(1934 in

Minoh, Osaka is a city in northwestern Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Its name is commonly romanized as "Minō" or "Minoo"; however, the city government officially uses the spelling Minoh in English. As of October 2016, the city has an estimated population of 134 ...

– 17 January 2018) was a Japanese physics professor at

Kwansei Gakuin University , colloquially known as , is a private, non-denominational Christian coeducational university in Japan. The university offers Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees to around 25,000 students in almost 40 different disciplines across 11 ...

and an

Esperantist An Esperantist ( eo, esperantisto) is a person who speaks, reads or writes Esperanto. According to the Declaration of Boulogne, a document agreed upon at the first World Esperanto Congress in 1905, an Esperantist is someone who speaks Esperant ...

Esperanto movement

Konishi was a committed Esperantist who first began learning Esperanto in 1948, at the age of 13. Within the Esperanto movement he was active in the antinationalist

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...

association and in the Kansai League of Esperanto Groups, the second-largest Japanese Esperanto federation. He was formerly a member of the

Academy of Esperanto The Akademio de Esperanto (AdE; en, Academy of Esperanto, link=yes) is an independent body of Esperanto speakers who steward the evolution of said language by keeping it consistent with the ''Fundamento de Esperanto'' in accordance with the Decla ...

and a Japanese Esperanto Institute councillor. Konishi translated extensively from

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

into Esperanto, including prose works like

Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal a ...

's ''

Snow Country is a novel by the Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata. The novel is considered a classic work of Japanese literature and was among the three novels the Nobel Committee cited in 1968, when Kawabata was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Writ ...

'' (雪国, ''Yukiguni'', Esperanto title ''"La Neĝa Lando"'') and of

Kenji Miyazawa was a Japanese novelist and poet of children's literature from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was also known as an agricultural science teacher, a vegetarian, cellist, devout Buddhist, and utopian social act ...

's ''

Night on the Galactic Railroad , sometimes translated as ''Milky Way Railroad'', ''Night Train to the Stars'' or ''Fantasy Railroad in the Stars'', is a classic Japanese fantasy novel by Kenji Miyazawa written around 1927. The nine-chapter novel was posthumously published in 1 ...

'' (銀河鉄道の夜, ''Ginga Tetsudō no Yoru'', Esperanto title ''"Nokto de la galaksia fervojo"''), etc. He translated many songs, compiled songbooks and composed original songs, melodies and poetry. He also wrote original works in Esperanto.Josip Pleadin,
Ordeno de Verda Plumo
' ("Order of the Green Plume", a biographical lexicon of Esperanto authors and translators), Grafokom, 2006: Đurđevac, 272 pp. A collection of his

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

works appeared in 1976 under the title ''Vage tra la dimensioj'' (次元の間をさまよって, "Rambling through the dimensions"). He also wrote textbooks, was chief editor of ''Nova Esperanto-Japana Vortaro'', an Esperanto-Japanese dictionary published by the Japanese Esperanto Institute,Zyun'iti Sibayama
Japanio: Premio Ossaka al Konisi Gaku
("Japan: Ossaka Award to Gaku Konishi"), 19 July 2000. Accessed 2011-02-09 and was active in many other areas. He wrote in Japanese about Esperanto grammar and contributed to the propagation of the Esperanto movement by

copy-editing Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material ( copy) to improve readability and fitness, as well as ensuring that text is free of grammatical and factual errors. ''The Chicago Manual o ...

its book and magazine articles for correct grammar.

Awards

For his science fiction novel ''La kosmoŝipo Edeno n-ro 5'' ("Spaceship Eden No. 5") he was awarded an honourable mention in the prose category at the 1965 Belartaj Konkursoj, the Esperanto movement's annual fine arts competition.Belartaj Konkursoj de UEA
Accessed 2011-02-09. In October 2000 the Japanese Esperanto Congress bestowed the ''Premio Ossaka'' on Konishi, in recognition of "his outstanding translations of Japanese ''belles-lettres'' and songs into Esperanto." Given in memory of Kenji Osaka (1888-1969), father of the Japanese Esperanto movement, the ''Premio Ossaka'' is the most prestigious adjudicated award for Esperantists in Japan. At the opening of the 2007 World Congress of Esperanto in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

he was elected an honorary member of the Universal Esperanto Association (UEA)

Other works

Original Esperanto writings

* ''Promenado en gramatiko.'' Esperanto grammar in Japanese medium. JELK, Osaka: 1986. 104 pages. * ''Pado de Gramatiko'', primer, anthology and grammar. * Songbooks ''Venu amikoj'' ("Come, friends") and ''Kantoj karmemoraj'' ("Songs to remember loved ones").

Translations into Esperanto

* ''La ĝemelaj steloj'' ("Twin stars and other stories of Kenji Miyazawa") * ''Notoj de la delto'' (デルタの記, "Notes from the delta"), reportage on the nuclear bombing of the city of Hiroshima * ''La ĉevalo de Motizuki'' ("Motizuki's horse"), choral suite from Katuiti Honda's ''Vilaĝo en batalkampo'' (戦場の村, "Village in a battlefield"), reportage of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

* contributing translator and editor of the photojournalism book ''Hiroshima-

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...

'' about the two cities destroyed by nuclear bombs. * ''La edzino de kuracisto Hanaoka Seisyû'' (English title, "The Doctor's Wife") by

Sawako Ariyoshi Sawako Ariyoshi (有吉佐和子 ''Ariyoshi Sawako'', 20 January 1931 – 30 August 1984) was a Japanese writer, known for such works as ''The Doctor's Wife'' and '' The River Ki.'' She was known for her advocacy of social issues, such as the eld ...

, Japana Esperanto-Instituto, Tokyo: 2008, 157pp.

Translation of Japanese literature

* "Dancistino de Izu" (伊豆の踊り子, " The Izu Dancer"), by

* ''El Japana Literaturo'' (日本文学選集, "Anthology of Japanese Literature") * "La Tombo de Lampiroj" (火垂るの墓, ''

Grave of the Fireflies is a 1988 Japanese animated war tragedy film based on a 1967 short story by Akiyuki Nosaka. It was written and directed by Isao Takahata, and animated by Studio Ghibli for Shinchosha Publishing. The film stars , , and . Set in the city ...

'') by Akiyuki Nosaka * ''Postmilita Japana Antologio'' (戦後日本文学選集, "Postwar Japanese Anthology")Gaku Konishi works
/ref>

Notes

External links

i
Original Esperanto Literature

Gaku Konishi and Endre Dudich honorary members of the UEA
''Libera Folio,'' 2007-08-06 {{DEFAULTSORT:Konishi, Gaku 1934 births 2018 deaths Japanese physicists Academic staff of Kwansei Gakuin University Writers of Esperanto literature Translators to Esperanto Akademio de Esperanto members Japanese Esperantists 20th-century translators