Murasaki+Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu in English translates to Lady Violet. She lived from 976-1031 A.D., and was born in Kyoto. She died when she was about fifty-five years old. Murasaki Shikibu was her nickname; her real name was Fujiwara Takako. As a young lady, she learned about Chinese and Japanese and was literate in both languages, an uncommon thing for women during the time. Around 998, Murasaki married Nobutaka, a friend of her fathers, at the age of twenty. They had a daughter, Kenshi, in 999. Her husband died during a cholera epidemic, around 1001.

Murasaki was a journalist and a poet who wrote in the Heian period. She was also a lady-in-waiting for Empress Akiko. She was able to write three pieces of Japanese literature during her lifetime: //The Tale of Genji//, //The Diary of Lady Murasaki//, and a collection of 128 poems. //The Tale of Genji// is her most famous novel. The novel has received very high praise, is consider one of Japanese literature’s finest works of art, and is consider being one of the world’s earliest novels.

Murasaki’s father's implication influenced //The Tale of Genji//. She wrote what she felt, which made the book revile parts of her very own life. Murasaki continued writing about her life. She wrote a diary, //The Diary of Lady Murasaki//, which also implicates how she felt and what she went through in her childhood.