Luther Whiting Mason (3 April 1818 – 14 July 1896) was an American music educator who was hired by the Meiji period government of Japan as a foreign advisor to introduce Western classical music into the Japanese educational curriculum.

His teaching method made use of charts and what he called "ladders," to explain scales, staffs, clefs, note values, intervals, and dynamics.

During his stay in Japan at Tokyo Imperial University from 1880-1882, Mason and Isawa worked together to develop programs for the teaching of music in elementary and middle schools, developing teacher training programs, and creating the first graded series of music textbooks in Japan.

Although Mason expressed a strong desire to remain in Japan, his contract was not renewed, largely due to budgetary reasons.

Mason later made four trips to Europe, visiting Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden and England, observing teaching methods and collecting hundreds of music books.