Books by Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973 or 978 – c. 1014 or 1031) was a Japanese noblewoman, poet, and lady-in-waiting at the imperial court of the Heian period who authored The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari), universally celebrated by scholars as the world’s very first novel. Born into a lesser branch of the culturally prominent Fujiwara clan, Murasaki acquired an extraordinary, unconventional mastery of classical Chinese literature—a scholarly domain typically reserved exclusively for men. Serving Empress Shōshi at court, she composed her monumental fifty-four-chapter masterpiece, which chronicled the aristocratic romances, political intrigues, aesthetic sensibilities, and psychological nuances of the shining prince Hikaru Genji and his descendants. Infused with the profound Buddhist concept of mono no aware (the poignant awareness of the impermanence of all things), Murasaki’s work established the aesthetic pinnacle of classical Japanese literature, inspiring world novelists, playwrights, and visual artists across a millennium.