A Chinese literary researcher is among the five recipients, all aged 70 or above, of the first international haiku awards, the vice chairman of the award selection committee said.

In a briefing at the Foreign Press Center in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, Toru Haga expressed his hope that the establishment of the Masaoka Shiki International Haiku Award would be a "very good occasion for Japan to be known as a poetry-loving nation." Shiki was the founder of the haiku reform movement.

Haga, also the president of Kyoto University of Art and Design, said the awards are given to people who have made invaluable contributions to the development of haiku as a global form of poetry.

Li Mang, 80, from China, will receive the Masaoka Shiki International Haiku Prize along with two others -- Bart Mesotten, 77, from Belgium, and Robert Spiess, 79, of the United States. They will each receive 1 million yen.

The Masaoka Shiki International Haiku European Institute of Japanese Studies Special Prize will be given to Kazuo Sato, 73, while the Masaoka Shiki International Haiku Grand Prize, will be awarded to Yves Bonnefoy, 77, from France. Bonnefoy will receive 5 million yen.

The awards, established by the Ehime Culture Foundation, will be presented to the winners in a ceremony scheduled for Sept. 10 ahead of the 100th anniversary next year of Shiki's death.