Nara literature
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (c.660–c.720): numerous chōka and tanka in the Man'yōshūŌtomo no Yakamochi (c.718–785): possible compiler of the Man'yōshū
Heian literature
Ono no Komachi (c. 825 – c. 900)
Sugawara no Michizane (845–903)
Akazome Emon (c. 956 – c. 1041)
Sei Shōnagon (c. 966 – c. 1017): The Pillow BookMurasaki Shikibu (c. 973 – c. 1025): The Tale of GenjiIzumi Shikibu (c. 976 – c. 1027?):
Kamakura-Muromachi literatureEdit
The Tale of the Heike (c. 1212–1309)
Yoshida Kenkō (c. 1283–1352): Tsurezuregusa
Edo literature
Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584–1645): The Book of Five RingsIhara Saikaku (1642–1693)
Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694)
Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653–1725)
Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659–1719)
Yokoi Yayū (1702–1783)
Fukuda Chiyo-ni (1703–1775)
Yosa Buson (1716–1784)
Motoori Norinaga (1730–1801)
Sugita Genpaku (1733–1817)
Ueda Akinari (1734–1809)
Santō Kyōden (1761–1816)
Kobayashi Issa (1763–1828)
Jippensha Ikku (1765–1831)
Kyokutei Bakin (1767–1848)
Edo Meisho Zue (travelogue, 1834)Hokuetsu Seppu (work of human geography, 1837)
Meiji and Taisho literature
Nakane Kōtei (1839–1913)
Lafcadio Hearn (1850–1904)
Mori Ōgai (1862–1922)
Futabatei Shimei (1864–1909)
Itō Sachio (1864–1913)
Natsume Sōseki (1867–1916)
Kōda Rohan (1867–1947)
Masaoka Shiki (1867–1902)
Ozaki Kōyō (1868–1903)
Doppo Kunikida (1871–1908)
Ichiyō Higuchi (1872–1896)
Tōson Shimazaki (1872–1943)
Kyōka Izumi (1873–1939)
Yonejiro Noguchi (1875–1947)
Takeo Arishima (1878–1923)
Akiko Yosano (1878–1942)
Kafū Nagai (1879–1959)
Naoya Shiga (1883–1971)
Takuboku Ishikawa (1886–1912)
Kan Kikuchi (1888–1948)
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892–1927)
Kenji Miyazawa (1896–1933)
Denji Kuroshima (1898–1943)
Motojirō Kajii (1901–1932)
Hideo Oguma (1901–1940)
Takiji Kobayashi (1903–1933)
Modern literature
Kansuke Naka (1885–1965)
Yaeko Nogami (1885–1985)
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886–1965)
Hyakken Uchida (1889–1971)
Edogawa Ranpo (1894–1965)
Eiji Yoshikawa (1892–1962)
Mitsuharu Kaneko (1895–1975)
Juza Unno (1897–1949)
Shigeji Tsuboi (1897–1975)
Chiyo Uno (1897–1996)
Masuji Ibuse (1898–1993)
Jun Ishikawa (1899–1987)
Yasunari Kawabata (1899–1972)
Yuriko Miyamoto (1899–1951)
Sakae Tsuboi (1899–1967)
Fumiko Hayashi (1903–1951)
Tamiki Hara (1905–1951)
Tatsuzō Ishikawa (1905–1985)
Fumiko Enchi (1905–1986)
Ango Sakaguchi (1906–1955)
Osamu Dazai (1909–1948)
Shōhei Ōoka (1909–1988)
Sakunosuke Oda (1913–1947)
Haruo Umezaki (1915–1965)
Ayako Miura (1922–1999)
Shūsaku Endō (1923–1996)
Ryōtarō Shiba (1923–1996)
Kōbō Abe (1924–1993)
Toyoko Yamasaki (1924–2013)
Yukio Mishima (1925–1970)
Akiyuki Nosaka (1930–2015)
Sawako Ariyoshi (1931–1984)
Ayako Sono (1931–
)Hisashi Inoue (1933–2010)
Kenzaburō Ōe (1935–)
Michiko Yamamoto (1936–)
Kenji Nakagami (1946–1992)Haruki Murakami (1949–)
Natsuo Kirino (1951–)
Ryū Murakami (1952–)
Banana Yoshimoto (1964–)