List of Japanese-language Poets - S

S

• Saigyō Hōshi 西行法師 pen name of Satō Norikiyo 佐藤義清, who took the religious name En'i 円位 (1118–1190), late Heian and early Kamakura period waka poet who worked as a guard to retired Emperor Toba, then became a Buddhist monk at age 22
• Mokichi Saitō (1882–1953), Taishō period poet of the Araragi school, and a psychiatrist; father of novelist Kita Morio
• Sakae Tsuboi 壺井栄 (1899–1967), novelist and poet
• Sakanoue no Korenori 坂上是則 (fl. 9th century), early Heian waka poet; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; has a poem in the Hyakunin Isshu anthology
• Sakanoue no Mochiki, 坂上望城, (dates unknown) one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber
• Santō Kyōden 山東京伝, pen name of Samuru Iwase 岩瀬醒, also known popularly as "Kyōya Denzō" 京屋伝蔵 (1761–1816), Edo period poet, writer and artist; brother of Santō Kyōzan
• Taneda Santōka 種田 山頭火 pen name of Taneda Shōichi 種田 正一 (1882–1940), author and free-verse haiku poet
• Sarumaru no Taifu (fl. 9th century) 猿丸大夫, also known as "Sarumaru no Dayū", early Heian period waka poet; one of the Thirty Six Poetic Sages; no detailed histories or legends about him exist, and he may never have existed; some believe he was Prince Yamashiro no Ōe
• Mikirō Sasaki 佐々木幹郎, also known as "Mikio Sasaki", (born 1947), poet and travel writer
• Sasaki Nobutsuna 佐佐木信綱 (1872–1963), Showa period tanka poet and scholar of the Nara and Heian periods
• Satomura Shokyu 里村昌休 (1510–1552), leading master of the linked verse renga after the death of Tani Sobuko in 1545
• Sei Shōnagon 清少納言 (c. 966–1017), middle Heian Period author, poet and court lady who served Empress Teishi/Empress Sadako; best known as the author of The Pillow Book
• Semimaru 蝉丸, also known as "Semimaro" (fl. 9th century), early Heian period poet and musician ; some accounts say he was a son of Uda Tennō, Prince Atsumi, or that he was the fourth son of Daigo Tennō; some claim he lived during the reign of Ninmyō Tennō
• Senge Motomaro 千家元麿 (1888–1948), Taishō and Showa period poet
• Sesson Yūbai 雪村友梅 (1290–1348), poet and Buddhist priest of the Rinzai sect who founded temples
• Mitsuko Shiga 四賀光子, pen-name of Mitsu Ota (1885–1956), female Taishō and Showa period tanka poet
• Masaoka Shiki 正岡 子規, pen name of Masaoka Tsunenori 正岡 常規, who changed his name to Noboru 升 (1867–1902), author, poet, literary critic, journalist and, early in his life, a baseball player
• Princess Shikishi 式子内親王 (died 1201), late Heian and early Kamakura period poet, never-married daughter of Emperor Go-Shirakawa; entered service at the Kamo Shrine in Kyoto in 1159, later left the shrine, in later years a Buddhist nun; has 49 poems in the Shin Kokin Shū anthology
• Shimizu Motoyoshi 清水基吉 (born 1918), Showa and Heisei period novelist and poet
• Shirome (fl. 10th century), minor female waka poet and common prostitute
• Shinoe Shōda 正田 篠枝 (1910–1965), waka poet and author of atomic bomb literature
• Shunzei's Daughter, popular name of Fujiwara Toshinari no Musume 藤原俊成女、, also 藤原俊成卿女、皇(太)后宮大夫俊成(卿)女, 越部禅尼 (c. 1171 – c. 1252), called the greatest female poet of her day, ranked with Princess Shikishi; her grandfather was the poet Fujiwara no Shunzei
• Shōtetsu 正徹 (1381–1459), considered by some the last great poet in the courtly waka tradition; his disciples were important in the development of renga, which led to haiku
• Sōgi 宗祇 (1421–1502), Zen monk who studied waka and renga poetry, then became a professional renga poet in his thirties
• Nishiyama Sōin 西山宗因, born Nishiyama Toyoichi 西山豊一 (1605–1682), early Tokugawa period haikai-no-renga (comical renga) poet who founded the Danrin school of haikai poetry
• Sion Sono 園 子温 (born 1961), controversial avant-garde poet and filmmaker
• Sonome 斯波 園女 (1664–1726), female poet, friend and noted correspondent of Matsuo Bashō
• Sugawara no Michizane 菅原道真, also known as "Kan Shōjō" 菅丞相, (845–903), Heian Period scholar, poet and politician; grandson of Sugawara no Kiyotomo; also wrote Chinese poetry