Shigeru Miyamoto was named an Order of Culture recipient on October 23. His alma mater, Kanazawa College of Art, also congratulated the Nintendo creator associated with Mario and The Legend of Zelda.
Recognition for a career spent making games
Japan’s Order of Culture honours outstanding contributions to the development of culture. The presentation is expected on November 3, Culture Day, at the Imperial Palace.
Miyamoto joined Nintendo in 1977. His work on Donkey Kong, Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda has become familiar to successive generations of players. His career also includes Pikmin and projects such as Wii Sports that helped bring Nintendo to people who rarely played games.
An honour shared with his collaborators
At the October 22 press conference in Kyoto, Miyamoto stressed that the games were made with many other people. He described accepting the honour as a representative of those collaborators, rather than taking sole credit for their work.
That is a useful thought to keep beside the familiar description “Mario’s creator”. A character may be closely associated with one person, but turning it into something players can explore requires designers, programmers, artists and sound teams working together.
Miyamoto was named a Person of Cultural Merit in 2019. That is a separate distinction from the Order of Culture announced this year. For OtaHub, the welcome part of this recognition is that making games continues to be acknowledged as a contribution to cultural life, alongside the affection players have long held for the works themselves.
Kanazawa College of Art · Cabinet Office · Agency for Cultural Affairs biography · October 22 press conference. Checked October 24, 2026. Illustration: Nintendo.
