Our Town 2026 Kazumi Kikuchi
Winner of the 69th Farmer's Literature Award!
About the Farmer's Literature Award
Kazumi Kikuchi, a resident of Higashi-Naganuma, has won the Farmer's Literature Award. The Farmer's Literature Award is given by the Japan Farmer's Literature Society to recognize literary works themed around rural villages and farmers' lives. Ms. Kikuchi wrote the novel "Ten no Saibai" and received the award.
This award-winning work tells the story of a couple farming in the suburbs and a woman supporting urban agriculture. The story addresses challenges faced by urban agriculture such as waves of residential land development, inheritance tax, and shortage of successors, depicting the couple's lifelong struggle to continue farming.
Mr. Kikuchi has previously challenged the Farmer's Literature Award twice, and although both times his works made it to the final shortlist, he did not win. This time, however, he achieved his long-cherished goal of winning the award. "I was overwhelmed with surprise and joy to finally win on my third try," Mr. Kikuchi said with a smile.
About Writing Activities
Ms. Kikuchi felt that the time she spent writing was when her mind was most free, especially while raising her four children. She told us that writing is a major means of conveying things she finds unreasonable in society or things that need improvement.
She opened a pharmacy in the city and works as a pharmacist during the day, engaging in writing activities during her free time and holidays. Writing novels requires her own learning, research, and interviews, and it takes a lot of time to complete one work. She said she sets weekly quotas and steadily completes her works little by little.
Thoughts Embedded in the Works
Mr. Kikuchi is actively involved in various activities within the city, including regional initiatives such as the "Association to Protect Inagi’s Nature and Children" and the "Inagi Agriculture Fan Club." From these community activities, he has come to understand the importance of urban agriculture in preserving nature and has incorporated the challenges faced by urban agriculture into his award-winning work. In particular, his work conveys the importance of "Community Development where the town, citizens, and agriculture can coexist" to readers.
When asked about future goals, he said, "I want to write about themes that interest me, such as the question of how human life is becoming increasingly disconnected from nature, the realities of war as told by the elderly, and the warmth of handmade living learned from Inagi’s traditional house names." He also mentioned that he has unpublished works completed and said, "Encouraged by this award, I want to continue writing forever."
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