Saruhashi Prize

The Saruhashi Prize (猿橋賞) is an annual prize awarded to a Japanese woman researcher in the natural sciences. The prize recognises accomplishments in research as well as the mentoring of other women scientists.

Japanese geochemist Katsuko Saruhashi retired from her position as the director of the Geochemical Research Laboratory in 1980. Her co-workers gifted her ¥5 million and she used the money to establish the Association for the Bright Future of Women Scientists in 1980. The association distributes an annual ¥300,000 prize. It is only available to scientists who are under the age of 50.

The book My Life: Twenty Japanese Women Scientists, edited by Yoshihide Kozai, includes essays by twenty of the Saruhashi Prize winners.

Recipients

	Name	Institution	Year	Research area
1	Tomoko Ohta	National Institute of Genetics	1981
2	Haruka Yamada (ja)	Kwansei Gakuin University	1982
3	Masako Osumi	Japan Women's University	1983
4	Fumiko Yonezawa	Keio University	1984
5	Mariko Yasugi	University of Tsukuba	1985
6	Yoshie Souma	National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology	1986
7	Izumi Oono	Tokyo Institute of Technology	1987
8	Chikako Sato	Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute	1988
9	Mizuho Ishida	Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology	1989
10	Mihoko Takahashi	University of Tsukuba	1990	Genetic studies of protozoan behaviour
11	Miwako Mori	Hokkaido University	1991	Development of new reactions for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals
12	Takako Kato (ja)	National Institute for Fusion Science	1992	Research on high-temperature plasma atomic process
13	Reiko Kuroda	University of Tokyo	1993	Research of the mechanism of identification of asymmetric molecules of the left and right and DNA base sequence
14	Hiroko Shirai	Okayama University	1994	Research of the mechanism of starfish ovulation and egg maturation
15	Shihoko Ishii (ja)	Tokyo Institute of Technology	1995	Research of singularities in algebraic geometry
16	Maki Kawai	RIKEN	1996
17	Tetsuko Takabe (ja)	Nagoya University	1997
18	Keiko Nishikawa	Chiba University	1998	Study of supercritical fluid
19	Sumiko Mochida	Tokyo Medical University	1999	Research of the release mechanism of the neurotransmitter
20	Tomoko Nakanishi	University of Tokyo	2000	Behavior of water and trace elements in plants
21	Hiroko Nagahara	University of Tokyo	2001	The formation and evolution of meteorites and planetary materials
22	Chikako Shingyoji	University of Tokyo	2002	A study on flagellar movement
23	Kiyoko Fukami	Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences	2003	The role of phospholipid metabolism in life phenomena
24	Haruyo Koiso	KEK	2004	Contribution to the world's highest brightness achieved in the collider KEKB
25	Motoko Kotani	Tohoku University	2005	Research of discrete geometric analysis due to the crystal lattice
26	Ikue Mori	Nagoya University	2006	Genetic studies of sensory and learning behaviour
27	Yukari Takayabu	University of Tokyo	2007	Observational study on the dynamics of cloud distribution in the tropics
28	Kyoko Nozaki	University of Tokyo	2008	Study of the precision polymerization of a polar monomer using a metal complex catalyst
29	Mikiko C. Siomi (ja)	Keio University	2009	Research of RNA silencing mechanism of action
30	Yoshiko Takahashi	Nara Institute of Science and Technology	2010	Research of shaping in animal development
31	Noriko Mizoguchi	Tokyo Gakugei University	2011	Asymptotic analysis of the explosion phenomenon
32	Ayako Abe	University of Tokyo Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute	2012
33	Emiko Hiyama (ja)	RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science	2013
34	Emi Hifumi		2014	A study on the functional protein super antibody enzyme
35	Keiko Torii (ja)	Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules, Nagoya University	2015	Research of mechanism of cell-cell communication and stomatal development in plants
36	Tamaki Sato (ja)	Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Tokyo Gakugei University	2016	Description and Systematics of the Mesozoic Reptiles