Takamitsu Muraoka, a Japanese linguist and Semitist, died on February 10, 2026, at the age of 88.
He was Chair of Hebrew, Israelite Antiquities, and Ugaritic at Leiden University in the Netherlands from 1991 to 2003. Muraoka was noted for his studies of Hebrew and Aramaic linguistics and of ancient Bible translations, particularly the Septuagint.
Born in Hiroshima on February 9, 1938, he studied under Masao Sekine at Tokyo University of Education, later completed a doctorate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and taught Semitic languages at Manchester University, Melbourne University, and Leiden.
Takamitsu Muraoka (村岡 崇光, Muraoka Takamitsu; 9 February 1938 – 10 February 2026) was a Japanese Semitist. He was Chair of Hebrew, Israelite Antiquities, and Ugaritic at Leiden University in the Netherlands from 1991 to 2003 and is most notable for his studies of Hebrew and Aramaic linguistics and the ancient translations of the Bible, notably of the Septuagint.