Most Famous Japanese Poets

Japan has produced 36 notable poets throughout history, led by Matsuo Bashō. Rankings are drawn from a cross-verified academic dataset of 152,953 people.

Category All
Citizenship All
MB
Matsuo Bashō Japanese Poet 1644 – 1694
# 1,920
KM
Kenji Miyazawa Japanese Poet 1896 – 1933
# 6,415
Mori Ōgai Japanese Poet 1862 – 1922
# 6,634
MS
Masaoka Shiki Japanese Poet 1867 – 1902
# 10,187
FN
Fujiwara no Teika Japanese Poet 1162 – 1241
# 12,114
IS
Ihara Saikaku Japanese Poet 1642 – 1693
# 12,557
KI
Kobayashi Issa Japanese Poet 1763 – 1828
# 12,921
ST
Shūji Terayama Japanese Poet 1935 – 1983
# 16,238
TS
Tōson Shimazaki Japanese Poet 1872 – 1943
# 21,328
KN
Ki no Tsurayuki Japanese Poet 866 – 945
# 26,109
SH
Sakutarō Hagiwara Japanese Poet 1886 – 1942
# 29,811
DK
Doppo Kunikida Japanese Poet 1871 – 1908
# 30,987
MK
Misuzu Kaneko Japanese Poet 1903 – 1930
# 37,867
HT
Hitonari Tsuji Japanese Poet Born 1959
# 40,652
YT
Yumeji Takehisa Japanese Poet 1884 – 1934
# 42,935
MS
Musō Soseki Japanese Poet 1275 – 1351
# 44,982
MS
Mokichi Saitō Japanese Poet 1882 – 1953
# 60,960
ST
Santōka Taneda Japanese Poet 1882 – 1940
# 64,029
SK
Santō Kyōden Japanese Poet 1761 – 1816
# 71,699
IS
Itō Sachio Japanese Poet 1864 – 1913
# 82,180