Japanese poetry is poetry of or typical of Japan, or written, spoken, or chanted in the Japanese language, which includes Old Japanese, Early Middle Japanese, Late Middle Japanese, and Modern Japanese, and may perhaps include the poetry in Japan which was written in the Chinese language: it is possible to make a more accurate distinction between Japanese poetry written in Japan or by Japanese people in other languages versus that written in the Japanese language by speaking of Japanese-language poetry. Much of the literary record of Japanese poetry begins when Japanese poets encountered Chinese poetry during the Tang Dynasty (although the Shijing was well known by the literati of Japan by the 6th century). It took several hundred years to digest the foreign impact and make it an integral part of Japanese culture and to merge it with into a Japanese language literary tradition, and then later to develop the diversity of unique poetic forms of native poetry. For example, in the Tale of Genji both kinds of poetry are frequently mentioned.

Fujiwara no Teika (Japanese: 藤原 定家), also known as Fujiwara no Sadaie or Sada-ie, (1162 – September 26, 1241) was a Japanese poet, critic,calligrapher, novelist,anthologist, scribe, and scholar of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. His influence was enormous, and he is even to this day counted as among the greatest of Japanese poets, and perhaps the greatest master of the waka form - an ancient poetic form consisting of five lines with a total of 31 syllables.

Teika's critical ideas on composing poetry were extremely influential and studied until as late as the Meiji era. A member of a poetic clan, Teika was born to the noted poet Fujiwara no Shunzei. After coming to the attention of the Retired Emperor Go-Toba (1180–1239; r. 1183-1198), Teika began his long and distinguished career, spanning multiple areas of aesthetic endeavor. His relationship with Go-Toba was at first cordial and led to commissions to compile anthologies, but later resulted in his banishment from the retired emperor's court. His descendants and ideas would dominate classical Japanese poetry for centuries afterwards.