Saruhashi Prize

{{Short description|Award for Japanese women scientists}}

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{{cite book|last1=Yount|first1=Lisa|title=A to Z of Women in Science and Math|date=2007|publisher=Infobase Pub.|location=New York|isbn=978-1-4381-0795-0|page=264|edition=Rev.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=428i2UdWRRAC&dq=Saruhashi%20Prize&pg=PA264|chapter=Saruhashi, Katsuko}}{{unreliable source|date=May 2018}} and she used the money to establish the Association for the Bright Future of Women Scientists in 1980.{{cite book|last1=Otsubo|first1=Sumiko|editor1-last=Robertson|editor1-first=Jennifer|title=A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan|date=2007|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=Oxford|isbn=978-1-4051-4145-1|page=475|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U51zs-HHchQC&dq=Saruhashi%20Award&pg=PA475|chapter=Women Scientists and Gender Ideology}} 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.