Yasushi Inoue (井上 靖 Inoue Yasushi, May 6, 1907 – January 29, 1991) was a Japanese writer whose range included poetry, short fiction, and the novel.

Although often remembered for his serious historical fiction of ancient Japan and the Asian continent, Inoue's work also included semi-autobiographical novels and short fiction of great humor, pathos, and wisdom like Shirobamba and Asunaro Monogatari , which placed the era of the author's own life in revealing perspective. His most famous novel is "Tempyo-no Iraka" (The Roof Tile of Tempyo), a tale of Japanese Buddhist monks that travel to China in the eighth century. A movie was made in 1979.