Thinkers Timeline

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese writer and lady of the imperial court. She is the author of The Tale of Genji, often called the world's first novel. She was born around the year 973 in Heian-kyō, the capital of Japan (modern Kyoto). Her real name is unknown. 'Murasaki' was probably a nickname taken from a character in her novel. 'Shikibu' refers to her father's position at the Bureau of Ceremonies. She came from a lesser branch of the powerful Fujiwara family. Her father was a scholar of Chinese. He recognised her talent and taught her things normally taught only to boys, including Chinese classical literature. This education would later shape her writing in important ways. She married a much older distant cousin, Fujiwara no Nobutaka, around her mid to late twenties. They had a daughter. Her husband died of an epidemic in 1001, only two years after the marriage. Murasaki was now a young widow with a young child. She probably began writing The Tale of Genji in the years just after her husband's death. Around 1005, her writing had attracted the attention of the powerful Fujiwara no Michinaga. He brought her to court as a lady-in-waiting to Empress Shōshi, the young wife of Emperor Ichijō. Murasaki served at court for years, kept a diary, wrote poems, and continued her novel. The exact year of her death is uncertain. Most scholars accept around 1014, when she would have been about 41. Some think she may have lived later, perhaps until 1025.