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

Photography

Koike arrived in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

in 1916 at the age of 38, and established a medical clinic in the downtown area near Main Street and 5th Avenue. Although he was a respected professional surgeon, his first love was photography. He was a participant in the first Frederick & Nelson art salon, noted for his pictorialist style, and innovative combination of an Eastern and Western aesthetic. He was a member of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, and was designated a Fellow in 1928. He was also Director of the Associated Camera Clubs of America. His solo exhibitions included the Kodak Park Camera Club, Rochester, NY, 1926, the Portage Camera Club, Akron, Ohio, 1927, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences in 1928, and The Art Institute of Seattle in 1929. Koike was the originator of the

Seattle Camera Club The Seattle Camera Club (SCC) was an organization of photographers active in Seattle, Washington, during the 1920s. It was founded in 1924 by Japanese immigrants and thrived for the next five years. The SCC was the only Japanese American photo ...

. Given his thriving practice in the Japanese community in Seattle, his professional income allowed him not only to concentrate on his photography but to underwrite many of the expenses of forming the club. He was the editor of the club's newsletter ''Notan''. He left all of his photographs and extensive records of the Seattle Camera Club to fellow club member Iwao Matsushita upon his death.

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 Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

all of his photographic equipment was confiscated by the U.S. government, and he was taken to the

Minidoka War Relocation Center Minidoka National Historic Site is a National Historic Site in the western United States. It commemorates the more than 13,000 Japanese Americans who were imprisoned at the Minidoka War Relocation Center during the Second World War.

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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koike, Kyo Pictorialists Portrait photographers American artists of Japanese descent American poets American poets of Asian descent American writers of Japanese descent People from Shimane Prefecture Japanese emigrants to the United States American physicians of Japanese descent Japanese-American internees 1878 births 1947 deaths