The Tale of Genji does not have an author’s name. However, the current belief is that the author is Murasaki Shikibu. Murasaki Shikibu (紫式部) was her common name, but her real name is unknown. At that time, the practice was that people avoided revealing their real names. Lady Murasaki seems to have also been called Toh Shikibu (籐式部).

While she is a figure known worldwide, there are many unclear details about her life, similar to the situation of other well-known women writers in the same period. Even the definite dates of her birth and death are unknown. The general belief is that Lady Murasaki was born sometime between 970 and 978 and died sometime between 1019 and 1026.
Nonetheless, we do know that she was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tametoki, who was in the lineage of the Northern House of the Fujiwara clan. This means that reading the records written by the males around her is one way to guess about Lady Murasaki’s life. Her own writings, such as The Diary of Lady
Murasaki and the Murasaki Shikibu Collection, can also provide important clues.

Her great-grandfather, Kanesuke, was a court noble Chunagon (vice-councilor of state). He was called Tsutsumi Chunagon and lived in a huge mansion located near Rozan-ji Temple in Sakyō-ku, Kyoto. In contrast, her grandfather, Masatada, and her father, Tametoki, were reduced to the position of middleclass nobles and excluded from the central political arena. They apparently lived in their grandfather’s old mansion together with their brothers and families.

Lady Murasaki’s family, including her great-grandfather, grandfather, uncle, father, brother and maternal grandfather, were all excellent waka poets as well as remarkable cultural figures. Her literary gift blossomed probably through being affected by them.
Her father, Tametoki, was an outstanding scholar of Chinese classics as well as a monjosho (a student of literary studies) at an ancient Japanese school called Daigaku-ryo. During the era of Emperor Kazan, her father was promoted to Shikibu-no-jo Krodo (Officer of the Imperial Court Affairs Office), and finally to Shikibu Taijo (Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Ceremonial). However, Emperor Kazan abdicated in just over two years, which forced Tametoki to live a less privileged life with a meaningless position. After the abdication of Emperor Kazan, Emperor Ichijo acceded the throne, and his long administration lasted until 1011.

Lady Murasaki’s mother died soon after giving birth to her half brother, Nobunori, who was born in 974.
Based on the above facts, it would appear that Murasaki Shikibu spent her childhood as a vulnerable girl in a middleclass aristocratic but powerless family.


When her father, Tametoki, was appointed Governor of Echizen Province in 996, she accompanied him to Echizen, which was a backwater location. After about a two-year stay in Echizen, she returned to Kyoto in 998.
In 999, when Murasaki Shikibu was in her twenties, she married her 47-year-old cousin, Fujiwara no Nobutaka, who was the Governor of Yamashiro Province. This was a very late marriage for a woman at that time. Nobutaka had a son about the same age as his new wife.

The following year, she had a daughter, Kenshi, who was later called Daini no Sanmi. The next year, however, Nobutaka died of a disease, and Lady Murasaki was in mourning for him for a year. The year 1001 was important for a number of historical events: the epidemic of infectious diseases from spring through summer and the first-ever Nyoin (Empress Dowager) Senshi’s demise at the end of the year.


Then, as requested by Fujiwara no Michinaga, the policymaker at that time, Lady Murasaki began to serve the Empress Fujiwara no Shoshi (Michinaga’s first daughter). Based on The Diary of Lady Murasaki, the belief is that her service began on the New Year’s Eve of 1006. Murasaki Shikibu seems to have been in the service of the court for about 10 years, but this has not been clearly confirmed.

Apparently Murasaki Shikibu did not live a life of wealth and happiness. Therefore, her writing in The Tale of Genji, The Diary of Lady Murasaki, and the Murasaki Shikibu Collection is tinged with sorrow and the uncertainties in life.

The question is when Lady Murasaki started and finished writing The Tale of Genji. This is difficult to answer. The belief is that most of the story up to Chapter 40 had been completed probably by the time she started to serve Fujiwara no Shoshi. The story up to Chapter 40 was most likely edited, and the part of Uji was added while Lady Murasaki was in court service, which resulted in the narrative we read today.


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