Kyo Koike

Dr. was a Japanese-American poet, physician and photographer.

Photography Koike arrived in Seattle in 1916 at the age of 38, and established a medical clinic in the downtown area near Main Street and 5th Avenue.

Poetry

Koike was also a noted poet, under the pen name . He was a member of the Rainier Ginsha, a Seattle Haiku poetry society formed in 1934 by poet Kyōu Kawajiri.

Internment during World War II

During Internment of Japanese Americans in World War II all of his photographic equipment was confiscated by the U.S. government, and he was taken to the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho. While being detained he formed a new poetry society called Minidoka Ginsha. By 1945, the group consisted of over 158 poets. Koike became ill in the camps and died in 1947, shortly after his release.