Noted terminal-care physician Shigeaki Hinohara is among the five people who will be awarded the Order of Culture next week, the government said Friday.

Japan's most prestigious honor in the fields of culture and science also will be given to actress Mitsuko Mori; Ryuzan Aoki, a ceramics artist; Makoto Saito, a researcher of U.S. diplomatic history; and Toshio Sawada, an agricultural engineering expert.

Emperor Akihito will bestow the orders on the five at the Imperial Palace on Culture Day on Thursday.

Hinohara, 94, chairman of the board at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo, will receive the award for contributing to improving nursing education and preventing diseases associated with adult lifestyle habits.

Mori, 85, has been praised for her performances in such popular plays as the long-running "Horoki" ("Journal of a Vagabond"), based on the autobiography by novelist Fumiko Hayashi, first performed in 1961.

Aoki, 79, will be awarded for breaking new creative ground in the Japanese ceramics known as Arita ware.

Saito, an 84-year-old professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, will be the first to receive the award for the study of U.S. political diplomacy.

Sawada, an 86-year-old professor emeritus at Kyoto University, is known for his achievements in agricultural-dam design.

It also designated 15 people as Persons of Cultural Merit for distinguished accomplishments in their fields.

Among them is Shigeo Nagashima, 69, former Yomiuri Giants manager and Japanese baseball icon.

Nagashima has been undergoing rehabilitation since suffering a stroke in March 2004.

The recipients also include Sumitayu Takemoto, a 81-year-old chanter in traditional "joruri bunraku" puppet plays, Shuji Takashina, 73, an art critic, Tomoo Masaki, 71, a pharmacologist, and Mitsuko Uchida, 56, a pianist.