In 1004, Murasaki’s father became governor of the province of Echizen, about 80 miles from the capital. Her only daughter was born in 999, and in 1001, her husband died. When she was in her early twenties, Lady Murasaki was married to a distant relative. As a child, she was intelligent and learned more quickly than her brother, causing her father to lament, "If only you were a boy, how happy I should be!" He allowed Murasaki Shikibu to study with her brother, and to learn some Chinese and Buddhist classics, which were considered improper for females at the time. Her great-grandfather had been a poet and her father, Fujiwara Tamatoki, a scholar and a poet himself, later became a provincial governor. Murasaki was born into a lesser branch of the Fujiwara family during the last quarter of the tenth century. Writing Murasaki Shikibu by Kikuchi Yosai The name Murasaki, literally “Violet,” could have been a reference to the heroine in the Tale of Genji, or to the first element of her maiden name, “Fujiwara.” “Shikubu” may have been a reference to her father, who served in the Ministry of Ceremonies, or “Rites” (Shikibu Sh). The exact dates of Lady Murasaki’s life are unknown, as is her real name. She was a literary contemporary and rival of Sei Shonagon. The author Murasaki was a lady-in-waiting to the Empress Shoshi (a daughter of the powerful Fujiwara Michinaga). In a play on words characteristic of Japanese poetry, the similarity between the two colors leads to the name Murasaki. In his poem, Genji names the murasaki or violet flower, because its color resembles that of wisteria, or Japanese fuji, a reference to Fujitsubo, "the Lady of the Wisteria Court," a woman with whom he is passionately in love for the first part of the novel. Seidensticker in his English version of the Genji Monogatari Violet and Violet Root, which in Japanese poetry denotes constancy. Other translations include Lavender, as used by E. Murasaki (紫) is the Japanese word for the color purple. During the later part of her life, Murasaki decided to become a nun, but Genji never allowed this wish to be fulfilled. In the novel, Murasaki raised the Empress Akashi. Later in life Murasaki was tormented by the malevolent and jealous spirit of Genji's former lover, Lady Rokujo. The name was inspired by a poem Genji composed when contemplating his first meeting with her. The fictional character of Murasaki was the daughter of Prince Hyobu, and was taken at a young age from relative obscurity in the countryside to live with Hikaru Genji, the main character of the novel. The real name of the author of The Tale of Genji is unknown, so she is referred to by the nickname which she gave to the heroine she invented. Throughout the Tale of Genji, characters are often designated by the color of the robes they wear, rather than by their personal names. In court manners of the Heian Period, it was considered disrespectful and unacceptably familiar to address people by their personal names. In both cases the name is a pseudonym, and the real names are unknown. Murasaki refers to both the heroine of the Genji Monogatari ( The Tale of Genji), and the book's author, Murasaki Shikibu. The name “Lady Murasaki” refers both to the author of The Tale of Genji and to a central character in the novel.
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