List of Japanese-language Poets - M

M

• Manko 万乎| (birth year unknown – 1724) middle Edo period poet and wealthy merchant; apprentice of Matsuo Bashō
• Sami Mansei 沙弥満誓 ("novice Mansei"), secular name was Kasa no Ason Maro (fl. c. 720), Buddhist priest and poet; a member of Ōtomo no Tabito's literary circle; has poems in the Man'yōshū anthology
• Kaoru Maruyama 丸山 薫 (1899–1974)
• Masamune Atsuo 正宗敦夫 (1881–1958), poet and academic
• Masaoka Shiki see Shiki
• Matsudaira Katamori 松平容保 (1836–1893), samurai and poet in the last days of the Edo period and the early-to-mid Meiji period
• Matsudaira Teru 松平照 also called "Teruhime" 照姫, literally translated, "Princess Teru" (1832–1884), late Edo and early Meiji period aristocrat and skilled waka poet who instructed Matsudaira Katamori in poetry and calligraphy
• Takashi Matsumoto 松本たかし(1906–1956), Showa period professional haiku poet in the Shippo-kai haiku circle, then, starting in 1929, in the Hototogisu group that also included Kawabata Bosha; founded a literary magazine, Fue ("Flute") in 1946
• Matsuo Bashō see Bashō
• Mibu no Tadami 壬生忠見 (dates unknown), middle Heian period waka poet and nobleman; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; son of poet Mibu no Tadamine
• Mibu no Tadamine 壬生忠岑 (active 898–920), early Heian period waka poet of the court; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; father of Mibu no Tadami
• Michio Mado (born 1909), poet who worked for the Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan
• Taku Miki 三木卓 pen name of Tomita Miki (born 1935), Showa period poet and novelist in the Han ("Inundation") poetry circle
• Minakami Takitarō 水上滝太郎 pen name of Abe Shōzō (1887–1940), Showa period poet, novelist, literary critic and essayist
• Minamoto no Kintada 源公忠, also 源公忠朝臣 (889–948), middle Heian period waka poet and nobleman; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals, along with his son Minamoto no Saneakira; an official in the imperial treasury; has poems in imperial poetry anthologies, starting with the Goshūi Wakashū
• Minamoto no Muneyuki 源宗于, also Minamoto no Muneyuki Ason 源宗于朝臣 (died 983), early Heian period waka poet and nobleman; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; has a poem in the Hyakunin Isshu anthology
• Minamoto no Saneakira 源信明 (910–970), middle Heian period waka poet and nobleman; he and his father, Minamoto no Kintada, are two of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; his poems are in imperial poetry anthologies from the Goshūi Wakashū onward
• Minamoto no Shigeyuki 源重之 (died 1000), early Heian period waka poet and nobleman; one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; has a poem in the Hyakunin Isshu anthology
• Minamoto no Shitagō 源順 (911–983), waka poet, scholar and nobleman; one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber and Thirty-six Poetry Immortals; author of the Minamoto no Shitagōshū poetry collection; some scholars claim that he also wrote the Taketori Monogatari; original compiler of the Wamyō Ruijushō, the first extant Japanese dictionary organized into semantic headings
• Minamoto no Shunrai, also "Minamoto Toshiyori", (c. 1057–1129) poet who compiled the Gosen Wakashū anthology; passed over to compile the Goshūi Wakashū, Shunrai's angry polemical, "Errors in the Goshūishū", apparently led Emperor Shirakawa to appoint him to compile the Kin'yō Wakashū imperial anthology, which was itself controversial
• Minamoto Toshiyori, see Minamoto no Shunrai
• Minamoto no Yorimasa 源頼政 (1106–1180) poet, government official and warrior; his poems appeared in various anthologies
• Yukio Mishima 三島 由紀夫. pen name of Kimitake Hiraoka 平岡 公威 (1925–1970), author, poet and playwright
• Kenji Miyazawa 宮沢 賢治 (1896–1933), early Shōwa period poet and author of children's literature
• Tatsuji Miyoshi 三好達治 1900–1964), Showa period literary critic, editor and poet
• Mizuta Masahide 17th century, Edo period poet and samurai who studied under Basho
• Mori Ōgai 森 鷗外 / 森 鴎外 (1862–1922) physician, translator, novelist and poet
• Motoori Norinaga 本居宣長 (1730–1801) Edo period scholar of Kokugaku, physician and poet
• Munenaga 宗良 親王 (1311 – c. 1385) Nanboku-chō period imperial prince (eighth son of Emperor Godaigo) and poet of the Nijō poetic school who is known for his compilation of the Shin'yō Wakashū poetry anthology
• Murasaki Shikibu 紫 式 部, not her real name, which is unknown; often called "Lady Murasaki" (c. 973 – c. 1014 or 1025), Heian period novelist who wrote The Tale of Genji, poet, and a maid of honor of the imperial court
• Saneatsu Mushanokōji 武者小路 実篤 實篤, sometimes known as "Mushakōji Saneatsu"; other pen-names included "Musha" and "Futo-o" (1885–1976), late Taishō period and Showa period novelist, playwright, poet, artist and philosopher