The following is a list of Japanese-language poets.

Poets are listed alphabetically by surname (or by a widely known name, such as a pen name, with multiple names for the same poet listed separately if both are notable). Small groups of poets and articles on families of poets are listed separately, below, as are haiku masters (also in the main list). Years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article.

A Abe no Nakamaro 阿倍仲麻呂 (c. 698 – c. 770) scholar, administrator, and waka poet in the Nara period Aizu Yaichi 会津 八一 (1881–1956), poet, calligrapher and historian Kaijin Akashi 明石 海人 (1901-1939), author of poetry inspired by his leprosy Akazome Emon 赤染衛門 (956–1041) waka poet of the mid-Heian period; a member of both the Thirty-six Elder Poetic Sages and Kintō's 36 female poetry immortals (or "sages") of the Kamakura period Fuyue Anzai 安西 冬衛 (1898–1965) poet and co-founder of the magazine Shi To Shiron ("Poetry and Poetics") Arakida Moritake 荒木田守武 (1473–1549), the son of Negi Morihide, and a Shinto priest; said to have excelled in waka, renga, and in particular haikai Ikuma Arishima, 有島生馬 pen-name (together with Utosei and then Jugatsutei) of Arishima Mibuma (1882–1974), novelist, poet and painter; member of the Shirakaba literary circle Ariwara no Narihira 在原業平 (825–880), waka poet and nobleman; called one of the Six best Waka poets and one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals Asukai Gayū 飛鳥井雅有, also known as "Asukai Masaari" (1241–1301), Kamakura period nobleman and poet; has 86 poems in the official anthology Shokukokin Wakashū

C Chūgan Engetsu (1300–1375), poet and Zen Buddhist monk of the Rinzai sect who headed many Zen establishments

D Hendrik Doeff (1764–1837), the first westerner to write haiku in Japanese

E Eifuku-mon In 永福門院, also written "Eifuku Mon'in", also known as Saionji Shōko 西園寺しょう子, 西園寺鏱子 (1271–1342) Kamakura period poet and a consort of the 92nd emperor, Fushimi; she belonged to the Kyōgoku school of verse; has poems in the Gyokuyōshū anthology

F Sadakazu Fujii 藤井 貞和 (born 1942), Japanese poet and literary scholar Misao Fujimura 藤村操 (1886–1903), philosophy student and poet, largely remembered for the poem he carved into a tree before committing suicide over an unrequited love; sensationalized by Japanese newspapers after his death Fujiwara no Akisue 藤原顕季 (1055–1123), late Heian-period poet and nobleman, member of the Fujiwara poetic and aristocratic clan Fujiwara no Asatada 藤原朝忠 also 中納言朝忠 (911–966), middle Heian-period waka poet and nobleman; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; one of his poems is in the Hyakunin Isshu anthology Fujiwara no Atsutada 藤原敦忠, also 権中納言敦忠; also known as "Hon'in Chunagon" 本院中納言 and "Biwa Chunagon" 琵琶中納言 (906–943), middle Heian period waka poet and nobleman; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; has a poem in the Hyakunin Isshu anthology Fujiwara no Hamanari 藤原 浜成 (724–790), poet and a nobleman of the Nara period; best known for Kakyō Hyōshiki, the oldest extant piece of Japanese poetic criticism, in which he attempts to apply phonetic rules of Chinese poetry to Japanese poetry; son of Fujiwara no Maro Fujiwara no Kanesuke 藤原兼輔, also 中納言兼輔 (877–933), middle Heian waka poet and nobleman; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; has a poem is in the anthology Hyakunin Isshu, others in several imperial poetry anthologies, including Kokin Wakashū and Gosen Wakashū Fujiwara no Kintō 藤原公任, also known as "Shijō-dainagon" (966–1041), poet and critic; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; has poems in anthologies including the Shūi Wakashū, the Wakan rōeishū, and Shūi Wakashū Fujiwara no Ietaka 藤原家隆 (1158–1237), early Kamakura-period waka poet; has several poems in the Shin Kokin Wakashū anthology; related by marriage to Jakuren; pupil of Fujiwara no Shunzei's Fujiwara no Kiyotada 藤原清正 (died 958), poet and one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; second son of Fujiwara no Kanesuke; younger brother of Fujiwara no Masatada Fujiwara no Masatada 藤原雅正 (died 961), poet with family connections to several other poets: first son of Fujiwara no Kanesuke; grandfather of Murasaki Shikibu ("Lady Murasaki"); older brother of Fujiwara no Kiyotada; married a daughter of Fujiwara no Sadakata; father of Fujiwara no Tametoki; also acquainted with Ki no Tsurayuki Fujiwara no Motozane 藤原元真 (dates unknown), a middle Heian-period waka poet and Japanese nobleman; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; has poems in imperial anthologies, including the Shin Kokin Wakashū Fujiwara no Nakafumi 藤原仲文. also "Nakafun" (923–992) middle Heian period waka poet and nobleman; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; has poems in several imperial anthologies, including the Chokusen Wakashū Fujiwara no Nagayoshi 藤原長能, also known as "Fujiwara no Nagatō" (949 – death year unknown), poet and a court bureaucrat of the Heian period; one of the "Thirty-six Poetry Immortals"; taught waka to the poet Nōin Fujiwara no Okikaze 藤原興風 (dates unknown), middle Heian-period waka poet and nobleman; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; has a poem in the Hyakunin Isshu anthology and several imperial poetry anthologies, including Kokin Wakashū Fujiwara no Sadakata 藤原定方, also known as "Sanjō Udaijin" 三条右大臣 (873–932), father of poet Asatada, cousin and father-in-law of Kanesuke; has a poem in Hyakunin Isshu anthology Fujiwara no Shunzei 藤原俊成, also known as "Fujiwara no Toshinari", "Shakua" 釈阿, "Akihiro" 顕広 (1114–1204), poet and nobleman, noted for his innovations in the waka poetic form and for compiling Senzai Wakashū ("Collection of a Thousand Years"), the seventh Imperial anthology of waka poetry; father of Fujiwara no Teika; son of Fujiwara no Toshitada Fujiwara no Takamitsu 藤原高光 (c. 939–994), middle Heian-period waka poet and nobleman; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; has poems in imperial poetry anthologies starting with Gosen Wakashū Fujiwara no Tameie 藤原為家 (1198–1275), the central figure in a circle of poets after the Jōkyū War in 1221; second son of poets Teika and Abutuni Fujiwara no Tametoki 藤原為時 (died 1029?), poet, minor official and governor of various provinces, scholar of Chinese literature and the father of Murasaki Shikibu ("Lady Murasaki") Fujiwara no Teika 藤原定家, also known as "Fujiwara no Sadaie" or "Sada-ie" (1162–1242), a widely venerated late Heian period and early Kamakura period waka poet and (for centuries) extremely influential critic; also a scribe, scholar and widely influential anthologist; the Tale of Matsura is generally attributed to him; son of Fujiwara no Shunzei; associated with Jakuren Fujiwara no Toshiyuki 藤原敏行, also "Fujiwara Toshiyuki no Ason" 藤原敏行朝亜 (birthdate unknown, died in 901 or 907), middle Heian period waka poet and nobleman; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; has a poem in the anthology Hyakunin Isshu and poems in several imperial poetry anthologies, including Kokin Wakashū and Gosen Wakashū Fukuda Chiyo-ni 千代尼, or Kaga no Chiyo, (1703–1775), prominent female haiku poet of the Edo period Yoshihiko Funazaki 舟崎 克彦 (born 1945), novelist, poet, illustrator, manga writer, songwriter, and academic

G Robin D. Gill (1951–), American japanologist who uses the haigō Keigu (敬愚) Emperor Go-Toba, 後鳥羽天皇, also known as 山科僧正 (1180–1239) Gyōi 行意 (1177–1217?), late Heian, early Kamakura period poet and Buddhist monk; one of the New Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; son of Fujiwara no Motofusa

H Hagiwara Hiromichi 萩原広道 (1815–1863), late-Edo period scholar of literature, philology, and nativist studies (Kokugaku) as well as an author, translator, and poet; known for his commentary and literary analysis of The Tale of Genji Sakutarō Hagiwara 萩原 朔太郎 (1886–1942), Taishō and early Shōwa period literary critic and free-verse poet called the "father of modern colloquial poetry in Japan" Hanabusa Itchō 英一蝶 (1652–1724), painter, calligrapher, and haiku poet Fumiko Hayashi 林 芙美子 (1903 or 1904 (sources disagree) – 1951), female novelist, writer and poet Lafcadio Hearn also known as Koizumi Yakumo 小泉八雲 (1850 – 1904) Hinatsu Kōnosuke 日夏耿之介, a pen-name of Higuchi Kunito (1890–1971), poet, editor and academic known for romantic and gothic poetry patterned after English literature; fervent Roman Catholic, co-founder, with Horiguchi Daigaku and Yaso Saijō, of Shijin ("Poets") magazine Hiraide Shū 平出修 (1878–1914), late Meiji period novelist, poet, and lawyer; represented defendant in the High Treason Incident; a co-founder of the literary journal Subaru Hirato Renkichi 平戸 廉吉 (1893–1922), Taisho era avant-garde poet Hori Tatsuo 堀 辰雄 (1904–1953), Shōwa period writer, poet and translator Horiguchi Daigaku 堀口 大学 1892–1981), Taishō and Shōwa period poet and translator of French literature; a member of the Shinshisha ("The New Poetry Society"); accompanied his father on overseas diplomatic postings Tatsuko Hoshino 星野立子 (1903–1984), Shōwa period haiku female poet and travel writer; founded Tamamo, a haiku magazine exclusively for women; in the Hototogisu literary circle; haiku selector for Asahi Shimbun newspaper; contributed to haiku columns in various newspapers and magazines Hoshino Tenchi 星野天知 (1862–1950), Meiji period poet and martial arts master; a co-founder of Bungakukai literary magazine; 8th Grand Master and a teacher of the Yagyu Shinkage-ryu martial-arts school Hosokawa Fujitaka 細川藤孝, also known as Hosokawa Yūsai 細川幽斎 (1534–1610), a Sengoku period feudal warlord who was a prominent retainer of the last Ashikaga shōguns; father of Hosokawa Tadaoki, an Oda clan senior general; after the 1582 Incident at Honnō-ji, he took the Buddhist tonsure and changed his name to "Yūsai"; but he remained an active force in politics, under Shōguns Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu

I Dakotsu Iida 飯田 蛇笏, commonly referred to as "Dakotsu", pen names of Takeji Iida 飯田 武治 (1885–1962), haiku poet; trained under Takahama Kyoshi Ikezawa Natsuki 池澤夏樹 (born 1945), novelist, essayist, translator and poet who stopped publishing poetry in 1982 Ikkyū 休宗純, Ikkyū Sōjun 1394–1481), eccentric, iconic, Rinzai Zen Buddhist priest, poet and sometime mendicant flute player who influenced Japanese art and literature with an infusion of Zen attitudes and ideals; one of the creators of the formal Japanese tea ceremony; well-known to Japanese children through various stories and the subject of a popular Japanese children's television program; made a character in anime fiction Inoue Kenkabō 井上剣花坊 pen name of Inoue Koichi (1870–1934), late Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa period journalist and writer of senryū (short, humorous verse) Lady Ise 伊勢 or Ise no miyasudokoro 伊勢の御息所 (c. 875 – c. 938), waka poet and noblewoman in the Imperial court; granddaughter of waka poet Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu; born the Fujiwara no Tsugikage of Ise; lover of the Prince Atsuyoshi; a concubine to Emperor Uda; her son by him was Prince Yuki-Akari; has many poems in the Kokin Wakashū anthology Ishigaki Rin 石垣りん (1920–2004), poet, employee of the Industrial Bank of Japan, sometimes called "the bank teller poet" Jun Ishikawa 石川淳 pen name of Ishikawa Kiyoshi, Ishikawa (1899–1987), Shōwa period modernist author, translator and literary critic Ishikawa Takuboku see Takuboku Ishikawa Ishizuka Tomoji 石塚友二 the kanji (Japanese writing) is a pen name of Ishizuka Tomoji, which is written with the different kanji 石塚友次, but in English there is no difference (1906–1984), Shōwa period haiku poet and novelist Itō Sachio 伊藤佐千夫, pen name of Itō Kojirō (1864–1913), Meiji period tanka poet and novelist Izumi Shikibu 和泉式部 nicknamed "The Floating Lady" 浮かれ女 for her series of passionate affairs (born c. 976 – year of death unknown, sometime after 1033), mid-Heian period poet, novelist and noblewoman; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; known for a sequence of affairs at the court in the capital; close friend of Akazome Emon, rival of Lady Murasaki, and mother of poet Koshikibu no Naishi; poetry praised by Fujiwara no Kintō

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