The University of Washington’s own Paul S. Atkins, Professor of Asian Languages and Literature, was recently awarded the 28th Yamagata Bantō Prize for his book “Teika: The Life and Works of a Medieval Japanese Poet”. This award honors individuals whose work contributes to introducing international audiences to Japanese culture. In his book, Atkins explores the work of Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241). Teika was known not just for what he wrote, but how he wrote, namely the significance of his calligraphy.
Atkins flew to Osaka Prefecture to accept the award on September 17, 2025. During his acceptance speech, which he delivered in Japanese, Atkins discussed the methods he and co-author Michael R. Zeng used in a forthcoming study for verifying the authenticity of a set of famous calligraphic works attributed to Teika, the so-called Ogura shikishi. By tabulating the frequencies with which certain characters appear in works known to have been inscribed by Teika and comparing them with the test sample, Atkins and Zeng demonstrate that the probablility that the Ogura shikishi are in fact in the hand of Teika is extremely low. Their methods developed for this groundbreaking study has potential to correct scribal attributions across the classical Japanese textual canon.
Established by Osaka Prefecture in 1982, the Yamagata Bantō Prize recognizes outstanding authors whose work seeks to promote Japanese literature, art, and thought to audiences abroad. Previous recipients of this award include Donald Keene, Earl Miner, and Edward Seidensticker. As the 28th recipient, Atkins is recognized not just for his recent publication, but for the impact his research and teaching at the UW have on campus and beyond.