 The award was initially (the first five prizes) presented in cooperation with the European Institute of Japanese Studies (EIJS) at the Stockholm School of Economics, the spa hotel Yasuragi, Judiska Teatern (The Jewish Theater), Östasieninstitutet (East Asia Institute) and Nyteboden.From 2013 it is mainly financed by the Swedish Institute.The name of the prize has been inspired by Martinson's poetry collection "Cikada", which was published in 1953 (Cikada is Swedish for the insect family Cicadidae).