Poland's Culture and National Heritage Minister Hanna Wróblewska said in a citation that, during his long-standing career as a translator of Polish literature, "Professor Sekiguchi has acquainted Japanese readers with the work of the most important Polish authors."
Tokimasa Sekiguchi. Photo: MKiDN/Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
She added that he is currently preparing a study on Young Poland, a movement in Polish arts spanning the 1890-1918 period, and a translation of Anhelli, a prose poem by Polish Romantic poet Juliusz Słowacki.
In the 1970s, Sekigushi studied at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, southern Poland, thanks to a Polish government grant.
In the 1980s, he lectured at the Japanese Studies Department of the University of Warsaw, and later co-founded the Department of Polish Studies at the University of Foreign Studies in Tokyo (TUFS). From 1992 to 2013, he served as a professor there.
Sekiguishi has translated Polish literary masterpieces such as Laments by Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski, Ballads and Romances and Forefathers' Eve by the Romantic bard Adam Mickiewicz, The Doll, a novel by Bolesław Prus, and a selection of poems by Zbigniew Herbert.
He co-translated and edited the complete correspondence of composer Fryderyk Chopin.
Sekiguishi's other distinctions include the Officer's and Commander's Crosses of the Polish Order of Merit, an award from the Chopin Society in Warsaw for his outstanding contribution to the promotion of Chopin's legacy, and the Transatlantyk Prize from the Polish Book Institute for his translations of Polish literature.
(mk/gs)
Source: gov.pl