died c. 1014, Kyoto court lady who was the author of the Genji
monogatari (The Tale of Genji), generally considered the
greatest work of Japanese literature and thought to be the
world's oldest full novel. The author's real name is unknown; it
is conjectured that she acquired the sobriquet of Murasaki from
the name of the heroine of her novel, and the name Shikibu
reflects her father's position at the Bureau of Rites. She was
born into a lesser branch of the noble and highly influential
Fujiwara family and was well educated, having learned Chinese
(generally the exclusive sphere of males). She married a much
older distant cousin, Fujiwara Nobutaka, and bore him a
daughter, but after two years of marriage he died. Some critics
believe that she wrote the entire Tale of Genji between 1001
(the year her husband died) and 1005, the year in which she was
summoned to serve at court (for reasons unknown). It is more
likely that the composition of her extremely long and complex
novel extended over a much greater perio