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Murasaki Shikibu. Photo outsourced from

Top 10 Interesting Facts about Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu was born in 1973 in Heian-Kyo, Japan, into the northern Fujiwara clan descending from Fujiwara no Yoshifusu, the first 9th century Fujiwara regent.

Her father was a well-disciplined scholar of Chinese classics and poetry and served in service from 968 to 1018.

Her name is unknown as Murasaki Shikibu is a descriptive name, but she may have been Fujiwara no Kaoriko.

She is best known as the author of the tales of Genji, poetic memoirs, and the diary of lady Murasaki.

Here are the top 10 interesting facts about Murasaki Shikibu.

1. Murasaki Shikibu was known as the author of The Tales of Genji

Parody of Murasaki Shikibu at Her Desk. Photo by Okumura Masanobu on

The tales of Genji is considered one of the world’s first novels written in Japanese between 1000-1012 and contributed significantly to Japanese literature.

It’s a three-part novel spanning 1,100 pages and 54 chapters. It took a decade to complete the novel.

The earliest chapter was possibly written for a private patron either during her marriage or shortly after her husband’s death.

The tales of Genji are written in archaic language and a poetic and complex style that makes them unreadable to the average Japanese speaker without specialized study.

The work is a unique depiction of the lifestyle of high courtiers during the Heian period.

The tales of Genji depict the image of a unique society of ultra-refined and elegant aristocrats whose indispensable accomplishment was skill in poetry, music, and courtship.

2. She was a lady in waiting

In 1005, she was invited to serve by Fujiwara no Michinaga at the Imperial court in the Heian period.

She was to serve as a lady in waiting to Empress Shoshi. Murasaki was given this position because of her reputation as a writer.

She continued writing during her service, adding court scenes to her work. After serving six years, Murasaki left the court and returned with Shoshi to the Lake Biwa region.

Through her diaries, she expressed how courts worked and the rivals. All this was inspired by the events she saw happening in the court.

3. During her time, Heina women lived restricted and speculated

Aristocratic Heian women were only allowed to speak to men who were close relatives or household members.

Murasaki’s poetry shows she socialized with women but had limited contact with men other than her brother and father.

She could only exchanged poetry with women;. Unlike most noblewomen of her status, she didn’t marry on reaching puberty.

Murasaki stayed in her father’s household until her mid-twenties, perhaps even her early thirties.

4. Murasaki married her father’s friend

In 996, her father was posted to a four-year governorship in Echizen province, and Murasaki went with him.

She returned to Kyoto around 998 to marry her father’s friend Fujiwara no Nobutaka, a much older cousin.

Her husband was a court functionary and bureaucrat at the ministry of ceremonial. He had a reputation for dressing extravagantly and as a talented dancer.

By the tome of their marriage, Nobutaka had been granted more than one governorship. He was probably quite wealthy.

Richard Bowring’s writings show that Murasaki’s marriage was happy, while Japanese literature scholar Haruo Shirane hints in Murasaki’s poems that she resented her husband.

In 999, the couple had a daughter; two years later, Nobutaka died during a cholera epidemic.

After her husband’s death, she had servants to run the household and care for her daughter giving her ample leisure time.

5. The diary of lady Murasaki

Part of the Murasaki Shikibu Diary. Image from

Murasaki began her dairy after she entered service at Shoshi court. Much of the documented stories in her dairy are experienced at the court, covering the period from about 1008 to 1010.

Most of the passages in the diary cover her relationship with other ladies-in-waiting, the birth of Shoshi’s sons and the process of writing Genji.

Most court diaries are written to honor patrons, but Murasaki’s diary was devoted half to the birth of Shoshi’s son emperor Go-Ichijo, an event of great importance to Michinaga.

Michinaga had planned for it with his daughter’s marriage which made him grandfather and de facto regent to an emperor.

6. Murasaki’s poetic memoirs

The poetic memoir is a collection of 128 poems Mulhern describes as arranged in a biographical sequence.

The original set of the poem was lost as per the customs. The verses would have been passed from person to person and often copied.

The poems contain biographical details as she mentions a sister who died, the visit to Echizen province with her father, and she wrote poetry for Shoshi.

In 1206, the poems were published by Fujiwara no Teina in what Mulhern believers to be the collection that is closest to the original form.

Teika also included the selection of Murasaki works in an imperial anthology, the new collection of ancient and modern times.

7. Murasaki’s education was unorthodox

Louis Perez explains in the history of Japan that women were thought to be incapable of natural intelligence and therefore were not educated in Chinese.

Murasaki learned through her brother. In her diary, she wrote she could listen to her brother when learning Chinese classics and became proficient in understanding those passages.

As an educated woman, she was aware that others saw her as pretentious, awarded and challenging to approach.

8. The lady of chronicles

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Murasaki taught Shoshi Chinese. Upon becoming Empress, she installed screens decorated with Chinese script causing outrage.

Chinese was considered the language of men and women, and they were supposed to read and write only in Japanese.

Murasaki earned an ambiguous nickname, the lady of chronicles, for teaching Shoshi Chinese literature.

A lady in waiting who disliked Murasaki accused her of flaunting her knowledge of Chinese and began calling her the lady of chronicles.

Murasaki’s nickname was meant to disparage, but Mulhern finds that Murasaki was flattered by it.

9. Murasaki disliked court life

Murasaki seems she was unhappy with court life and was withdrawn and melancholy. She disliked the men of the court, whom she thought were drunken and stupid.

Through her dairy, it gives the impression that she disliked court life, the other lady in waiting, and drunken revelry.

10. Murasaki’s influence and reputation

Novelist and poet Murasaki Shikibu at Ishiyama Temple. Photo by Utagawa Hiroshige on

Her reputation and influence had not diminished throughout her life when she was instrumental in developing Japanese into a written language.

In the early 12th century, Murasaki’s writing was required reading for court poets as per work began to be studied by scholars.

She is often shown at her desk in Ishimyama temple, staring at the moon for inspiration.