Dr. Monika Nawrocka

Academic career:

• 2024 Ph.D. in humanities, Department of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw, Doctoral thesis: Culinary topoi in the medieval Japanese literary tradition (XIV-XVI c.) illustrated with an analysis of essayistic writings of the Shijō clan
• 2015 M.A. in humanities (Japanese studies), Chair of Japanese Studies, University of Warsaw. Master thesis: Bentō (lunch-box) as a culinary art and social phenomenon in Japan

Research experience: 

• 09.2024 – 03.2025, Foreigner researcher at the Meijo University in Nagoya.
• 09.2017 – 04.2019, Ministry of Education, Culture Sports, Science & Technology (MEXT) scholarship for graduated students at Tokyo University.
• 09.2013 – 08.2014, Research scholarship (JASSO) for graduate students at Rikkyō University in Tokyo.

Achievements and prizes

• January 2025, I finished the master course in hōchōshiki ritual and received shihan 師範 (master) title, gagō (name) Kenni 憲仁. I was officially accepted in Shijō shinryū Clan (the official branch of the Shijō Clan). I am the first foreigner in the history of both Clans: Shijō shinryū and Shijō, who is granted the right to perform the ritual in Shinto shrines.
• February 2024, Best Presentation Prize at the “Globalization of Japanese Food” Conference at the University of Hong Kong.
• November 2019, 1st place in PhD Orient Lab Competition – English category. Organized by PhD Science Club “Orientuj się!” WO UW.

Publications:

• Monika Nawrocka, Czy japońskie średniowieczne teksty kulinarne były tylko „przepiśnikami”? – na przykładzie Shijōryū hōchōsho (Zapiski sztuki kulinarnej rodu Shijō, XV w.) [Were the Medieval Culinary Essays only so called “recipes books”? – analysis of the „Shijōryū hōchōsho” (15 c.)], in: „Japonia w perspektywie transkulturowej”, JAPONICA, Warsaw 2020, ISBN 978-83-954430-6-0
• Monika Nawrocka, The Japanese Traditional Ceremony Hōchōshiki at the University of Warsaw, in: „Analecta Nipponica” 9/2019, JAPONICA, Warsaw 2019, ISSN: 2084-2147;
• Monika Nawrocka, Rola chakaiseki – zestawu potraw towarzyszących ceremonii herbaty w japońskiej kulturze kulinarnej [The Meaning of Chakaiseki in Japanese Culinary Culture], in: Polska i świat przez kuchnię. Studia o dziedzictwie kulinarnym, red. Anna Kamler, Dorota Pietrzkiewicz, Katarzyna Seroka, Grupa Cogito, Warsaw 2018, ISBN 9788385534945;
• Monika Nawrocka, Japanese Culinary Habits Shown Through the Essays, Comical Books and Woodblock Prints of Middle Ages and Early Modern Era, in: „Ph.D. Workshop in Japanese Studies. East and Central Europe 2017”, JFBP, Budapest 2018;
• Monika Nawrocka, Zestaw obiadowy bentō w wybranych tekstach japońskiej kultury popularnej [Lunch Box Bentō Shown in Japanese Literature and Popculture] , in: Tradycja w kulturze popularnej Japonii, red. Iwona Kordzińska-Nawrocka, Agnieszka Kozyra, JAPONICA, Warsaw 2017, ISBN 978-83-945871-0-9;
• Monika Nawrocka, Bentō – The Japanese Lunch-box Culture, in: „Analecta Nipponica” 6/2016, JAPONICA, Warsaw 2016, ISSN: 2084-2147.