Private Hikotaro Koyanagi

Birth: March 26, 1885, Fukuoka, Japan
Death: October 26, 1917, Belgium
Service: WWI
Regimental Number: 697078

Hikotaro Koyanagi, before immigrating to Canada worked as a fisherman in Fukuoka, Japan. In Canada, he continued in his profession in Eburne, Richmond, British Columbia. Hikotaro married Toshi Koyanagi on May 10, 1913. On February 20, 1914, Hikotaro and Toshi’s son died in childbirth. Just over two weeks later, on March 7, 1914, Toshi died of complications from a postpartum infection. Mother and child were buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver. Distressed and distraught, Hikotaro disappeared for six months. In 1916, Hikotaro re-united with his cousin, Kazuo Harada. They lived for a few months in a rooming house at 240 Alexander Street, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Hikotaro Koyanagi enlisted in Calgary, Alberta on September 1, 1916. He enlisted in Alberta because he was not permitted to enlist in British Columbia. He joined the 175th Overseas Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and embarked for England on October 3rd, 1916 aboard the S.S. Saxonia. On arrival at Liverpool, he was initially transferred to the 21st Reserve Battalion and then to the 50th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. He was in and out of hospital with conjunctivitis and trachoma until May 1917 after which he then rejoined his Battalion. On October 26, 1917, Hikotaro Koyanagi, at the age of 32 years, was killed in action during the Battle of Passchaendale, Belgium.

After Hikotaro’s death the Canadian government sent the Memorial Cross, Plaque and Scroll to his mother, Haya Koyanagi, in Japan. His name is written in the First World War Book of Remembrance on page 270. The book is displayed inside the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Because Hikotaro has no known grave, his name is inscribed on the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium.

The Japanese Canadian Association in Vancouver, British Columbia unveiled the Japanese War Memorial in Stanley Park in 1920, upon which Hikotaro’s name is inscribed. On May 31, 2024, Private Hikotaro Koyanagi and Private Kazuo Harada’s names were added to the Richmond Cenotaph. A rededication ceremony to honour and remember these two fallen soldiers took place on October 4, 2024 at the Richmond Cenotaph.