Their time together was quite short-lived, lasting a mere two years of her life. Eventually, around 998, she married a friend of her father’s, Fujiwara no Nobutaka. She stayed with him long past when most other noblewomen would have married, possibly into her thirties. In fact, Murasaki was such a proficient scholar that, according to her diaries, her father often lamented “What a pity she was not born a man!”Īs she grew in wisdom and grace, Murasaki began to write poetry in her father’s house.

Instead, women were relegated to writing and speaking Japanese, a still underdeveloped system that was treated with little respect.īecause her father permitted her to accompany her younger brother Nobunori in his studies, Murasaki learned the classical Chinese language and literature alongside Japanese poetry and calligraphy. Because of this, women were not taught the Chinese language that was the preferred system for government and scholarship. Heian Japanese men believed that women were largely unintelligent, or at least that it was improper for a lady to possess too much education and knowledge.

Her unconventional childhood set her on the path to becoming an unconventional woman. However, her mother’s early death meant that Murasaki and her siblings all grew up in her father’s house. In this era of Japanese history, Murasaki should have been raised in her mother’s household. From a young age, this was the future that young Murasaki prepared for. By the time of her birth, the family’s court influence had waned, and its best strategy for regaining its place was to marry Fujiwara daughters into the imperial family. She was born into the historically powerful Fujiwara family around 973 CE in Heian-kyō. Thus, as the name Murasaki Shikibu was most widely used for this remarkable woman, it is the name that history calls her. Whatever her actual name might have been, it is important to remember that Heian courtiers preferred to record themselves as they wanted to be remembered. We do have some clue as to her given name – a diary of one of her prominent male relatives refers to a lady-in-waiting named Takako, who evidence suggests is Murasaki. It is very likely that it was given to her by the court because of the main female character of The Tale of Genji. “Murasaki” might have been derived from the name for the color of wisteria and a component of her family name. Court ladies often chose surnames referenced by the ranks or titles of male relatives “Shikibu” thus referred to the ministry in which her father worked. For instance, we know that “Murasaki Shikibu” was not her given name. Some of the details of her life are obscured by the movement of time. This mysterious woman is known to history as Murasaki Shikibu, author of the world’s first novel. She readjusts her pen and begins to write. Her mind is a stage, upon which play the many wondrous adventures of Genji, The Shining Prince. She gazes at the moon, lost in her thoughts.

On a cool terrace of the Ishiyama Temple, a woman sits, pen in hand. The trees are still, moved every so often by the light ripple of wind through branches. The moon lies heavy on the waters of Lake Biwa in Japan’s Shiga Prefecture.

Murasaki shikibu