Koyata Katsugorō

was a Japanese farmer who claimed to be able to recall one of his past lives. He was studied by the kokugaku scholar Hirata Atsutane in the course of his research into the afterlife.

Biography Katsugorō was born the son of in the village of .

In 1822, when Katsugorō was 7 years old, he told his parents that in his past life he had been a boy named who died of smallpox in 1810. He also described things he had seen in the intermediate state before returning to the realm of the living. His story became well-known after it was discovered that a boy named Suzaki Tōzō had indeed died of smallpox that year in the village of . An official report on the apparent miracle was submitted by the reeve of Nakano village.

In 1823, Hirata Atsutane heard about Katsugorō's stories and invited the boy to Edo for questioning. Katsugorō and his father Genzō traveled to Atsutane's house in Edo, where Katsugorō was given candy and spent a day playing with Atsutane's daughter. Just before leaving, he timidly told his story which was recorded verbatim by . Others present included Atsutane's disciple Takayama Torakichi.

Atsutane was especially interested in Katsugorō's description of the realm of the dead, where he vaguely remembered an old man in black robes leading him across a surreal landscape at twilight. Later that year, Atsutane compiled the information he had gathered into a book titled .

In 1825, Katsugorō enrolled as a student at Atsutane's private academy, the Ibukinoya. He later gave up his studies and returned home to Nakano village where he spent the rest of his life as a farmer. He died in 1869.