Named in honor of Kouji Yamamoto (b. 1956), a Japanese architect and active amateur astronomer. He has also been secretary of the Astronomical Society of Oita since 1993. His main interests revolve around high-resolution color photographs of obscure NGC/IC, PK and MCG objects. Name proposed by the discoverers following a suggestion by Y. Yamada.
Discovered on 8-3-1992 in Kitami by Endate, K., Watanabe, K.