List of Famous people born in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan

Date Masamune was a regional ruler of Japan's Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful daimyō in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he was made all the more iconic for his missing eye, as Masamune was often called dokuganryū (独眼竜), or the "One-Eyed Dragon of Ōshu".

Ayuko Kato is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who is the current member of the House of Representatives for Yamagata 3rd district.

Manami Hosokawa , better known as Manami Hashimoto , is a Japanese gravure idol and actress represented by Irving and her business alliance is Harmony Promotion.

Yuya Hasegawa is a Japanese baseball player. He has been with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks since 2007, and plays as Outfielder, wearing number 24. In 2009, he batted .312.

Koichi Kato was a Japanese politician who held a seat in the House of Representatives in the National Diet for 13 terms between 1972 and 2012 as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. After losing his seat at the December 2012 general election, his daughter Ayuko Kato regained the seat for the LDP at the following election. His father, Seizo Kato, also sat in the House of Representatives for five terms between 1952 and 1965.

Michihiko Kano was a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan. He was Minister of Agriculture.

Kazunobu Mineta is a Japanese singer-songwriter and actor. He is the frontman of the punk rock band Ging Nang Boyz (銀杏BOYZ), formed in 2003 after the breakup his previous band GOING STEADY.

Chūichi Nagumo was a Japanese admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Nagumo led Japan's main carrier battle group, the Kido Butai, in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Indian Ocean raid and the Battle of Midway. He committed suicide during the Battle of Saipan.

Takeshi Kobayashi , is a Japanese keyboardist, lyricist, composer, arranger, and record producer.

Toshiaki Endo is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet. A native of Kaminoyama, Yamagata and graduate of Chuo University, he was elected to the assembly of Yamagata Prefecture in 1983, serving there for one term. In 1993 he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time as an independent after an unsuccessful run in 1990. He headed an overhaul of Japan's English language education. In 2015 he was appointed to oversee the 2020 Summer Olympics preparations on behalf of the Japanese government.