The Transatlantyk Award is an annual distinction given to an outstanding “ambassador” of Polish literature abroad.
In a statement for Polish state news agency PAP, Sekiguchi wrote: “I am an importer of Polish culture to Japan even though this is not a lucrative occupation. If someone asks me why I am doing it, I say that in this way I am repaying a debt a gratitude to my Polish friends who brought me up and educated me, starting with my first visit to Kraków from 1974 to 1976.”
The director of the Book Institute, Dariusz Jaworski, said: “Thanks to Sekiguchi’s indefatigable work, the Japanese people have been given a key to understand Poland and penetrate the mystery of the Polish soul to an extent that many other nations, including those much closer to Poland, do not have.”
Sekiguchi’s output as a translator of Polish literature includes over 50 works by writers ranging from the Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski and Romantic bard Adam Mickiewicz, through Bolesław Prus, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, and Witold Gombrowicz, to 20th-century poets Czesław Miłosz and Zbigniew Herbert.
His translation of The Doll by Bolesław Prus (1847-1912) in 2017 won Japan’s top Yomiuri Literary Award. His output also includes two volumes of correspondence by Fryderyk Chopin.
Sekiguchi’s previous Polish distinctions include the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit for Poland, the Gloria Artis Medal of Cultural Merit, and an award from the Chopin Society in Warsaw.
(mk/pk)