Koyanagi received his medical education at the Imperial University in Kyoto. He graduated in 1908 and studied ophthalmology under Ikujiro Asayama.[3] He held a variety of positions, eventually retiring in 1942.[5] In recognition of his contributions, the government posthumously conferred on him the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Second Class.[5]
His first description of what is now known as Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada disease was in 1914.[1] This was preceded by Jujiro Komoto, Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Tokyo, in 1911.[1] However, Koyanagi became definitively associated with VKH in 1929, when he published an article in which he typified the time course of the disease as it went through its sequential phases.[1][6][7]
^Sakata VM, da Silva FT, Hirata CE, de Carvalho JF, Yamamoto JH (2014). "Diagnosis and classification of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease". Autoimmun Rev. 13 (4–5): 550–5. doi:10.1016/j.autrev.2014.01.023. PMID24440284.
^Koyanagi Y. Dysakusis, Alopecie und Poliosis bei schwerer Uveitis nicht traumatischen Ursprungs. Klinische Monatsblätter für Augenheilkunde, Stuttgart, 1929, 82: 194–211.
