The €35,000 (£23,000) prize, which is awarded to new collections published in English during the last 12 months, is the world's richest short story prize. The prize will be shared between Murakami and his translators, Philip Gabriel and Jay Rubin.
At the Millennium Hall in Cork last night, Rubin paid tribute to the city's most famous short story writer as he accepted the prize.
"If you have read Frank O'Connor's Guests of the Nation you'll be familiar with his theme that people need to recognise each other's common humanity," he said. "Haruki's stories are similarly powerful. As a translator, I am overwhelmed and honoured and I am sure Haruki will be too."
The jury, chaired by Tom McCarthy, was made up of Irish writer Claire Keegan, English author Toby Litt, German poet Silke Scheuermann, and American literature scholar Dr Maurice A Lee. They hailed the winning entry as a "truly wonderful collection" from a "master of prose fiction".
"Murakami writes with great integrity," they said in a statement, "unafraid of dealing with tough and difficult situations between people who constantly misunderstand each other."
They praised the "terrific sense of magic" of his "truly accomplished voice", his "contemporary ability to create extended monologues of fear" and the way his stories push "deeper and deeper through layers of meaning". "Long after reading his stories, the images and situations he constructs remain unforgettable ... His writing reminds us, ultimately, that the reader comes to published work in search of magic."
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman topped a shortlist which spanned three continents. First collections from Irish writer Philip Ó Ceallaigh and American author Rachel Sherman were nominated alongside entries from English writer Rose Tremain, Nepal-born Samrat Upadhyay and Peter Stamm, a Swiss author who writes in German.
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