Lady Murasaki Shikibu
by Mary Uyenco

Lady Murasaki Shikibu was born at Kyoto, Japan, in or about 978.
She died at Kyoto, Japan in 1014.

Early Life

• She was born during the Heian period.
• She got married in her mid-late twenties and gave birth to a child.
• She probably started writing when she was married or shortly after she was widowed.
• She worked in the court for about five to six years then retired.

Lady Murasaki was born during the Heian period. The court life during the Heian Period consisted of a never-ending series of obligatory festivals, rituals, and practices.
women would wear silk robes and gold jewelry, to complete their outfit they would carry fans.
Writing was very popular. while men wrote in Chinese, women wrote in Japanese. Performing arts was very popular, too.
Different forms of Buddhism developed in Japan. At the time, couples would live in separate houses, and women were not allowed to learn Chinese.

Lady Murasaki had a formal education because she was the great granddaughter of Fujiwara no Kanesuki, a celebrated Japanese poet. Also, her father was a well known scholar and governor of a Japanese province. During her time, women were not allowed to learn Chinese, but her father taught her secretly.

Accomplishments

• She is the author of one of the best and first novels, Tale of genji.
• She also made short poems and a diary.
• During her court life, she was called to the court by the Akiko, the empress, as the chief maid of honor.
• She married a nobleman and distant kinsman, Fujiwara no Nobutaka.

Lady Murasaki is historically significant because she was the author of the first, (and the best) novels, The Tale of Genji. She was also a chief maid of honor.

Interesting Information

• Murasaki's mother died when she was an infant.
• She had a daughter, Kenshi, which was born on 999.
• She had a brother, Nobunori.
• She lived with her father and brother.

Tale of Genji

• Tale of Genji has 54 chapters and over 1,000 pages in it's English translation.
• It is mainly about a hero, Genji, going through lots of adventures.
• She started writing the Tale of Genji after her husband died.

Bibliography

• "The Diary of Murasaki Shikibu." The Diary of Murasaki Shikibu. Trans. Annie Shepley Omori, Kochi Doi, and Amy Lowell. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1920. Web. 06 Nov. 2015.
• "Murasaki Shikibu." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2015.

Bibliography

• Theme: Language and Gender Perception in the Art of Japan's Heian Period." Japanese Landscapes. Ed. Joshua S. Mostow, Norman Bryson, and Maribeth Graybill. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003, 09 Dec. 2009. Web. 08 Nov. 2015
• Witt, Lorraine. "Web Page Template." Web Page Template. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

Bibliography

• N.p., n.d. Web.
• "Murasaki Shikibu." Female Hero: (Women in World History Curriculum). N.p., 1996-2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
• "Lady Murasaki Shikibu ENotes." Enotes.com. Enotes.com, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.