48 Facts About Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court in the Heian period.

Murasaki Shikibu's is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, widely considered to be one of the world's first novels, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012.

Murasaki Shikibu's married in her mid-to late twenties and gave birth to a daughter before her husband died, two years after they were married.

Murasaki Shikibu's continued to write during her service, adding scenes from court life to her work.

Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Diary of Lady Murasaki Shikibu, a volume of poetry, and The Tale of Genji.

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Murasaki Shikibu was born c in Heian-kyo, Japan, into the northern Fujiwara clan descending from Fujiwara no Yoshifusa, the first 9th century Fujiwara regent.

Murasaki Shikibu entered public service around 968 as a minor official and was given a governorship in 996, staying in service until about 1018.

Murasaki Shikibu's mother was descended from the same branch of northern Fujiwara as Tametoki.

Murasaki Shikibu was unconventional because she lived in her father's household, most likely on Teramachi Street in Kyoto, with her younger brother Nobunori.

Murasaki Shikibu had at least three half-siblings raised with their mothers; she was very close to one sister who died in her twenties.

Murasaki Shikibu was born at a period when Japan was becoming more isolated, after missions to China had ended and a stronger national culture was emerging.

In 996 when her father was posted to a four-year governorship in Echizen Province, Murasaki Shikibu went with him, although it was uncommon for a noblewoman of the period to travel such a distance that could take as long as five days.

Murasaki Shikibu's returned to Kyoto, probably in 998, to marry her father's friend Fujiwara no Nobutaka, a much older second cousin.

Murasaki Shikibu's enjoyed reading and had access to romances such as The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and The Tales of Ise.

Murasaki Shikibu would have distributed newly written chapters of Genji to friends who in turn would have re-copied them and passed them on.

Chieko Mulhern writes in Japanese Women Writers, a Biocritical Sourcebook that scholars have wondered why Murasaki Shikibu made such a move at a comparatively late period in her life.

Murasaki Shikibu's gathered around her talented women writers such as Izumi Shikibu and Akazome Emon—the author of an early vernacular history, The Tale of Flowering Fortunes.

Murasaki Shikibu's has a gift for dashing off informal compositions in a careless running-hand; but in poetry she needs either an interesting subject or some classic model to imitate.

Sei Shonagon, author of The Pillow Book, had been in service as lady-in-waiting to Teishi when Shoshi came to court; it is possible that Murasaki Shikibu was invited to Shoshi's court as a rival to Shonagon.

Teishi died in 1001, before Murasaki Shikibu entered service with Shoshi, so the two writers were not there concurrently, but Murasaki Shikibu, who wrote about Shonagon in her diary, certainly knew of her, and to an extent was influenced by her.

Murasaki Shikibu's thought herself so clever, littered her writing with Chinese characters, [which] left a great deal to be desired.

Furthermore, he believes Murasaki Shikibu was brought to court to write Genji in response to Shonagon's popular Pillow Book.

Murasaki Shikibu contrasted herself to Shonagon in a variety of ways.

Murasaki Shikibu's denigrated the pillow book genre and, unlike Shonagon, who flaunted her knowledge of Chinese, Murasaki pretended to not know the language, regarding it as pretentious and affected.

Murasaki Shikibu taught Chinese to Shoshi who was interested in Chinese art and Juyi's ballads.

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Murasaki Shikibu probably earned an ambiguous nickname, "The Lady of the Chronicles", for teaching Shoshi Chinese literature.

Unlike Shonagon, who was both ostentatious and flirtatious, as well as outspoken about her knowledge of Chinese, Murasaki Shikibu seems to have been humble, an attitude which possibly impressed Michinaga.

Murasaki Shikibu seems to have been unhappy with court life and was withdrawn and somber.

In general, unlike Shonagon, Murasaki Shikibu gives the impression in her diary that she disliked court life, the other ladies-in-waiting, and the drunken revelry.

Murasaki Shikibu's did become close friends with a lady-in-waiting named Lady Saisho, and she wrote of the winters that she enjoyed, "I love to see the snow here".

Murasaki Shikibu speculates she would have preferred to serve with the Lady Senshi, whose household seems to have been less strict and more light-hearted.

Murasaki Shikibu disliked the men at court, whom she thought were drunken and stupid.

Murasaki Shikibu described her daughter's court activities: the lavish ceremonies, the complicated courtships, the "complexities of the marriage system", and in elaborate detail, the birth of Shoshi's two sons.

When Emperor Ichijo died in 1011, Shoshi retired from the Imperial Palace to live in a Fujiwara mansion in Biwa, most likely accompanied by Murasaki Shikibu, who is recorded as being there with Shoshi in 1013.

Murasaki Shikibu's daughter entered court service in 1025 as a wet nurse to the future Emperor Go-Reizei .

Murasaki Shikibu's went on to become a well-known poet as Daini no Sanmi.

Murasaki Shikibu began her diary after she entered service at Shoshi's court.

Typical of contemporary court diaries written to honor patrons, Murasaki Shikibu devotes half to the birth of Shoshi's son Emperor Go-Ichijo, an event of enormous importance to Michinaga: he had planned for it with his daughter's marriage which made him grandfather and de facto regent to an emperor.

Murasaki Shikibu's poems were published in 1206 by Fujiwara no Teika, in what Mulhern believes to be the collection that is closest to the original form; at around the same time Teika included a selection of Murasaki Shikibu's works in an imperial anthology, New Collections of Ancient and Modern Times.

Murasaki Shikibu is best known for her The Tale of Genji, a three-part novel spanning 1100 pages and 54 chapters, which is thought to have taken a decade to complete.

Murasaki Shikibu's continued writing while at court and probably finished while still in service to Shoshi.

Murasaki Shikibu's would have needed patronage to produce a work of such length.

Murasaki Shikibu's drew on and blended styles from Chinese histories, narrative poetry and contemporary Japanese prose.

Genji follows the traditional format of —telling a tale—particularly evident in its use of a narrator, but Keene claims Murasaki Shikibu developed the genre far beyond its bounds, and by doing so created a form that is utterly modern.

The story of the "shining prince" Genji is set in the late 9th to early 10th centuries, and Murasaki Shikibu eliminated from it the elements of fairy tales and fantasy frequently found in earlier.

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Dowry sets decorated with scenes from Genji or illustrations of Murasaki Shikibu became particularly popular for noblewomen: in the 17th century symbolically imbued a bride with an increased level of cultural status; by the 18th century they had come to symbolize marital success.

Murasaki Shikibu became a popular subject of paintings and illustrations highlighting her as a virtuous woman and poet.

Murasaki Shikibu's is often shown at her desk in Ishimyama Temple, staring at the moon for inspiration.