Named in honor of Masahiro Yamanishi (b. 1960), senior researcher at Saji Observatory. He was director of the Matsuyama planetarium, Ehime Prefecture, from 1987 to 1993 and secretary of the Astronomical Society of Shikoku from 1985 to 1993. He is an active observer of minor planets and supernovae with the 1.03-m telescope in Saji and an enthusiastic popularizer of astronomy. Name proposed by the discoverers following a suggestion by Y. Yamada.