Chichibu Short Story Literature Award Ceremony and Reading by Mizuki Umezu

The Chichibu Literature Festival Executive Committee held the Chichibu Short Story Literature Award Ceremony on June 22nd during the Chichibu Literature Festival (June 7th-29th). The Chichibu Literature Festival is an event jointly organized by Chichibu City, Seibu Railway Co., Ltd., Seibu Real Estate Co., Ltd., and Nihon University College of Art. With the aim of encouraging people to visit Chichibu again and again, the festival is a new type of festival that combines the region and literature, combining attractive tourist resources such as Chichibu's retro townscape and nature and scenery that allow you to enjoy the four seasons with the cultural element of "literature," in order to create new attractions for Chichibu.
The Chichibu Short Story Literature Award Ceremony invited submissions on the theme of "short stories that can be read in 77 minutes," in reference to the 77-minute travel time from Ikebukuro Station to Seibu-Chichibu Station on the Seibu Railway Laview Limited Express, and received 430 submissions.
At the awards ceremony, watched by approximately 400 guests and related parties, four people were awarded the Grand Prize and three Special Jury Prizes, as determined by the final judging process of judges including head judge Mariko Hayashi, Mizuki Umezu, Mio Nukaga, and Masami Ichikawa. Following the awards ceremony, Mizuki Umezu read his winning work from the Chichibu Short Story Literature Award Grand Prize. A talk event was also held as a pre-event at NIPPONIA Chichibu Monzenmachi, a lodging facility developed as part of the Chichibu Old House Restoration Project, and various other events were held around the venue, Chichibunomiya Memorial Civic Hall, including the Chichibu Gourmet Festival.

■ Greetings from Kazuhiko Kiyono, Mayor of Chichibu City and Chairman of the Chichibu Literature Festival Executive Committee
Chichibu City is a tourist and cultural city with rich nature, streets that evoke history and traditional culture, and in recent years has been making daily efforts to revitalize the town through anime and alcohol.
The Chichibu Short Story Literature Award aims to discover the literary masters of the Reiwa era, and hopes to create new interactions through the unprecedented content of "literature," and that the Chichibu Literature Festival will help Chichibu City develop into an even more attractive city.

■Seibu Real Estate Co., Ltd. President and CEO Tomohide Saito's opening remarks
In Chichibu, the terminus of the Seibu Railway Ikebukuro Line and Chichibu Line, we are operating "NIPPONIA Chichibu Monzenmachi," a traditional Japanese accommodation facility, as part of an old-style house redevelopment project, with the cooperation of Chichibu City. We exchanged ideas with the students of Nihon University College of Art about what we could do in this wonderful area, and received the proposal that led to this event. We are grateful to Chichibu City for their very positive support, which has made it possible for us to reach this day.
We hope that this event will help spread the appeal of Chichibu and its literature to a wider range of people in a positive way.

■ General comments from Jury Chairperson Mariko Hayashi
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who provided this wonderful opportunity, and as the president of Nihon University, I am extremely pleased that my alma mater, the Department of Literature in the Faculty of Arts, was able to participate in this event.
When I was selecting the entries this time, I thought that short stories are difficult to balance with an introduction, development, twist, and conclusion, and that they are a test of the writer's ability, but I was surprised at how high the level of the works was. There was a wide variety in the works, and while there were some very edgy pieces, there were also some that were gently heartwarming.
I am very pleased that the Chichibu Short Story Literature Award has produced such wonderful works since its very first year. Congratulations to everyone.

■1st Chichibu Short Story Literature Award Grand Prize Winner "Balloon Man" by Ito Hibi Grand Prize Winner's Comment

■Judges/Reading session Actor Mizuki Umezu Exclusive interview

◇About good literature
They say that the first impression is the most important thing, and I think that many of the winning works had the "attractiveness" to make you want to read more within the first few lines.
And after serving as a judge this time, I realized that the title is also important.
I thought that "The Destructive Sister and the Revived Sister" by Ekisu Tokio, which I nominated for the Special Jury Prize, was the very embodiment of this idea.

◇Difference between recitation and stage play
Reading aloud often involves reading novels in their original form, which I think allows me to better express the idea of ​​looking at myself from a bird's-eye view, unlike the theater I usually do, where I only speak lines.

◇Message to students
This literature festival was run together with fourth-year students from Nihon University College of Art. When I spoke to them, they seemed so bright and cheerful, and as a former student myself, I felt that only exciting things awaited them in the future. However, I think that some of them themselves feel that the future is uncertain.
As long as you have faith, I believe a life awaits you where you can be okay with whatever happens, whether you fail or succeed, so I hope you will believe in yourself and do your best.

■ Impressions from the interview
◇About the award ceremony
It was a day that allowed me to once again appreciate the beauty of the words woven by those who express themselves through writing.
In particular, the words of Saegusa Mihoko, author of "A Momentary Breath," which won both the Hayashi and Ichikawa Special Jury Prizes, in her acceptance speech resonated with me, bringing tears to my eyes: "I felt like I had been given a push in the back, telling me that what I had been doing up until then was not wrong and that it was okay to keep writing."
I felt it was beautiful to see her continue to work hard at what she loves, no matter what the situation, or how old she is.
I wish all the award winners continued success in the future, and I hope that this wonderful literary festival will continue for many years to come.

◇About the reading session
It was not only unusual for the work selected as the Grand Prize winner to be read aloud, but it also seemed to me that Umezu, who is also active as a writer and actor, was able to read the work with a deep understanding of the world it represents, precisely because he was involved in the project as a judge.
In addition to the excellent distinction between the male and female actors, the matter-of-fact narration conveyed a strong sense of being left behind as everyday life passes by. This calm introduction made the changes in emotions and situations in the second half stand out even more, drawing me in.
The stage direction, which was linked to the depiction of the balloons swaying, and the spotlights shining on the balloons, all seemed to further enhance the worldview of the story "Balloon Man." I couldn't help but want to see it again! I wanted to hear it again!

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on July 22, 2025 by Yurie Watanabe, second-year student at Josai International University