The Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit award was presented to him at the Polish embassy in Tokyo during a ceremony attended by Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Sekigushi, 69, is one of the most distinguished foreign scholars specialising in the Polish language and literature.
He has translated Polish literary masterpieces such as Laments by Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski, Ballads and Romances by the Romantic bard Adam Mickiewicz, and The Doll, a novel by Bolesław Prus (1857-1912).
Sekigushi’s output includes a selection of poems by Zbigniew Herbert, plays by Witkacy and Witold Gombrowicz, as well as the complete correspondence of composer Fryderyk Chopin.
In the 1970s, Sekigushi studied at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, southern Poland. 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 Languages in Tokyo.
(mk/gs)