The dokusho kansōbun — a book report written over the summer holiday — is a fixture of Japanese schooling, and the source of a great deal of August anxiety. The book is read. The manuscript paper is on the desk. The first line still will not come. Often what has stalled is not the writing but the question of what actually has to be obeyed. Reading the entry rules and Q&A of the 72nd National School Book Report Contest, I found more things unspecified than specified.
The short answer first.
- There is no rule on the size or grid of the manuscript paper. It does not have to be the usual 20×20
- Where the title and the name go is not specified either — "outside the frame or inside, either is fine"
- Neither the rules nor the Q&A say anything about indenting paragraphs
- Character counts include punctuation marks and the blank space left by a line break. Title, school name and the writer's name are not counted
- Limits are 800 characters for years 1–2, 1,200 for years 3–6, and 2,000 for lower and upper secondary
- Entries are handwritten vertically as a rule. But where injury, disability or the like makes handwriting difficult, a scribe or word-processing software is accepted if a specific reason is stated
- Reading via braille or audio is also accepted, with the reason and details of the original
- A book read as an e-book cannot be entered. "Only books in print form" are eligible
- Anything written by an AI does not meet "the entrant's own original work"
- Prefectures may set additional rules of their own — designated paper, how the paper is used, how work is submitted. Those are confirmed with the school
The rest of this article traces each point back to the rules and the Q&A.
This article organises the entry rules and Q&A of the 72nd National School Book Report Contest (co-hosted by the Japan School Library Association and the Mainichi Newspapers), as I checked them on 14 August 2026. How a school treats the book report as homework varies from school to school. Translations of the Japanese text are my own and are given for orientation, not as official renderings.
1. What is not specified
What surprised me on opening the rules was how little of the format is prescribed.
Paper size and grid
Use manuscript paper and write vertically in your own hand. There is no rule on the size of the manuscript paper or on the number of characters per line.
72nd National School Book Report Contest, entry rules (my translation)The Q&A says the same thing. To "Do I have to use special manuscript paper?" the answer is "As far as the national contest is concerned, no particular manuscript paper is specified."
Where the title and name go
While there is a rule on the character count, the position of the title and the name is not specified, so outside the frame or inside it, either is fine.
Q&A, "Where on the paper do I write the title and my name?" (my translation)Indenting
Reading through the entry rules and all 24 Q&A items, I found nothing about paragraphs or indentation. Whether to leave one square blank at the start of a paragraph is not something the national contest decides.
"Not specified" is not the same as "ignore it". The rules end by noting that prefectures may set their own additional requirements (section 7). If the school has issued paper or instructions, those take precedence. What is set out here is the scope of what the national contest decides.
2. What is specified — the count, and how it is counted
The character counts are clear.
| Division | Limit | On 400-character paper |
|---|---|---|
| Primary, years 1–2 | 800 characters | 2 sheets |
| Primary, years 3–4 | 1,200 characters | 3 sheets |
| Primary, years 5–6 | 1,200 characters | 3 sheets |
| Lower secondary | 2,000 characters | 5 sheets |
| Upper secondary | 2,000 characters | 5 sheets |
The counting method is in the rules too.
Each punctuation mark counts as one character. The blank space left for a line break counts towards the total. The title, the school name and the writer's name are not counted.
72nd National School Book Report Contest, entry rules (my translation)So the white space at the end of a paragraph is part of the count. Counting only the characters as you go can leave you short of your own estimate at the end. If the paper is fixed, tracking sheets rather than characters is the safer measure. The sheet counts in the table assume 400-character paper; they are not set by the rules.
On whether any length under the limit will do, the Q&A answers: "Use as much of the allowed length as you can, and express the feeling the book gave you to the full." No minimum is stated.
3. There is a route for those who cannot write by hand
This is the part I most wanted to write about. The rules set handwriting as the norm, and then continue.
Submit work written in your own hand (photocopies not accepted; digital devices not to be used. However, where handwriting is impossible and a digital device is used, or the work is written by a scribe and so on, please attach the reason when entering).
72nd National School Book Report Contest, entry rules (my translation)The Q&A puts it more concretely.
Where injury, disability or the like makes entry in your own hand difficult, entries written by a scribe or produced with word-processing software will be accepted, provided a specific reason is stated.
Q&A, "When are photocopies or word-processed entries accepted?" (my translation)There is a matching clause on the reading side.
Where the reading was done using a braille or audio version, please attach the reason together with details of the original and of the braille or audio version.
72nd National School Book Report Contest, entry rules (my translation)On special-needs schools, the rules say pupils enter "the division corresponding to their year". There is no separate division; they go into the age-matched one.
What is worth noting is that a hand that will not move and an inability to write are treated as separate things. Accepting a scribe or a word processor means what is being judged is not the act of forming characters.
4. A book read as an e-book cannot be entered
There is one more clause on the reading side.
Only books in print form are eligible, so such an entry cannot be accepted.
Q&A, "Can I write about a book I read as an e-book?" (my translation)Set beside section 3, a line becomes visible in how reading is treated. A braille or audio version may be entered with a reason attached; an e-book may not. Neither the rules nor the Q&A give a reason.
An e-book is also a format in which text can be enlarged or read aloud. What is set out here, though, is the condition for entering the contest. It does not bear on reading a book as an e-book. If entry is in view, the book itself needs to be available in print.
5. What each year group is asked for
The national Course of Study has a strand called "B: Writing" within Japanese language, with objectives set for each pair of year groups. The book report sits inside that strand. Lining the wording up, what is asked for shifts with the years.
| Years | On structure | On how it is written |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | …devising a simple structure that follows the order of events | attending to how words and sentences connect, and shaping the writing so that units of content are clear |
| 3–4 | making the central point clear, forming paragraphs out of units of content and attending to the relations between paragraphs when devising the structure | making clear the relation between one's own view and the reasons and examples that support it |
| 5–6 | considering the structure and development of the whole text so that it holds together | …distinguishing fact from impression and opinion, so that one's own view comes across |
Drawn from the objectives for "B: Writing" in Japanese language, Course of Study for Primary Schools (2017 notification), taking the structure item and the expression item for each pair of years. The ellipses mark omitted openings. Translations are mine.
Order in years 1–2; the relation between a view and its supporting reasons in years 3–4; the distinction between fact, impression and opinion in years 5–6. In the objectives themselves, this is the order in which they accumulate.
Worth noting: the words "book report" do not appear in the Japanese-language chapter of the Course of Study. It is not written up as an activity by that name; it sits inside the objectives for writing.
6. Work written by an AI cannot be entered
The conditions on entries read as follows.
Only work written in Japanese is eligible. / One entry each may be submitted for the set-book and free-choice categories. / Only the entrant's own original, previously unpublished work is eligible. / Simultaneous entry to other similar contests is not permitted. / Where there is plagiarism or improper quotation, work may be excluded from judging.
72nd National School Book Report Contest, entry rules (my translation)Work written by an AI is not "the entrant's own original" work. It is also worth noting that reading through the rules and the Q&A, the words "AI" and "generative AI" do not appear. There is no clause naming it; the existing conditions are what apply.
What is set out here concerns entries to the contest. How a school treats the book report as homework varies from school to school.
7. What the national contest decides, and what the prefectures decide
Everything above is the national level. The rules themselves say that is not the whole picture.
Depending on the prefecture, requirements may be set in addition to these entry rules (whether particular manuscript paper is designated, how the paper is used, how work is submitted, and so on). Please confirm the details with the school the entrant attends.
72nd National School Book Report Contest, entry rules (my translation)Deadlines, too, "vary by prefecture". The three unspecified items in section 1 all fall within the scope of that note; designated paper and how the paper is used are named in it directly.
Where a school has issued paper or instructions on how to write, those are the prefectural requirement or the school's own teaching. Where they appear to conflict with the national rules, the school's instruction is the one to follow. This article is for the other case — something to fall back on where no instruction has been given.
Closing
What stayed with me after reading the rules was how little is fixed. The shape of the paper, where the title goes, how paragraphs are formed — the national contest specifies none of it. What is fixed is the length, how it is counted, and that the work is handwritten.
And even at the handwriting, a route is written in for those who cannot take it. Where injury or disability makes handwriting difficult, a scribe or word-processing software is accepted with a stated reason. Where the reading was done in braille or audio, that can be entered with the details attached. Both of those sit in places you have to go looking for.
What is written here is one way of looking at it. The rules are revised each year, and prefectures set their own on top. If you notice something, I would be glad to hear it through the contact form.
Sources
- 72nd National School Book Report Contest, entry rules (co-hosted by the Japan School Library Association and the Mainichi Newspapers) official site (Japanese)
- The same contest's Q&A (title and name placement, manuscript paper, photocopies and word processing, length, e-books) official site (Japanese)
- National School Book Report Contest, home page official site (Japanese)
- MEXT, Course of Study for Primary Schools (2017 notification), Japanese language, "B: Writing" PDF (Japanese)