Takahashi no Mushimaro (高橋虫麻呂)
TAKAHASHI no Mushimaro (year of birth and death unknown) was a contributor to Manyoshu during the Nara Period. His kabane (hereditary title) was Muraji. His status by birth is unknown.
He contributed 34 poems to "Manyoshu" (the oldest anthology of tanka) including 14 choka (long poem) and a Sedoka (a poem where the head is repeated). The second poem of Volume Six and subsequent poems are indicated as 'not in the poems of Mushimaro (TAKAHASHI no Muraji Mushimaro's collection of poetry)' (The first poem of Volume Six is KASA no Kanemura's). At some point around 719, he became a subordinate of FUJIWARA no Umakai who was then Hitachi no kami (governor of Hitachi Province) and thereafter Mushimaro was under Umakai's patronage. He made many poems on local legends and personal affairs such as a poem about the Maiden Tekona in Mama in Shimousa Province (present-day Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture) and a poem about Unai otome (the Maiden Unai) from Ashinoya in Settsu Province (present-day Ashiya City, Hyogo Prefecture). Mushimaro's poems cover the areas in the eastern part of Japan from Hitachi to Suruga Provinces as well as the western part of the country such as Settsu, Kawachi, and Kyoto.