist Shigeru Miyamoto (2019), video game developer Koichi Sugiyama (2020), composer Yoshiyuki Tomino (2021), Mecha anime creator, animator, songwriter, director, screenwriter, novelist
See also
Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class (Austria) Italian Medal of Merit for Culture and Art Living National Treasure (Japan) Order of Arts and Letters of Spain Order of Honour (Russia) Order of the Companions of Honour (UK) Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) Pour le Mérite (Germany; recognised by the state, though not a state order)
Notes
References
Peterson, James W., Barry C. Weaver and Michael A. Quigley. (2001). Orders and Medals of Japan and Associated States. San Ramon, California: Orders and Medals Society of America.