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Murasaki Shikibu (紫 式部 circa 973 – circa 1014 or 1025) was a Japanese novelist, poet, and servant of the imperial court during the Heian period. "Murasaki Shikibu" was not her real name; her actual name remains unknown, though some scholars have postulated that her given name might have been Takako (for Fujiwara Takako). Her diary states that she was nicknamed "Murasaki" ("purple") at court, after a character in The Tale of Genji. "Shikibu" refers to her father's position in the Bureau of Ceremony (shikibu-shō). She was a member of the northern branch of the Fujiwara clan. She either died in 1014, when records show that her father suddenly returned to Kyoto from his governor's mansion, or between 1025 and 1031, when she would have been in her mid fifties, which was quite old by Heian standards.
Biography
Murasaki, or Lady Murasaki as she is sometimes known in English, is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1008, one of the earliest and most famous novels in human history.
Murasaki's mother died while she was a child, so Murasaki was raised, contrary to customs of the time, by her father Fujiwara Tametoki, a scholar and officer of the imperial court. During Heian-era Japan, couples lived separately and children were raised by the mother and her family. Also contrary to customs of the time, her father gave her a male education. Men were educated in and taught Chinese, the official language of the court, while women were taught kana and poetry. Her father praised her intelligence and ability, but lamented that she was "born a woman".
At the royal court, she was the lady in waiting for Empress Shoshi/Akiko, and may have been hired by Fujiwara Michinaga to serve the Empress.
Three works are attributed to Murasaki, the most important being The Tale of Genji. The Murasaki Shikibu Diary and The Murasaki Shikibu Collection were arranged and published posthumously. The Murasaki Shikibu Collection is a compilation of 128 poems written by Murasaki.
A fictionalized biography of Murasaki called The Tale of Murasaki: A Novel was written by Liza Dalby.
References
- Dalby, Liza. The Tale of Murasaki: A Novel (Anchor, 2001). ISBN 0385497954.
- Lady Murasaki, Arthur Waley (trans.). The Tale of Genji, published in 6 volumes from 1921-33.
- Shikibu, Murasaki; Tyler, Royall (trans.). The Tale of Genji (Viking, 2001.) ISBN 0670030201.
External links
See also
- Sei Shōnagon - court rival and fellow contemporary diarist
- Ono no Takamura - an earlier Japanese poet whose grave is situated across from Lady Murasaki's
Japanese writers | Japanese poets | Japanese diarists | Japanese novelists
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"Murasaki Shikibu"