The Murasaki Shikibu Diary
Encyclopedia
The Diary of Lady Murasaki (紫式部日記 Murasaki Shikibu Nikki) records the daily life of the Heian era lady-in-waiting and writer, Lady Murasaki Shikibu
, author of The Tale of Genji
. Most likely written between 1008 and 1010, the largest portion consists of descriptive passages of the birth of Empress Shōshi
's (Akiko) children, with smaller vignettes
describing life at the Imperial court and relations between other ladies-in-waiting
and court writers such as Izumi Shikibu
, Akazome Emon
and Sei Shōnagon
.
The work was written in kana
, a newly developed writing system that brought vernacular
Japanese from a spoken language to a written language. The form of the diary is unlike contemporary diaries or journals—some events are developed with much more detail than others. The work includes short vignettes, poetry in the form of waka
, and an epistolary section.
In the 13th century (during the Kamakura period
), an unknown artist painted the color, handscroll of Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki.
Murasaki's diary was written as the Heian period peaked culturally in the late 10th to early 11th centuries. The development in the 9th century of kana
, a Japanese writing script and syllabary
, opened the written word and the vernacular
. At first kana was used for writing court poetry, waka
, but by the 10th century works of prose became more common. Chinese continued as the language of government, but women who were uneducated in Chinese were encouraged to read and write in Japanese. They began to take advantage of the new script, as literary forms such as monogatari
and diaries (nikki
) became more popular, and imperial ladies-in-waiting began to write diaries. As a result, written Japanese was in many respects developed by women who used the language as a form of self-expression and, according to Japanese literature scholar Richard Bowring
, it was women who undertook the process of building "a flexible written style out of a language that has only previously existed in a spoken form", although he mentions that the diaries of the period were unsuccessful in fully making the transition from a spoken to a written form of the language.
Murasaki's diary covers a discreet period, most likely from 1008 and 1010. Only short and fragmentary pieces have survived, and it remains vital to the understanding of the author given that otherwise, so little is known about her. Most of her biographical facts are derived from the diary (Murasaki Shikibu nikki) and her c. 1014 short poetry collection, the Murasaki Shikibu shū Poetic Memoirs.
Born into a minor branch of the Fujiwara clan, her father, a scholar of Chinese literature, educated her and her brother in classical Chinese
. From about 998 to 1001 she was married to Fujiwara no Nobonori—who died of an outbreak of plague 1001—during which time she bore a daughter. A few years later, probably in 1006, at the request of Fujiwara no Michinaga
, she entered imperial service to his daughter Empress Shōshi
. Her given name is unknown; as was customary for women of the period, who were identified by their rank or that of a husband or another close male relative, she is known as Shikibu for her father's rank at the Ministry of Ceremonials (Shikibu-shō) and her court nickname Murasaki, from a character in her romantic monagatari Tale of the Genji. The diary was probably written after she entered imperial service.
, an event of enormous importance to Michinaga: nine years after becoming concubine and then Empress to Emperor Ichijō
Shōshi bore an heir who became emperor
bringing immense power to Michinaga. The diary opens with descriptions of lengthy preparations for the birth, including readings of sutras
and other Buddhist rituals. Murasaki's own self-reflections and the chronologically detailed descriptions of events surrounding the birth are often presented as vignettes
.
She describes court life in detail with an emphasis on women's fashions such as the kimonos
and multi-layered court clothing. The combinations of colors in a woman's clothing required attention and were important because they marked stylistic aesthetics. Murasaki also describes the weather and the changing of season as well as the less pleasant aspects of court life, such as drunken nobles who often seduced the ladies-in-waiting. The diary includes anecdotes about drunken revelries and courtly scandals concerning women who, because of behavior or age, were made to leave court, as well as her own concerns about aging and her overwhelming loneliness. Murasaki suggests that the court women with whom she lived were weak-willed, uneducated, and inexperienced with men.
Going beyond writing descriptions of court events, Murasaki adds a sense of self to the diary entries. She writes about emotions and feelings: her sense of helplessness at court; her feelings of inadequacy regarding her low rank compared to higher-ranked courtiers and relatives in the Fujiwara clan; and her feelings of loss and loneliness since her husband's death. She adds a few autobiographical details about her life before entering service , such as this anecdote about learning Chinese as a child: "When my brother Nobunori ... was a boy my father was very anxious to make a good Chinese scholar of him, and often came himself to hear Nobunori read his lessons. On these occasions I was always present, and so quick was I at picking up the language that I was soon able to prompt my brother whenever he got stuck. At this my father used to sigh and say to me: 'If only you were a boy how proud and happy I should be.
, and that her hero the "shining prince" Genji sharply contrasts to Michinaga's crassness. Arguably the most powerful man at the imperial court and certainly the most powerful male figure in Shōshi's court, Murasaki describes situations in which he embarrasses his wife Rinshi and daughter by his drunken behavior. Moreover, he may have embarrassed his wife through his flagrant flirtations with Murasaki, although other scholars dispute this point.
The half of the diary devoted to the birth of Shōshi's son was most likely written as tribute to Michinaga, but Murasaki shows him as over-bearing, particularly in the sections where he takes charge during the birth of his grandson, Prince Atsuhira
. Because of the taboo against childbirth in the Imperial palace, the child was born at the Tsuchimikado mansion where Michinaga assumes the dominant role, despite the presence of the Emperor
himself (the child's father) and the attending priests. After the child's birth Michinaga visited the infant twice daily, whereas the Emperor appears to have been allowed only a single very short imperial visit, described meticulously in the diary. Murasaki chronicled Michinaga's ceremonial visit to his daughter and grandson 16 days after the birth, at a lavish ceremony, describing in detail the ladies-in-waiting attire in passages such as this: "Saemon no Naishi .... was wearing a plain yellow-green jacket, a train
shaded darker at the hem, and a sash and waistbands
with raised embroidery in orange and white checked silk".
Shōshi, a serious and studious young woman who expected decorum from her ladies-in-waiting—often difficult at a fractious court—decided to learn to read Chinese and had Murasaki teach her. The request was unconventional because Chinese was considered the "male language", the language of government and religion, while Japanese kana was reserved for women. Nevertheless, Shōshi wished to read the then popular ballads of 9th century Chinese poet Bai Juyi. The Chinese lessons were conducted in secret with Murasaki explaining: "Since the summer before last, very secretly, in odd moments when there happened to be no one about, I have been reading with Her Majesty the two books of "Songs." There has of course been no question of formal lessons; Her Majesty has merely picked up a little here and there, as she felt inclined. All the same, I have thought it best to say nothing about the matter to anybody".
(author of The Pillow Book
), in service to Shōshi's rival and co-empress, Empress Teishi
(Sadako). The empresses competed for educated women and created a rivalry between the women writers. Shōnagon had probably left court when Murasaki arrived at about 1006, five years after Empress Teishi's death, but Murasaki would known Shōnagon and in the diary Murasaki writes disparagingly about her:
Also in Shōshi's employ were Izumi Shikibu
and Akazome Emon
—Shikibu a poet and Emon the author of a monogatari. Murasaki was critical of Shikibu's writing and poetry: "Izumi Shikibu is an amusing letter-writer; but there is something not very satisfactory about her. She has a gift for dashing off informal compositions in a careless running-hand; but in poetry she needs either an interesting subject or some classic model to imitate. Indeed it does not seem to me that in herself she is really a poet at all".
joined a group of women at a banquet and asked whether Murasaki was in attendance—alluding to the character in The Tale of Genji—Murasaki quickly told him that none of the novel's characters lived at court, which she considered tawdry and unpleasant unlike the court she created in her novel. That night she left the dinner, writing, "Counsellor Takai ... started pulling at Lady Hyōbu's robes and singing dreadful songs, but His Excellency said nothing. I realized that it was bound to be a terribly drunken affair this evening, so ... Lady Saishō and I decided to retire." According to Japanese scholar Donald Keene
, male courtiers at the Imperial court were "drunken men who make obscene jokes and paw at women".
Although the women lived in semi-seclusion in curtained
areas or screened spaces
, the men intruded on the women's privacy. Murasaki describes Michinaga entering her space early one morning, "I can see the garden from my room", she writes, "The air is misty; the dew is still on the leaves. The Lord Prime Minister is walking there .... He peeps in over my screen! His noble appearance embarrasses us and I am ashamed of my morning (not yet painted and powdered face)." Privacy was nonexistent. The Imperial palace burned down in 1005 and most of Murasaki's tenure at court was spent at one or another of Michinaga's mansions, either the Biwa mansion in the Fujiwara quarter of Kyoto
, the Tsuchimikado mansion, or Ichijo's mansion which was close to the palace grounds. Ladies-in-waiting slept on thin mats
rolled out on bare wood floors; interior spaces had few boundaries with a room often created by curtaining off a space. The dwellings were raised off the ground opened to the gardens
with little privacy as described by Bowring: "A man standing outside in the garden looking in .... and his eyes would have been roughly level with the skirts of the woman inside."
In the winters the houses were cold and drafty with few braziers
, requiring multiply layered of clothing for warmth, the combinations of which became of almost ritual fascination to the women. Court attire for Heian era court women consisted of six or seven garments, with some garments layered as many as five or six times such as the lined silk robes, uchigi, which involved matching or combining colors of the linings and the garment itself to create a distinctive impression. In one passage about a ceremony for the infant, Murasaki writes about two women whose color combinations were lacking and of the significance of making a mistake at courtly functions: "That day all the women had done their utmost to dress well, but .... two of them showed a want of taste when it came to the color combinations at their sleeves ... [in] full view of the courtiers and senior nobles."
Murasaki became withdrawn and lonely, and was perhaps considered stupid, shy or both. She writes of herself: "Do they really look on me as such a dull thing, I wonder? But I am what I am .... [Shōshi] too has often remarked that she thought I was not the kind of person with whom one could ever relax .... I am perversely stand-offish; if only I can avoid putting off those for whom I have genuine respect." The benefit of being withdrawn seems to have been that she had time to write while living in a crowded court.
is not given much attention in her diary. She writes that the Emperor had it read to him, and the colored papers and calligraphers were being selected for the manuscript, and that Michinaga snuck into her room and took a manuscript from her. Parallels exist between the later chapters of Genji and the diary: scenes mentioned in the diary such as Ichijo's visit to Michinaga's mansion in 1008—a splendid imperial procession—according to Genji scholar Haruo Shirane, "corresponds almost image for image" to an imperial procession in "Chapter 33 (Wisteria Leaves)" of The Tale of Genji. Shirane believes that enough similarities exist between the two works to suggest that they may have been written at the same time.
than a diary in the modern sense, according to Japanese scholar Helen McCullough. The format was a genre that typically included poetry in the form of waka
, was meant to convey information to the readers, such as Murasaki's descriptions of court ceremonies. The author of a Heian-era nikki selected what to include, expand, or exclude. Time was treated in a similar manner: a nikki might present long entries for a single event while other events were omitted. The nikki was considered a form of literature, often not written by the subject, almost always written in third-person, and sometimes included elements of fiction or history.
Few if any dates are included in the work, and little is written about Murasaki's working habits, which leads Donald Keene to remark that she failed to write a "writer's notebook". Unlike official accounts of the period written by historians, Murasaki's diary is important because she recounts events from her point-of-view with her self-reflections, bringing to the events a human aspect lacking in official accounts. Keene believes the diary shows her as a withdrawn and perceptive woman with few friends. She is unflinching in her criticism of the other ladies-in-waiting, seeing through the superficial facades to their inner core, a quality he believes is beneficial for a novelist, but perhaps not helpful in a closed society. The diary is a repository of knowledge regarding the Heian Imperial court which is considered highly important in Japanese literature, although it may not have survived in a complete state.
The diary shows three distinct styles, according to Bowring. The first is a chronicles of events, which would normally have been written in Chinese during this period. The second is a self-reflective analysis, which he believes is the best example of self-analytic reflection from the period and her mastery of this type of style, still rare in Japanese, is evidence of her adding to the development of written Japanese by overcoming the limits of an inflexible language and writing system. The third is the epistolary style, a newly developed trend, which he considers the weakest portion of the work because she seemed to have been unable to break free of the rhythms of spoken language. He explains that a spoken language maintains a specific rhythm that relies on the presence of another person. Spoken language can be ungrammatical, relies on "eye contact, shared experiences and particular relationships [to] provide a background which allows speech to be at times fragmentary and even allusive". On the other hand written language must assume an absence of audience and compensate for "the gap between the producer and receiver of the message".
of the diary was produced, The Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki. The scroll, meant to be read from left to right, consists of calligraphy
illustrated with paintings. Writing in "The House-bound Heart", Japanese scholar Penelope Mason explains that in an emakimono or emaki a narrative reaches its full potential through the combination of the writer's and the painter's art. About 20 percent of the scroll has survived; based on the existing fragments, the images would have closely followed the text of the diary.
The illustrations in the emaki follow the late-Heian and early Kamakura period
convention of Hikime-kagibana (line-eye and hook-nose) in which individual facial expressions are omitted. Also typical of the period is the style of fukimuki yatai (blown off roof) depictions of interiors which seem to be visualized from above looking downward into a space. According Mason, the interior scenes of human figures are juxtaposed against empty exterior gardens—the characters are "house-bound".
In the diary Murasaki wrote of human emotions such as love, hate, and loneliness, feelings which make the illustrations powerful explains Mason, who considers the Murasaki Shikibu Nikki emaki to be the "finest extant examples of prose-poetry narrative illustrations from the period". The illustration in which two young courtiers try to open the lattice blinds to enter the women's quarters is particularly poignant because Murasaki can be seen holding the lattice shut against their advances. In the distance, to the right of the scroll, is a lovely garden, from which she is separated by the architecture and the men.
The Diary of Lady Murasaki (紫式部日記 Murasaki Shikibu Nikki) records the daily life of the Heian era lady-in-waiting and writer, Lady Murasaki Shikibu
, author of The Tale of Genji
. Most likely written between 1008 and 1010, the largest portion consists of descriptive passages of the birth of Empress Shōshi
's (Akiko) children, with smaller vignettes
describing life at the Imperial court and relations between other ladies-in-waiting
and court writers such as Izumi Shikibu
, Akazome Emon
and Sei Shōnagon
.
The work was written in kana
, a newly developed writing system that brought vernacular
Japanese from a spoken language to a written language. The form of the diary is unlike contemporary diaries or journals—some events are developed with much more detail than others. The work includes short vignettes, poetry in the form of waka
, and an epistolary section.
In the 13th century (during the Kamakura period
), an unknown artist painted the color, handscroll of Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki.
Murasaki's diary was written as the Heian period peaked culturally in the late 10th to early 11th centuries.Bowring (2005), xviii The development in the 9th century of kana
, a Japanese writing script and syllabary
, opened the written word and the vernacular
. At first kana was used for writing court poetry, waka
, but by the 10th century works of prose became more common. Chinese continued as the language of government, but women who were uneducated in Chinese were encouraged to read and write in Japanese. They began to take advantage of the new script, as literary forms such as monogatari
and diaries (nikki
) became more popular,Mason (2004), 109 and imperial ladies-in-waiting began to write diaries. As a result, written Japanese was in many respects developed by women who used the language as a form of self-expression and, according to Japanese literature scholar Richard Bowring
, it was women who undertook the process of building "a flexible written style out of a language that has only previously existed in a spoken form", although he mentions that the diaries of the period were unsuccessful in fully making the transition from a spoken to a written form of the language.Bowring (2005), xviii
Murasaki's diary covers a discreet period, most likely from 1008 and 1010. Only short and fragmentary pieces have survived, and it remains vital to the understanding of the author given that otherwise, so little is known about her. Most of her biographical facts are derived from the diary (Murasaki Shikibu nikki) and her c. 1014 short poetry collection, the Murasaki Shikibu shū Poetic Memoirs.Shirane (1987), 215
Born into a minor branch of the Fujiwara clan, her father, a scholar of Chinese literature, educated her and her brother in classical Chinese
. From about 998 to 1001 she was married to Fujiwara no Nobonori—who died of an outbreak of plague 1001—during which time she bore a daughter. A few years later, probably in 1006, at the request of Fujiwara no Michinaga
, she entered imperial service to his daughter Empress Shōshi
.Shirane (2008b), 293 Her given name is unknown; as was customary for women of the period, who were identified by their rank or that of a husband or another close male relative, she is known as Shikibu for her father's rank at the Ministry of Ceremonials (Shikibu-shō) and her court nickname Murasaki, from a character in her romantic monagatari Tale of the Genji. The diary was probably written after she entered imperial service.
, an event of enormous importance to Michinaga: nine years after becoming concubine and then Empress to Emperor Ichijō
Shōshi bore an heir who became emperor
bringing immense power to Michinaga.Bowring (2005), xv The diary opens with descriptions of lengthy preparations for the birth, including readings of sutras
and other Buddhist rituals. Murasaki's own self-reflections and the chronologically detailed descriptions of events surrounding the birth are often presented as vignettes
.Bowring (2005), xl - xli
She describes court life in detail with an emphasis on women's fashions such as the kimonos
and multi-layered court clothing. The combinations of colors in a woman's clothing required attention and were important because they marked stylistic aesthetics.Bowring (2005), xxviii Murasaki also describes the weather and the changing of season as well as the less pleasant aspects of court life, such as drunken nobles who often seduced the ladies-in-waiting. The diary includes anecdotes about drunken revelries and courtly scandals concerning women who, because of behavior or age, were made to leave court, as well as her own concerns about aging and her overwhelming loneliness. Murasaki suggests that the court women with whom she lived were weak-willed, uneducated, and inexperienced with men.Keene (1999), 44Ury (2003), 175–188
Going beyond writing descriptions of court events, Murasaki adds a sense of self to the diary entries. She writes about emotions and feelings: her sense of helplessness at court; her feelings of inadequacy regarding her low rank compared to higher-ranked courtiers and relatives in the Fujiwara clan; and her feelings of loss and loneliness since her husband's death.Mason (1980), 30 She adds a few autobiographical details about her life before entering service , such as this anecdote about learning Chinese as a child: "When my brother Nobunori ... was a boy my father was very anxious to make a good Chinese scholar of him, and often came himself to hear Nobunori read his lessons. On these occasions I was always present, and so quick was I at picking up the language that I was soon able to prompt my brother whenever he got stuck. At this my father used to sigh and say to me: 'If only you were a boy how proud and happy I should be.Waley, vii
, and that her hero the "shining prince" Genji sharply contrasts to Michinaga's crassness.Keene (1999), 42–44 Arguably the most powerful man at the imperial court and certainly the most powerful male figure in Shōshi's court, Murasaki describes situations in which he embarrasses his wife Rinshi and daughter by his drunken behavior. Moreover, he may have embarrassed his wife through his flagrant flirtations with Murasaki, although other scholars dispute this point.Ury (2003), 175–188
The half of the diary devoted to the birth of Shōshi's son was most likely written as tribute to Michinaga,Shirane (1987), 215 but Murasaki shows him as over-bearing, particularly in the sections where he takes charge during the birth of his grandson, Prince Atsuhira
. Because of the taboo against childbirth in the Imperial palace, the child was born at the Tsuchimikado mansion where Michinaga assumes the dominant role, despite the presence of the Emperor
himself (the child's father) and the attending priests. After the child's birth Michinaga visited the infant twice daily, whereas the Emperor appears to have been allowed only a single very short imperial visit, described meticulously in the diary.Keene (1999), 42–44Bowring (2005), xxiv-xxv Murasaki chronicled Michinaga's ceremonial visit to his daughter and grandson 16 days after the birth, at a lavish ceremony, describing in detail the ladies-in-waiting attire in passages such as this: "Saemon no Naishi .... was wearing a plain yellow-green jacket, a train
shaded darker at the hem, and a sash and waistbands
with raised embroidery in orange and white checked silk".qtd in Mulhern (1991), 86
Shōshi, a serious and studious young woman who expected decorum from her ladies-in-waiting—often difficult at a fractious court—decided to learn to read Chinese and had Murasaki teach her. The request was unconventional because Chinese was considered the "male language", the language of government and religion, while Japanese kana was reserved for women. Nevertheless, Shōshi wished to read the then popular ballads of 9th century Chinese poet Bai Juyi. The Chinese lessons were conducted in secret with Murasaki explaining: "Since the summer before last, very secretly, in odd moments when there happened to be no one about, I have been reading with Her Majesty the two books of "Songs." There has of course been no question of formal lessons; Her Majesty has merely picked up a little here and there, as she felt inclined. All the same, I have thought it best to say nothing about the matter to anybody".Waley (1960), ix-x
(author of The Pillow Book
), in service to Shōshi's rival and co-empress, Empress Teishi
(Sadako). The empresses competed for educated women and created a rivalry between the women writers. Shōnagon had probably left court when Murasaki arrived at about 1006, five years after Empress Teishi's death, but Murasaki would known Shōnagon and in the diary Murasaki writes disparagingly about her:
Also in Shōshi's employ were Izumi Shikibu
and Akazome Emon
—Shikibu a poet and Emon the author of a monogatari.Mulhern (1994), 156 Murasaki was critical of Shikibu's writing and poetry: "Izumi Shikibu is an amusing letter-writer; but there is something not very satisfactory about her. She has a gift for dashing off informal compositions in a careless running-hand; but in poetry she needs either an interesting subject or some classic model to imitate. Indeed it does not seem to me that in herself she is really a poet at all".Waley (1960), xii
joined a group of women at a banquet and asked whether Murasaki was in attendance—alluding to the character in The Tale of Genji—Murasaki quickly told him that none of the novel's characters lived at court, which she considered tawdry and unpleasant unlike the court she created in her novel. That night she left the dinner, writing, "Counsellor Takai ... started pulling at Lady Hyōbu's robes and singing dreadful songs, but His Excellency said nothing. I realized that it was bound to be a terribly drunken affair this evening, so ... Lady Saishō and I decided to retire."qtd in Keene (1999), 45 According to Japanese scholar Donald Keene
, male courtiers at the Imperial court were "drunken men who make obscene jokes and paw at women".Keene (1999), 44–45
Although the women lived in semi-seclusion in curtained
areas or screened spaces
, the men intruded on the women's privacy.Bowring (2005), xxvii Murasaki describes Michinaga entering her space early one morning, "I can see the garden from my room", she writes, "The air is misty; the dew is still on the leaves. The Lord Prime Minister is walking there .... He peeps in over my screen! His noble appearance embarrasses us and I am ashamed of my morning (not yet painted and powdered face)."Shikibu, 127 Privacy was nonexistent. The Imperial palace burned down in 1005 and most of Murasaki's tenure at court was spent at one or another of Michinaga's mansions, either the Biwa mansion in the Fujiwara quarter of Kyoto
, the Tsuchimikado mansion, or Ichijo's mansion which was close to the palace grounds. Ladies-in-waiting slept on thin mats
rolled out on bare wood floors; interior spaces had few boundaries with a room often created by curtaining off a space. The dwellings were raised off the ground opened to the gardens
with little privacy as described by Bowring: "A man standing outside in the garden looking in .... and his eyes would have been roughly level with the skirts of the woman inside."Bowring (2005), xxv-xxvii
In the winters the houses were cold and drafty with few braziers
, requiring multiply layered of clothing for warmth, the combinations of which became of almost ritual fascination to the women. Court attire for Heian era court women consisted of six or seven garments, with some garments layered as many as five or six times such as the lined silk robes, uchigi, which involved matching or combining colors of the linings and the garment itself to create a distinctive impression.Bowring (2005), xxvii In one passage about a ceremony for the infant, Murasaki writes about two women whose color combinations were lacking and of the significance of making a mistake at courtly functions: "That day all the women had done their utmost to dress well, but .... two of them showed a want of taste when it came to the color combinations at their sleeves ... [in] full view of the courtiers and senior nobles."Lady Murasaki, 65
Murasaki became withdrawn and lonely, and was perhaps considered stupid, shy or both.Keene (1999), 46 She writes of herself: "Do they really look on me as such a dull thing, I wonder? But I am what I am .... [Shōshi] too has often remarked that she thought I was not the kind of person with whom one could ever relax .... I am perversely stand-offish; if only I can avoid putting off those for whom I have genuine respect."qtd. in Keene (1999), 46 The benefit of being withdrawn seems to have been that she had time to write while living in a crowded court.Keene (1999), 46
is not given much attention in her diary. She writes that the Emperor had it read to him, and the colored papers and calligraphers were being selected for the manuscript, and that Michinaga snuck into her room and took a manuscript from her.Keene (1999), 46–47 Parallels exist between the later chapters of Genji and the diary: scenes mentioned in the diary such as Ichijo's visit to Michinaga's mansion in 1008—a splendid imperial procession—according to Genji scholar Haruo Shirane, "corresponds almost image for image" to an imperial procession in "Chapter 33 (Wisteria Leaves)" of The Tale of Genji.Shirane (1987), 221 Shirane believes that enough similarities exist between the two works to suggest that they may have been written at the same time.Shirane (1987), 36
than a diary in the modern sense, according to Japanese scholar Helen McCullough. The format was a genre that typically included poetry in the form of waka
,Waka is always 31 syllables with a measures of 5/7 or 7/5 syllables. In the diary, Murasaki used the so-called short form consisting of a measure of 5/7/5/7/7 syllable. See Bowring, xix was meant to convey information to the readers, such as Murasaki's descriptions of court ceremonies. The author of a Heian-era nikki selected what to include, expand, or exclude. Time was treated in a similar manner: a nikki might present long entries for a single event while other events were omitted. The nikki was considered a form of literature, often not written by the subject, almost always written in third-person, and sometimes included elements of fiction or history.
Few if any dates are included in the work, and little is written about Murasaki's working habits, which leads Donald Keene to remark that she failed to write a "writer's notebook". Unlike official accounts of the period written by historians, Murasaki's diary is important because she recounts events from her point-of-view with her self-reflections, bringing to the events a human aspect lacking in official accounts.Keene (1999), 41–42 Keene believes the diary shows her as a withdrawn and perceptive woman with few friends. She is unflinching in her criticism of the other ladies-in-waiting, seeing through the superficial facades to their inner core, a quality he believes is beneficial for a novelist, but perhaps not helpful in a closed society.Keene (1999), 45 The diary is a repository of knowledge regarding the Heian Imperial court which is considered highly important in Japanese literature, although it may not have survived in a complete state.Keene (1999), 42–44
The diary shows three distinct styles, according to Bowring. The first is a chronicles of events, which would normally have been written in Chinese during this period. The second is a self-reflective analysis, which he believes is the best example of self-analytic reflection from the period and her mastery of this type of style, still rare in Japanese, is evidence of her adding to the development of written Japanese by overcoming the limits of an inflexible language and writing system. The third is the epistolary style, a newly developed trend, which he considers the weakest portion of the work because she seemed to have been unable to break free of the rhythms of spoken language.Bowring (2005), xviii - xix He explains that a spoken language maintains a specific rhythm that relies on the presence of another person. Spoken language can be ungrammatical, relies on "eye contact, shared experiences and particular relationships [to] provide a background which allows speech to be at times fragmentary and even allusive". On the other hand written language must assume an absence of audience and compensate for "the gap between the producer and receiver of the message".Bowring (2005), xviii
of the diary was produced, The Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki. The scroll, meant to be read from left to right, consists of calligraphy
illustrated with paintings. Writing in "The House-bound Heart", Japanese scholar Penelope Mason explains that in an emakimono or emaki a narrative reaches its full potential through the combination of the writer's and the painter's art. About 20 percent of the scroll has survived; based on the existing fragments, the images would have closely followed the text of the diary.Mason (1980), 24
The illustrations in the emaki follow the late-Heian and early Kamakura period
convention of Hikime-kagibana (line-eye and hook-nose) in which individual facial expressions are omitted. Also typical of the period is the style of fukimuki yatai (blown off roof) depictions of interiors which seem to be visualized from above looking downward into a space. According Mason, the interior scenes of human figures are juxtaposed against empty exterior gardens—the characters are "house-bound".Mason (1980), 22-24
In the diary Murasaki wrote of human emotions such as love, hate, and loneliness, feelings which make the illustrations powerful explains Mason, who considers the Murasaki Shikibu Nikki emaki to be the "finest extant examples of prose-poetry narrative illustrations from the period". Mason (1980), 29 The illustration in which two young courtiers try to open the lattice blinds to enter the women's quarters is particularly poignant because Murasaki can be seen holding the lattice shut against their advances. In the distance, to the right of the scroll, is a lovely garden, from which she is separated by the architecture and the men.
The Diary of Lady Murasaki (紫式部日記 Murasaki Shikibu Nikki) records the daily life of the Heian era lady-in-waiting and writer, Lady Murasaki Shikibu
, author of The Tale of Genji
. Most likely written between 1008 and 1010, the largest portion consists of descriptive passages of the birth of Empress Shōshi
's (Akiko) children, with smaller vignettes
describing life at the Imperial court and relations between other ladies-in-waiting
and court writers such as Izumi Shikibu
, Akazome Emon
and Sei Shōnagon
.
The work was written in kana
, a newly developed writing system that brought vernacular
Japanese from a spoken language to a written language. The form of the diary is unlike contemporary diaries or journals—some events are developed with much more detail than others. The work includes short vignettes, poetry in the form of waka
, and an epistolary section.
In the 13th century (during the Kamakura period
), an unknown artist painted the color, handscroll of Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki.
Murasaki's diary was written as the Heian period peaked culturally in the late 10th to early 11th centuries.Bowring (2005), xviii The development in the 9th century of kana
, a Japanese writing script and syllabary
, opened the written word and the vernacular
. At first kana was used for writing court poetry, waka
, but by the 10th century works of prose became more common. Chinese continued as the language of government, but women who were uneducated in Chinese were encouraged to read and write in Japanese. They began to take advantage of the new script, as literary forms such as monogatari
and diaries (nikki
) became more popular,Mason (2004), 109 and imperial ladies-in-waiting began to write diaries. As a result, written Japanese was in many respects developed by women who used the language as a form of self-expression and, according to Japanese literature scholar Richard Bowring
, it was women who undertook the process of building "a flexible written style out of a language that has only previously existed in a spoken form", although he mentions that the diaries of the period were unsuccessful in fully making the transition from a spoken to a written form of the language.Bowring (2005), xviii
Murasaki's diary covers a discreet period, most likely from 1008 and 1010. Only short and fragmentary pieces have survived, and it remains vital to the understanding of the author given that otherwise, so little is known about her. Most of her biographical facts are derived from the diary (Murasaki Shikibu nikki) and her c. 1014 short poetry collection, the Murasaki Shikibu shū Poetic Memoirs.Shirane (1987), 215
Born into a minor branch of the Fujiwara clan, her father, a scholar of Chinese literature, educated her and her brother in classical Chinese
. From about 998 to 1001 she was married to Fujiwara no Nobonori—who died of an outbreak of plague 1001—during which time she bore a daughter. A few years later, probably in 1006, at the request of Fujiwara no Michinaga
, she entered imperial service to his daughter Empress Shōshi
.Shirane (2008b), 293 Her given name is unknown; as was customary for women of the period, who were identified by their rank or that of a husband or another close male relative, she is known as Shikibu for her father's rank at the Ministry of Ceremonials (Shikibu-shō) and her court nickname Murasaki, from a character in her romantic monagatari Tale of the Genji. The diary was probably written after she entered imperial service.
, an event of enormous importance to Michinaga: nine years after becoming concubine and then Empress to Emperor Ichijō
Shōshi bore an heir who became emperor
bringing immense power to Michinaga.Bowring (2005), xv The diary opens with descriptions of lengthy preparations for the birth, including readings of sutras
and other Buddhist rituals. Murasaki's own self-reflections and the chronologically detailed descriptions of events surrounding the birth are often presented as vignettes
.Bowring (2005), xl - xli
She describes court life in detail with an emphasis on women's fashions such as the kimonos
and multi-layered court clothing. The combinations of colors in a woman's clothing required attention and were important because they marked stylistic aesthetics.Bowring (2005), xxviii Murasaki also describes the weather and the changing of season as well as the less pleasant aspects of court life, such as drunken nobles who often seduced the ladies-in-waiting. The diary includes anecdotes about drunken revelries and courtly scandals concerning women who, because of behavior or age, were made to leave court, as well as her own concerns about aging and her overwhelming loneliness. Murasaki suggests that the court women with whom she lived were weak-willed, uneducated, and inexperienced with men.Keene (1999), 44Ury (2003), 175–188
Going beyond writing descriptions of court events, Murasaki adds a sense of self to the diary entries. She writes about emotions and feelings: her sense of helplessness at court; her feelings of inadequacy regarding her low rank compared to higher-ranked courtiers and relatives in the Fujiwara clan; and her feelings of loss and loneliness since her husband's death.Mason (1980), 30 She adds a few autobiographical details about her life before entering service , such as this anecdote about learning Chinese as a child: "When my brother Nobunori ... was a boy my father was very anxious to make a good Chinese scholar of him, and often came himself to hear Nobunori read his lessons. On these occasions I was always present, and so quick was I at picking up the language that I was soon able to prompt my brother whenever he got stuck. At this my father used to sigh and say to me: 'If only you were a boy how proud and happy I should be.Waley, vii
, and that her hero the "shining prince" Genji sharply contrasts to Michinaga's crassness.Keene (1999), 42–44 Arguably the most powerful man at the imperial court and certainly the most powerful male figure in Shōshi's court, Murasaki describes situations in which he embarrasses his wife Rinshi and daughter by his drunken behavior. Moreover, he may have embarrassed his wife through his flagrant flirtations with Murasaki, although other scholars dispute this point.Ury (2003), 175–188
The half of the diary devoted to the birth of Shōshi's son was most likely written as tribute to Michinaga,Shirane (1987), 215 but Murasaki shows him as over-bearing, particularly in the sections where he takes charge during the birth of his grandson, Prince Atsuhira
. Because of the taboo against childbirth in the Imperial palace, the child was born at the Tsuchimikado mansion where Michinaga assumes the dominant role, despite the presence of the Emperor
himself (the child's father) and the attending priests. After the child's birth Michinaga visited the infant twice daily, whereas the Emperor appears to have been allowed only a single very short imperial visit, described meticulously in the diary.Keene (1999), 42–44Bowring (2005), xxiv-xxv Murasaki chronicled Michinaga's ceremonial visit to his daughter and grandson 16 days after the birth, at a lavish ceremony, describing in detail the ladies-in-waiting attire in passages such as this: "Saemon no Naishi .... was wearing a plain yellow-green jacket, a train
shaded darker at the hem, and a sash and waistbands
with raised embroidery in orange and white checked silk".qtd in Mulhern (1991), 86
Shōshi, a serious and studious young woman who expected decorum from her ladies-in-waiting—often difficult at a fractious court—decided to learn to read Chinese and had Murasaki teach her. The request was unconventional because Chinese was considered the "male language", the language of government and religion, while Japanese kana was reserved for women. Nevertheless, Shōshi wished to read the then popular ballads of 9th century Chinese poet Bai Juyi. The Chinese lessons were conducted in secret with Murasaki explaining: "Since the summer before last, very secretly, in odd moments when there happened to be no one about, I have been reading with Her Majesty the two books of "Songs." There has of course been no question of formal lessons; Her Majesty has merely picked up a little here and there, as she felt inclined. All the same, I have thought it best to say nothing about the matter to anybody".Waley (1960), ix-x
(author of The Pillow Book
), in service to Shōshi's rival and co-empress, Empress Teishi
(Sadako). The empresses competed for educated women and created a rivalry between the women writers. Shōnagon had probably left court when Murasaki arrived at about 1006, five years after Empress Teishi's death, but Murasaki would known Shōnagon and in the diary Murasaki writes disparagingly about her:
Also in Shōshi's employ were Izumi Shikibu
and Akazome Emon
—Shikibu a poet and Emon the author of a monogatari.Mulhern (1994), 156 Murasaki was critical of Shikibu's writing and poetry: "Izumi Shikibu is an amusing letter-writer; but there is something not very satisfactory about her. She has a gift for dashing off informal compositions in a careless running-hand; but in poetry she needs either an interesting subject or some classic model to imitate. Indeed it does not seem to me that in herself she is really a poet at all".Waley (1960), xii
joined a group of women at a banquet and asked whether Murasaki was in attendance—alluding to the character in The Tale of Genji—Murasaki quickly told him that none of the novel's characters lived at court, which she considered tawdry and unpleasant unlike the court she created in her novel. That night she left the dinner, writing, "Counsellor Takai ... started pulling at Lady Hyōbu's robes and singing dreadful songs, but His Excellency said nothing. I realized that it was bound to be a terribly drunken affair this evening, so ... Lady Saishō and I decided to retire."qtd in Keene (1999), 45 According to Japanese scholar Donald Keene
, male courtiers at the Imperial court were "drunken men who make obscene jokes and paw at women".Keene (1999), 44–45
Although the women lived in semi-seclusion in curtained
areas or screened spaces
, the men intruded on the women's privacy.Bowring (2005), xxvii Murasaki describes Michinaga entering her space early one morning, "I can see the garden from my room", she writes, "The air is misty; the dew is still on the leaves. The Lord Prime Minister is walking there .... He peeps in over my screen! His noble appearance embarrasses us and I am ashamed of my morning (not yet painted and powdered face)."Shikibu, 127 Privacy was nonexistent. The Imperial palace burned down in 1005 and most of Murasaki's tenure at court was spent at one or another of Michinaga's mansions, either the Biwa mansion in the Fujiwara quarter of Kyoto
, the Tsuchimikado mansion, or Ichijo's mansion which was close to the palace grounds. Ladies-in-waiting slept on thin mats
rolled out on bare wood floors; interior spaces had few boundaries with a room often created by curtaining off a space. The dwellings were raised off the ground opened to the gardens
with little privacy as described by Bowring: "A man standing outside in the garden looking in .... and his eyes would have been roughly level with the skirts of the woman inside."Bowring (2005), xxv-xxvii
In the winters the houses were cold and drafty with few braziers
, requiring multiply layered of clothing for warmth, the combinations of which became of almost ritual fascination to the women. Court attire for Heian era court women consisted of six or seven garments, with some garments layered as many as five or six times such as the lined silk robes, uchigi, which involved matching or combining colors of the linings and the garment itself to create a distinctive impression.Bowring (2005), xxvii In one passage about a ceremony for the infant, Murasaki writes about two women whose color combinations were lacking and of the significance of making a mistake at courtly functions: "That day all the women had done their utmost to dress well, but .... two of them showed a want of taste when it came to the color combinations at their sleeves ... [in] full view of the courtiers and senior nobles."Lady Murasaki, 65
Murasaki became withdrawn and lonely, and was perhaps considered stupid, shy or both.Keene (1999), 46 She writes of herself: "Do they really look on me as such a dull thing, I wonder? But I am what I am .... [Shōshi] too has often remarked that she thought I was not the kind of person with whom one could ever relax .... I am perversely stand-offish; if only I can avoid putting off those for whom I have genuine respect."qtd. in Keene (1999), 46 The benefit of being withdrawn seems to have been that she had time to write while living in a crowded court.Keene (1999), 46
is not given much attention in her diary. She writes that the Emperor had it read to him, and the colored papers and calligraphers were being selected for the manuscript, and that Michinaga snuck into her room and took a manuscript from her.Keene (1999), 46–47 Parallels exist between the later chapters of Genji and the diary: scenes mentioned in the diary such as Ichijo's visit to Michinaga's mansion in 1008—a splendid imperial procession—according to Genji scholar Haruo Shirane, "corresponds almost image for image" to an imperial procession in "Chapter 33 (Wisteria Leaves)" of The Tale of Genji.Shirane (1987), 221 Shirane believes that enough similarities exist between the two works to suggest that they may have been written at the same time.Shirane (1987), 36
than a diary in the modern sense, according to Japanese scholar Helen McCullough. The format was a genre that typically included poetry in the form of waka
,Waka is always 31 syllables with a measures of 5/7 or 7/5 syllables. In the diary, Murasaki used the so-called short form consisting of a measure of 5/7/5/7/7 syllable. See Bowring, xix was meant to convey information to the readers, such as Murasaki's descriptions of court ceremonies. The author of a Heian-era nikki selected what to include, expand, or exclude. Time was treated in a similar manner: a nikki might present long entries for a single event while other events were omitted. The nikki was considered a form of literature, often not written by the subject, almost always written in third-person, and sometimes included elements of fiction or history.
Few if any dates are included in the work, and little is written about Murasaki's working habits, which leads Donald Keene to remark that she failed to write a "writer's notebook". Unlike official accounts of the period written by historians, Murasaki's diary is important because she recounts events from her point-of-view with her self-reflections, bringing to the events a human aspect lacking in official accounts.Keene (1999), 41–42 Keene believes the diary shows her as a withdrawn and perceptive woman with few friends. She is unflinching in her criticism of the other ladies-in-waiting, seeing through the superficial facades to their inner core, a quality he believes is beneficial for a novelist, but perhaps not helpful in a closed society.Keene (1999), 45 The diary is a repository of knowledge regarding the Heian Imperial court which is considered highly important in Japanese literature, although it may not have survived in a complete state.Keene (1999), 42–44
The diary shows three distinct styles, according to Bowring. The first is a chronicles of events, which would normally have been written in Chinese during this period. The second is a self-reflective analysis, which he believes is the best example of self-analytic reflection from the period and her mastery of this type of style, still rare in Japanese, is evidence of her adding to the development of written Japanese by overcoming the limits of an inflexible language and writing system. The third is the epistolary style, a newly developed trend, which he considers the weakest portion of the work because she seemed to have been unable to break free of the rhythms of spoken language.Bowring (2005), xviii - xix He explains that a spoken language maintains a specific rhythm that relies on the presence of another person. Spoken language can be ungrammatical, relies on "eye contact, shared experiences and particular relationships [to] provide a background which allows speech to be at times fragmentary and even allusive". On the other hand written language must assume an absence of audience and compensate for "the gap between the producer and receiver of the message".Bowring (2005), xviii
of the diary was produced, The Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki. The scroll, meant to be read from left to right, consists of calligraphy
illustrated with paintings. Writing in "The House-bound Heart", Japanese scholar Penelope Mason explains that in an emakimono or emaki a narrative reaches its full potential through the combination of the writer's and the painter's art. About 20 percent of the scroll has survived; based on the existing fragments, the images would have closely followed the text of the diary.Mason (1980), 24
The illustrations in the emaki follow the late-Heian and early Kamakura period
convention of Hikime-kagibana (line-eye and hook-nose) in which individual facial expressions are omitted. Also typical of the period is the style of fukimuki yatai (blown off roof) depictions of interiors which seem to be visualized from above looking downward into a space. According Mason, the interior scenes of human figures are juxtaposed against empty exterior gardens—the characters are "house-bound".Mason (1980), 22-24
In the diary Murasaki wrote of human emotions such as love, hate, and loneliness, feelings which make the illustrations powerful explains Mason, who considers the Murasaki Shikibu Nikki emaki to be the "finest extant examples of prose-poetry narrative illustrations from the period". Mason (1980), 29 The illustration in which two young courtiers try to open the lattice blinds to enter the women's quarters is particularly poignant because Murasaki can be seen holding the lattice shut against their advances. In the distance, to the right of the scroll, is a lovely garden, from which she is separated by the architecture and the men. Mason (1980), 32-33
The scroll was discovered in 1920 in a five segment piece, by Morikawa Kanichirō (森川勘一郎). The Gotoh Museum
holds segments one, two and four; the Tokyo National Museum
holds the third segment; the fifth remains in a private collection. The portion of the emakimono held at the Gotoh museum have been designated as National Treasures of Japan
.Gotoh Museum (in Japanese)
(The Izumi Shikibu nikki) and the Sarashima nikki under the title Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan. Their translation had an introduction by Amy Lowell
. A more recent English translation was published by Richard Bowring in 1982.Ury (1983), 175
Murasaki Shikibu
Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012...
, author of The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
. Most likely written between 1008 and 1010, the largest portion consists of descriptive passages of the birth of Empress Shōshi
Empress Shōshi
or Empress Shōshi , , also known as , the eldest daughter of Fujiwara no Michinaga, was Empress of Japan from c. 1000 to c. 1011...
's (Akiko) children, with smaller vignettes
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
describing life at the Imperial court and relations between other ladies-in-waiting
Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...
and court writers such as Izumi Shikibu
Izumi Shikibu
was a mid Heian period Japanese poet. She is a member of the . She was the contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu, and Akazome Emon at the court of Joto Mon'in.-Early life:...
, Akazome Emon
Akazome Emon
was a Japanese waka poet who lived in the mid-Heian period. She is a member both of the and the .-Biography:Emon is though to be the daughter of Akazome Tokimochi, but her biological father was likely her mother's first husband, Taira Kanemori. Emon was born before her mother's marriage to...
and Sei Shōnagon
Sei Shonagon
Sei Shōnagon , was a Japanese author and a court lady who served the Empress Teishi around the year 1000 during the middle Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Pillow Book .-Name:...
.
The work was written in kana
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
, a newly developed writing system that brought vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
Japanese from a spoken language to a written language. The form of the diary is unlike contemporary diaries or journals—some events are developed with much more detail than others. The work includes short vignettes, poetry in the form of waka
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...
, and an epistolary section.
In the 13th century (during the Kamakura period
Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....
), an unknown artist painted the color, handscroll of Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki.
Background
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
, a Japanese writing script and syllabary
Syllabary
A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent syllables, which make up words. In a syllabary, there is no systematic similarity between the symbols which represent syllables with the same consonant or vowel...
, opened the written word and the vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
. At first kana was used for writing court poetry, waka
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...
, but by the 10th century works of prose became more common. Chinese continued as the language of government, but women who were uneducated in Chinese were encouraged to read and write in Japanese. They began to take advantage of the new script, as literary forms such as monogatari
Monogatari
is a literary form in traditional Japanese literature, an extended prose narrative tale comparable to the epic. Monogatari is closely tied to aspects of the oral tradition, and almost always relates a fictional or fictionalized story, even when retelling a historical event...
and diaries (nikki
Nikki Bungaku
is a genre of Japanese diary literature including prominent works such as the Tosa Nikki, Kagerō Nikki, and Murasaki Shikibu Nikki. While diaries began as records imitating daily logs kept by Chinese government officials, private and literary diaries emerged and flourished during the Heian period...
) became more popular, and imperial ladies-in-waiting began to write diaries. As a result, written Japanese was in many respects developed by women who used the language as a form of self-expression and, according to Japanese literature scholar Richard Bowring
Richard Bowring
Professor Richard John Bowring PhD, Litt.D is Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Fellow of Downing College.-Education:*1960-64 Blundell's School...
, it was women who undertook the process of building "a flexible written style out of a language that has only previously existed in a spoken form", although he mentions that the diaries of the period were unsuccessful in fully making the transition from a spoken to a written form of the language.
Murasaki's diary covers a discreet period, most likely from 1008 and 1010. Only short and fragmentary pieces have survived, and it remains vital to the understanding of the author given that otherwise, so little is known about her. Most of her biographical facts are derived from the diary (Murasaki Shikibu nikki) and her c. 1014 short poetry collection, the Murasaki Shikibu shū Poetic Memoirs.
Born into a minor branch of the Fujiwara clan, her father, a scholar of Chinese literature, educated her and her brother in classical Chinese
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese...
. From about 998 to 1001 she was married to Fujiwara no Nobonori—who died of an outbreak of plague 1001—during which time she bore a daughter. A few years later, probably in 1006, at the request of Fujiwara no Michinaga
Fujiwara no Michinaga
represents the highpoint of the Fujiwara regents' control over the government of Japan.-Early life:He was the fourth or fifth son of Fujiwara no Kaneie by his wife Tokihime, daughter of Fujiwara no Nakamasa...
, she entered imperial service to his daughter Empress Shōshi
Empress Shōshi
or Empress Shōshi , , also known as , the eldest daughter of Fujiwara no Michinaga, was Empress of Japan from c. 1000 to c. 1011...
. Her given name is unknown; as was customary for women of the period, who were identified by their rank or that of a husband or another close male relative, she is known as Shikibu for her father's rank at the Ministry of Ceremonials (Shikibu-shō) and her court nickname Murasaki, from a character in her romantic monagatari Tale of the Genji. The diary was probably written after she entered imperial service.
Contents
The extant diary consists of three parts: a long section describing the events surrounding the birth of Shōshi's eldest son; a second portion written in an epistolary format about the attributes and characters of imperial ladies-in-waiting; and a compilation of court anecdotes. In the diary Murasaki describes court life from her point-of-view with emphasis on the birth of Shōshi's son Emperor Go-IchijōEmperor Go-Ichijo
was the 68th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Go-Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 1016 through 1036.This 11th century sovereign was named after Emperor Ichijō and go- , translates literally as "later;" and thus, he is sometimes called the "Later Emperor Ichijō"...
, an event of enormous importance to Michinaga: nine years after becoming concubine and then Empress to Emperor Ichijō
Emperor Ichijo
was the 66th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 986 to 1011.-Traditional narrative:Before he ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was Kanehito-shinnō....
Shōshi bore an heir who became emperor
Emperor Go-Ichijo
was the 68th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Go-Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 1016 through 1036.This 11th century sovereign was named after Emperor Ichijō and go- , translates literally as "later;" and thus, he is sometimes called the "Later Emperor Ichijō"...
bringing immense power to Michinaga. The diary opens with descriptions of lengthy preparations for the birth, including readings of sutras
Sutras
Sutras may refer to:*Sūtra - A type of literary composition in Buddhism and Hinduism*Sutras - An album by 1960s rock musician Donovan...
and other Buddhist rituals. Murasaki's own self-reflections and the chronologically detailed descriptions of events surrounding the birth are often presented as vignettes
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
.
She describes court life in detail with an emphasis on women's fashions such as the kimonos
Junihitoe
The is an extremely elegant and highly complex kimono that was only worn by court-ladies in Japan. Literally translated, it means "twelve-layer robe". The older term, still used by scholars but not widely recognised in mainstream Japan, is Karaginu Mo...
and multi-layered court clothing. The combinations of colors in a woman's clothing required attention and were important because they marked stylistic aesthetics. Murasaki also describes the weather and the changing of season as well as the less pleasant aspects of court life, such as drunken nobles who often seduced the ladies-in-waiting. The diary includes anecdotes about drunken revelries and courtly scandals concerning women who, because of behavior or age, were made to leave court, as well as her own concerns about aging and her overwhelming loneliness. Murasaki suggests that the court women with whom she lived were weak-willed, uneducated, and inexperienced with men.
Going beyond writing descriptions of court events, Murasaki adds a sense of self to the diary entries. She writes about emotions and feelings: her sense of helplessness at court; her feelings of inadequacy regarding her low rank compared to higher-ranked courtiers and relatives in the Fujiwara clan; and her feelings of loss and loneliness since her husband's death. She adds a few autobiographical details about her life before entering service , such as this anecdote about learning Chinese as a child: "When my brother Nobunori ... was a boy my father was very anxious to make a good Chinese scholar of him, and often came himself to hear Nobunori read his lessons. On these occasions I was always present, and so quick was I at picking up the language that I was soon able to prompt my brother whenever he got stuck. At this my father used to sigh and say to me: 'If only you were a boy how proud and happy I should be.
Michinaga and Empress Shōshi
Keene believes Heian court life, as presented in Murasaki's diary, is the antithesis of court life she imagined in her romantic novel, The Tale of GenjiThe Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
, and that her hero the "shining prince" Genji sharply contrasts to Michinaga's crassness. Arguably the most powerful man at the imperial court and certainly the most powerful male figure in Shōshi's court, Murasaki describes situations in which he embarrasses his wife Rinshi and daughter by his drunken behavior. Moreover, he may have embarrassed his wife through his flagrant flirtations with Murasaki, although other scholars dispute this point.
The half of the diary devoted to the birth of Shōshi's son was most likely written as tribute to Michinaga, but Murasaki shows him as over-bearing, particularly in the sections where he takes charge during the birth of his grandson, Prince Atsuhira
Emperor Go-Ichijo
was the 68th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Go-Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 1016 through 1036.This 11th century sovereign was named after Emperor Ichijō and go- , translates literally as "later;" and thus, he is sometimes called the "Later Emperor Ichijō"...
. Because of the taboo against childbirth in the Imperial palace, the child was born at the Tsuchimikado mansion where Michinaga assumes the dominant role, despite the presence of the Emperor
Emperor Ichijo
was the 66th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 986 to 1011.-Traditional narrative:Before he ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was Kanehito-shinnō....
himself (the child's father) and the attending priests. After the child's birth Michinaga visited the infant twice daily, whereas the Emperor appears to have been allowed only a single very short imperial visit, described meticulously in the diary. Murasaki chronicled Michinaga's ceremonial visit to his daughter and grandson 16 days after the birth, at a lavish ceremony, describing in detail the ladies-in-waiting attire in passages such as this: "Saemon no Naishi .... was wearing a plain yellow-green jacket, a train
Train (clothing)
A train in clothing is the long back portion of a skirt or dress that writes a trail on the ground behind the wearer in ruler , or a separate trailing overskirt. It is a common part of a court dress or a wedding dress....
shaded darker at the hem, and a sash and waistbands
Obi (sash)
is a sash for traditional Japanese dress, keikogi worn for Japanese martial arts, and a part of kimono outfits.The obi for men's kimono is rather narrow, wide at most, but a woman's formal obi can be wide and more than long. Nowadays, a woman's wide and decorative obi does not keep the kimono...
with raised embroidery in orange and white checked silk".
Shōshi, a serious and studious young woman who expected decorum from her ladies-in-waiting—often difficult at a fractious court—decided to learn to read Chinese and had Murasaki teach her. The request was unconventional because Chinese was considered the "male language", the language of government and religion, while Japanese kana was reserved for women. Nevertheless, Shōshi wished to read the then popular ballads of 9th century Chinese poet Bai Juyi. The Chinese lessons were conducted in secret with Murasaki explaining: "Since the summer before last, very secretly, in odd moments when there happened to be no one about, I have been reading with Her Majesty the two books of "Songs." There has of course been no question of formal lessons; Her Majesty has merely picked up a little here and there, as she felt inclined. All the same, I have thought it best to say nothing about the matter to anybody".
Ladies-in-waiting
Murasaki wrote about other ladies-in-waiting at court, most notably about Sei ShōnagonSei Shonagon
Sei Shōnagon , was a Japanese author and a court lady who served the Empress Teishi around the year 1000 during the middle Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Pillow Book .-Name:...
(author of The Pillow Book
The Pillow Book
is a book of observations and musings recorded by Sei Shōnagon during her time as court lady to Empress Consort Teishi during the 990s and early 11th century in Heian Japan. The book was completed in the year 1002....
), in service to Shōshi's rival and co-empress, Empress Teishi
Fujiwara no Teishi
Fujiwara no Teishi was an Empress consort of Japan. She was the consort of Emperor Ichijō of Japan.- Sources :...
(Sadako). The empresses competed for educated women and created a rivalry between the women writers. Shōnagon had probably left court when Murasaki arrived at about 1006, five years after Empress Teishi's death, but Murasaki would known Shōnagon and in the diary Murasaki writes disparagingly about her:
Sei Shōnagon's most marked characteristic is her extraordinary self-satisfaction. But examine the pretentious compositions in Chinese script which she scatters so liberally over the Court, and you will find them to be .... blunders. Her chief pleasure consists in shocking people .... She was once a person of great taste and refinement; but now she can no longer restrain herself from indulging, even under the most inappropriate circumstances....
Also in Shōshi's employ were Izumi Shikibu
Izumi Shikibu
was a mid Heian period Japanese poet. She is a member of the . She was the contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu, and Akazome Emon at the court of Joto Mon'in.-Early life:...
and Akazome Emon
Akazome Emon
was a Japanese waka poet who lived in the mid-Heian period. She is a member both of the and the .-Biography:Emon is though to be the daughter of Akazome Tokimochi, but her biological father was likely her mother's first husband, Taira Kanemori. Emon was born before her mother's marriage to...
—Shikibu a poet and Emon the author of a monogatari. Murasaki was critical of Shikibu's writing and poetry: "Izumi Shikibu is an amusing letter-writer; but there is something not very satisfactory about her. She has a gift for dashing off informal compositions in a careless running-hand; but in poetry she needs either an interesting subject or some classic model to imitate. Indeed it does not seem to me that in herself she is really a poet at all".
Court life
Murasaki appears to have been unhappy and lonely at court, complaining about the courtiers and princes who were frequently drunk and behaved badly. In one incident court poet Fujiwara no KintōFujiwara no Kinto
, also known as Shijō-dainagon, was a Japanese poet, admired by his contemporaries and a court bureaucrat of the Heian period. His father was the regent Fujiwara no Yoritada and his son Fujiwara no Sadayori...
joined a group of women at a banquet and asked whether Murasaki was in attendance—alluding to the character in The Tale of Genji—Murasaki quickly told him that none of the novel's characters lived at court, which she considered tawdry and unpleasant unlike the court she created in her novel. That night she left the dinner, writing, "Counsellor Takai ... started pulling at Lady Hyōbu's robes and singing dreadful songs, but His Excellency said nothing. I realized that it was bound to be a terribly drunken affair this evening, so ... Lady Saishō and I decided to retire." According to Japanese scholar Donald Keene
Donald Keene
Donald Lawrence Keene is a Japanologist, scholar, teacher, writer, translator and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture. Keene was University Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years...
, male courtiers at the Imperial court were "drunken men who make obscene jokes and paw at women".
Although the women lived in semi-seclusion in curtained
Kichō
A is a portable multi-paneled silk partition supported by a two-rod T-pole. It came into use in aristocratic households during and following the Heian period in Japan when it became a standard piece of furniture...
areas or screened spaces
Byobu
are Japanese folding screens made from several joined panels bearing decorative painting and calligraphy, used to separate interiors and enclose private spaces, among other uses.- History :...
, the men intruded on the women's privacy. Murasaki describes Michinaga entering her space early one morning, "I can see the garden from my room", she writes, "The air is misty; the dew is still on the leaves. The Lord Prime Minister is walking there .... He peeps in over my screen! His noble appearance embarrasses us and I am ashamed of my morning (not yet painted and powdered face)." Privacy was nonexistent. The Imperial palace burned down in 1005 and most of Murasaki's tenure at court was spent at one or another of Michinaga's mansions, either the Biwa mansion in the Fujiwara quarter of Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, the Tsuchimikado mansion, or Ichijo's mansion which was close to the palace grounds. Ladies-in-waiting slept on thin mats
Futon
Futon is an English word derived from Japanese , a term generally referring to the traditional style of Japanese bedding consisting of padded mattresses and quilts pliable enough to be folded and stored away during the day, allowing the room to serve for purposes other than as a bedroom...
rolled out on bare wood floors; interior spaces had few boundaries with a room often created by curtaining off a space. The dwellings were raised off the ground opened to the gardens
Japanese garden
, that is, gardens in traditional Japanese style, can be found at private homes, in neighborhood or city parks, and at historical landmarks such as Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and old castles....
with little privacy as described by Bowring: "A man standing outside in the garden looking in .... and his eyes would have been roughly level with the skirts of the woman inside."
In the winters the houses were cold and drafty with few braziers
Irori
Irori are a type of traditional sunken hearth common in Japan. Used for heating the home and cooking food, irori are essentially square pits in the floor with a pot hook, or jizaikagi...
, requiring multiply layered of clothing for warmth, the combinations of which became of almost ritual fascination to the women. Court attire for Heian era court women consisted of six or seven garments, with some garments layered as many as five or six times such as the lined silk robes, uchigi, which involved matching or combining colors of the linings and the garment itself to create a distinctive impression. In one passage about a ceremony for the infant, Murasaki writes about two women whose color combinations were lacking and of the significance of making a mistake at courtly functions: "That day all the women had done their utmost to dress well, but .... two of them showed a want of taste when it came to the color combinations at their sleeves ... [in] full view of the courtiers and senior nobles."
Murasaki became withdrawn and lonely, and was perhaps considered stupid, shy or both. She writes of herself: "Do they really look on me as such a dull thing, I wonder? But I am what I am .... [Shōshi] too has often remarked that she thought I was not the kind of person with whom one could ever relax .... I am perversely stand-offish; if only I can avoid putting off those for whom I have genuine respect." The benefit of being withdrawn seems to have been that she had time to write while living in a crowded court.
The diary and Genji
Murasaki's The Tale of GenjiThe Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
is not given much attention in her diary. She writes that the Emperor had it read to him, and the colored papers and calligraphers were being selected for the manuscript, and that Michinaga snuck into her room and took a manuscript from her. Parallels exist between the later chapters of Genji and the diary: scenes mentioned in the diary such as Ichijo's visit to Michinaga's mansion in 1008—a splendid imperial procession—according to Genji scholar Haruo Shirane, "corresponds almost image for image" to an imperial procession in "Chapter 33 (Wisteria Leaves)" of The Tale of Genji. Shirane believes that enough similarities exist between the two works to suggest that they may have been written at the same time.
Style and genre
The genre of diary writing popular at the time, Nikki Bungaku, is more of an autobiographical memoirMemoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
than a diary in the modern sense, according to Japanese scholar Helen McCullough. The format was a genre that typically included poetry in the form of waka
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...
, was meant to convey information to the readers, such as Murasaki's descriptions of court ceremonies. The author of a Heian-era nikki selected what to include, expand, or exclude. Time was treated in a similar manner: a nikki might present long entries for a single event while other events were omitted. The nikki was considered a form of literature, often not written by the subject, almost always written in third-person, and sometimes included elements of fiction or history.
Few if any dates are included in the work, and little is written about Murasaki's working habits, which leads Donald Keene to remark that she failed to write a "writer's notebook". Unlike official accounts of the period written by historians, Murasaki's diary is important because she recounts events from her point-of-view with her self-reflections, bringing to the events a human aspect lacking in official accounts. Keene believes the diary shows her as a withdrawn and perceptive woman with few friends. She is unflinching in her criticism of the other ladies-in-waiting, seeing through the superficial facades to their inner core, a quality he believes is beneficial for a novelist, but perhaps not helpful in a closed society. The diary is a repository of knowledge regarding the Heian Imperial court which is considered highly important in Japanese literature, although it may not have survived in a complete state.
The diary shows three distinct styles, according to Bowring. The first is a chronicles of events, which would normally have been written in Chinese during this period. The second is a self-reflective analysis, which he believes is the best example of self-analytic reflection from the period and her mastery of this type of style, still rare in Japanese, is evidence of her adding to the development of written Japanese by overcoming the limits of an inflexible language and writing system. The third is the epistolary style, a newly developed trend, which he considers the weakest portion of the work because she seemed to have been unable to break free of the rhythms of spoken language. He explains that a spoken language maintains a specific rhythm that relies on the presence of another person. Spoken language can be ungrammatical, relies on "eye contact, shared experiences and particular relationships [to] provide a background which allows speech to be at times fragmentary and even allusive". On the other hand written language must assume an absence of audience and compensate for "the gap between the producer and receiver of the message".
Emakimono
In the 13th century a handscrollEmakimono
, often simply called , is a horizontal, illustrated narrative form created during the 11th to 16th centuries in Japan. Emakimono combines both text and pictures, and is drawn, painted, or stamped on a handscroll...
of the diary was produced, The Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki. The scroll, meant to be read from left to right, consists of calligraphy
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
illustrated with paintings. Writing in "The House-bound Heart", Japanese scholar Penelope Mason explains that in an emakimono or emaki a narrative reaches its full potential through the combination of the writer's and the painter's art. About 20 percent of the scroll has survived; based on the existing fragments, the images would have closely followed the text of the diary.
The illustrations in the emaki follow the late-Heian and early Kamakura period
Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....
convention of Hikime-kagibana (line-eye and hook-nose) in which individual facial expressions are omitted. Also typical of the period is the style of fukimuki yatai (blown off roof) depictions of interiors which seem to be visualized from above looking downward into a space. According Mason, the interior scenes of human figures are juxtaposed against empty exterior gardens—the characters are "house-bound".
In the diary Murasaki wrote of human emotions such as love, hate, and loneliness, feelings which make the illustrations powerful explains Mason, who considers the Murasaki Shikibu Nikki emaki to be the "finest extant examples of prose-poetry narrative illustrations from the period". The illustration in which two young courtiers try to open the lattice blinds to enter the women's quarters is particularly poignant because Murasaki can be seen holding the lattice shut against their advances. In the distance, to the right of the scroll, is a lovely garden, from which she is separated by the architecture and the men.
The Diary of Lady Murasaki (紫式部日記 Murasaki Shikibu Nikki) records the daily life of the Heian era lady-in-waiting and writer, Lady Murasaki Shikibu
Murasaki Shikibu
Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012...
, author of The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
. Most likely written between 1008 and 1010, the largest portion consists of descriptive passages of the birth of Empress Shōshi
Empress Shōshi
or Empress Shōshi , , also known as , the eldest daughter of Fujiwara no Michinaga, was Empress of Japan from c. 1000 to c. 1011...
's (Akiko) children, with smaller vignettes
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
describing life at the Imperial court and relations between other ladies-in-waiting
Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...
and court writers such as Izumi Shikibu
Izumi Shikibu
was a mid Heian period Japanese poet. She is a member of the . She was the contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu, and Akazome Emon at the court of Joto Mon'in.-Early life:...
, Akazome Emon
Akazome Emon
was a Japanese waka poet who lived in the mid-Heian period. She is a member both of the and the .-Biography:Emon is though to be the daughter of Akazome Tokimochi, but her biological father was likely her mother's first husband, Taira Kanemori. Emon was born before her mother's marriage to...
and Sei Shōnagon
Sei Shonagon
Sei Shōnagon , was a Japanese author and a court lady who served the Empress Teishi around the year 1000 during the middle Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Pillow Book .-Name:...
.
The work was written in kana
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
, a newly developed writing system that brought vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
Japanese from a spoken language to a written language. The form of the diary is unlike contemporary diaries or journals—some events are developed with much more detail than others. The work includes short vignettes, poetry in the form of waka
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...
, and an epistolary section.
In the 13th century (during the Kamakura period
Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....
), an unknown artist painted the color, handscroll of Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki.
Background
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
, a Japanese writing script and syllabary
Syllabary
A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent syllables, which make up words. In a syllabary, there is no systematic similarity between the symbols which represent syllables with the same consonant or vowel...
, opened the written word and the vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
. At first kana was used for writing court poetry, waka
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...
, but by the 10th century works of prose became more common. Chinese continued as the language of government, but women who were uneducated in Chinese were encouraged to read and write in Japanese. They began to take advantage of the new script, as literary forms such as monogatari
Monogatari
is a literary form in traditional Japanese literature, an extended prose narrative tale comparable to the epic. Monogatari is closely tied to aspects of the oral tradition, and almost always relates a fictional or fictionalized story, even when retelling a historical event...
and diaries (nikki
Nikki Bungaku
is a genre of Japanese diary literature including prominent works such as the Tosa Nikki, Kagerō Nikki, and Murasaki Shikibu Nikki. While diaries began as records imitating daily logs kept by Chinese government officials, private and literary diaries emerged and flourished during the Heian period...
) became more popular,Mason (2004), 109 and imperial ladies-in-waiting began to write diaries. As a result, written Japanese was in many respects developed by women who used the language as a form of self-expression and, according to Japanese literature scholar Richard Bowring
Richard Bowring
Professor Richard John Bowring PhD, Litt.D is Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Fellow of Downing College.-Education:*1960-64 Blundell's School...
, it was women who undertook the process of building "a flexible written style out of a language that has only previously existed in a spoken form", although he mentions that the diaries of the period were unsuccessful in fully making the transition from a spoken to a written form of the language.Bowring (2005), xviii
Murasaki's diary covers a discreet period, most likely from 1008 and 1010. Only short and fragmentary pieces have survived, and it remains vital to the understanding of the author given that otherwise, so little is known about her. Most of her biographical facts are derived from the diary (Murasaki Shikibu nikki) and her c. 1014 short poetry collection, the Murasaki Shikibu shū Poetic Memoirs.Shirane (1987), 215
Born into a minor branch of the Fujiwara clan, her father, a scholar of Chinese literature, educated her and her brother in classical Chinese
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese...
. From about 998 to 1001 she was married to Fujiwara no Nobonori—who died of an outbreak of plague 1001—during which time she bore a daughter. A few years later, probably in 1006, at the request of Fujiwara no Michinaga
Fujiwara no Michinaga
represents the highpoint of the Fujiwara regents' control over the government of Japan.-Early life:He was the fourth or fifth son of Fujiwara no Kaneie by his wife Tokihime, daughter of Fujiwara no Nakamasa...
, she entered imperial service to his daughter Empress Shōshi
Empress Shōshi
or Empress Shōshi , , also known as , the eldest daughter of Fujiwara no Michinaga, was Empress of Japan from c. 1000 to c. 1011...
.Shirane (2008b), 293 Her given name is unknown; as was customary for women of the period, who were identified by their rank or that of a husband or another close male relative, she is known as Shikibu for her father's rank at the Ministry of Ceremonials (Shikibu-shō) and her court nickname Murasaki, from a character in her romantic monagatari Tale of the Genji. The diary was probably written after she entered imperial service.
Contents
The extant diary consists of three parts: a long section describing the events surrounding the birth of Shōshi's eldest son; a second portion written in an epistolary format about the attributes and characters of imperial ladies-in-waiting; and a compilation of court anecdotes. In the diary Murasaki describes court life from her point-of-view with emphasis on the birth of Shōshi's son Emperor Go-IchijōEmperor Go-Ichijo
was the 68th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Go-Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 1016 through 1036.This 11th century sovereign was named after Emperor Ichijō and go- , translates literally as "later;" and thus, he is sometimes called the "Later Emperor Ichijō"...
, an event of enormous importance to Michinaga: nine years after becoming concubine and then Empress to Emperor Ichijō
Emperor Ichijo
was the 66th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 986 to 1011.-Traditional narrative:Before he ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was Kanehito-shinnō....
Shōshi bore an heir who became emperor
Emperor Go-Ichijo
was the 68th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Go-Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 1016 through 1036.This 11th century sovereign was named after Emperor Ichijō and go- , translates literally as "later;" and thus, he is sometimes called the "Later Emperor Ichijō"...
bringing immense power to Michinaga.Bowring (2005), xv The diary opens with descriptions of lengthy preparations for the birth, including readings of sutras
Sutras
Sutras may refer to:*Sūtra - A type of literary composition in Buddhism and Hinduism*Sutras - An album by 1960s rock musician Donovan...
and other Buddhist rituals. Murasaki's own self-reflections and the chronologically detailed descriptions of events surrounding the birth are often presented as vignettes
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
.Bowring (2005), xl - xli
She describes court life in detail with an emphasis on women's fashions such as the kimonos
Junihitoe
The is an extremely elegant and highly complex kimono that was only worn by court-ladies in Japan. Literally translated, it means "twelve-layer robe". The older term, still used by scholars but not widely recognised in mainstream Japan, is Karaginu Mo...
and multi-layered court clothing. The combinations of colors in a woman's clothing required attention and were important because they marked stylistic aesthetics.Bowring (2005), xxviii Murasaki also describes the weather and the changing of season as well as the less pleasant aspects of court life, such as drunken nobles who often seduced the ladies-in-waiting. The diary includes anecdotes about drunken revelries and courtly scandals concerning women who, because of behavior or age, were made to leave court, as well as her own concerns about aging and her overwhelming loneliness. Murasaki suggests that the court women with whom she lived were weak-willed, uneducated, and inexperienced with men.Keene (1999), 44Ury (2003), 175–188
Going beyond writing descriptions of court events, Murasaki adds a sense of self to the diary entries. She writes about emotions and feelings: her sense of helplessness at court; her feelings of inadequacy regarding her low rank compared to higher-ranked courtiers and relatives in the Fujiwara clan; and her feelings of loss and loneliness since her husband's death.Mason (1980), 30 She adds a few autobiographical details about her life before entering service , such as this anecdote about learning Chinese as a child: "When my brother Nobunori ... was a boy my father was very anxious to make a good Chinese scholar of him, and often came himself to hear Nobunori read his lessons. On these occasions I was always present, and so quick was I at picking up the language that I was soon able to prompt my brother whenever he got stuck. At this my father used to sigh and say to me: 'If only you were a boy how proud and happy I should be.Waley, vii
Michinaga and Empress Shōshi
Keene believes Heian court life, as presented in Murasaki's diary, is the antithesis of court life she imagined in her romantic novel, The Tale of GenjiThe Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
, and that her hero the "shining prince" Genji sharply contrasts to Michinaga's crassness.Keene (1999), 42–44 Arguably the most powerful man at the imperial court and certainly the most powerful male figure in Shōshi's court, Murasaki describes situations in which he embarrasses his wife Rinshi and daughter by his drunken behavior. Moreover, he may have embarrassed his wife through his flagrant flirtations with Murasaki, although other scholars dispute this point.Ury (2003), 175–188
The half of the diary devoted to the birth of Shōshi's son was most likely written as tribute to Michinaga,Shirane (1987), 215 but Murasaki shows him as over-bearing, particularly in the sections where he takes charge during the birth of his grandson, Prince Atsuhira
Emperor Go-Ichijo
was the 68th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Go-Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 1016 through 1036.This 11th century sovereign was named after Emperor Ichijō and go- , translates literally as "later;" and thus, he is sometimes called the "Later Emperor Ichijō"...
. Because of the taboo against childbirth in the Imperial palace, the child was born at the Tsuchimikado mansion where Michinaga assumes the dominant role, despite the presence of the Emperor
Emperor Ichijo
was the 66th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 986 to 1011.-Traditional narrative:Before he ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was Kanehito-shinnō....
himself (the child's father) and the attending priests. After the child's birth Michinaga visited the infant twice daily, whereas the Emperor appears to have been allowed only a single very short imperial visit, described meticulously in the diary.Keene (1999), 42–44Bowring (2005), xxiv-xxv Murasaki chronicled Michinaga's ceremonial visit to his daughter and grandson 16 days after the birth, at a lavish ceremony, describing in detail the ladies-in-waiting attire in passages such as this: "Saemon no Naishi .... was wearing a plain yellow-green jacket, a train
Train (clothing)
A train in clothing is the long back portion of a skirt or dress that writes a trail on the ground behind the wearer in ruler , or a separate trailing overskirt. It is a common part of a court dress or a wedding dress....
shaded darker at the hem, and a sash and waistbands
Obi (sash)
is a sash for traditional Japanese dress, keikogi worn for Japanese martial arts, and a part of kimono outfits.The obi for men's kimono is rather narrow, wide at most, but a woman's formal obi can be wide and more than long. Nowadays, a woman's wide and decorative obi does not keep the kimono...
with raised embroidery in orange and white checked silk".qtd in Mulhern (1991), 86
Shōshi, a serious and studious young woman who expected decorum from her ladies-in-waiting—often difficult at a fractious court—decided to learn to read Chinese and had Murasaki teach her. The request was unconventional because Chinese was considered the "male language", the language of government and religion, while Japanese kana was reserved for women. Nevertheless, Shōshi wished to read the then popular ballads of 9th century Chinese poet Bai Juyi. The Chinese lessons were conducted in secret with Murasaki explaining: "Since the summer before last, very secretly, in odd moments when there happened to be no one about, I have been reading with Her Majesty the two books of "Songs." There has of course been no question of formal lessons; Her Majesty has merely picked up a little here and there, as she felt inclined. All the same, I have thought it best to say nothing about the matter to anybody".Waley (1960), ix-x
Ladies-in-waiting
Murasaki wrote about other ladies-in-waiting at court, most notably about Sei ShōnagonSei Shonagon
Sei Shōnagon , was a Japanese author and a court lady who served the Empress Teishi around the year 1000 during the middle Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Pillow Book .-Name:...
(author of The Pillow Book
The Pillow Book
is a book of observations and musings recorded by Sei Shōnagon during her time as court lady to Empress Consort Teishi during the 990s and early 11th century in Heian Japan. The book was completed in the year 1002....
), in service to Shōshi's rival and co-empress, Empress Teishi
Fujiwara no Teishi
Fujiwara no Teishi was an Empress consort of Japan. She was the consort of Emperor Ichijō of Japan.- Sources :...
(Sadako). The empresses competed for educated women and created a rivalry between the women writers. Shōnagon had probably left court when Murasaki arrived at about 1006, five years after Empress Teishi's death, but Murasaki would known Shōnagon and in the diary Murasaki writes disparagingly about her:
Sei Shōnagon's most marked characteristic is her extraordinary self-satisfaction. But examine the pretentious compositions in Chinese script which she scatters so liberally over the Court, and you will find them to be .... blunders. Her chief pleasure consists in shocking people .... She was once a person of great taste and refinement; but now she can no longer restrain herself from indulging, even under the most inappropriate circumstances....Waley (1960), xiii
Also in Shōshi's employ were Izumi Shikibu
Izumi Shikibu
was a mid Heian period Japanese poet. She is a member of the . She was the contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu, and Akazome Emon at the court of Joto Mon'in.-Early life:...
and Akazome Emon
Akazome Emon
was a Japanese waka poet who lived in the mid-Heian period. She is a member both of the and the .-Biography:Emon is though to be the daughter of Akazome Tokimochi, but her biological father was likely her mother's first husband, Taira Kanemori. Emon was born before her mother's marriage to...
—Shikibu a poet and Emon the author of a monogatari.Mulhern (1994), 156 Murasaki was critical of Shikibu's writing and poetry: "Izumi Shikibu is an amusing letter-writer; but there is something not very satisfactory about her. She has a gift for dashing off informal compositions in a careless running-hand; but in poetry she needs either an interesting subject or some classic model to imitate. Indeed it does not seem to me that in herself she is really a poet at all".Waley (1960), xii
Court life
Murasaki appears to have been unhappy and lonely at court, complaining about the courtiers and princes who were frequently drunk and behaved badly. In one incident court poet Fujiwara no KintōFujiwara no Kinto
, also known as Shijō-dainagon, was a Japanese poet, admired by his contemporaries and a court bureaucrat of the Heian period. His father was the regent Fujiwara no Yoritada and his son Fujiwara no Sadayori...
joined a group of women at a banquet and asked whether Murasaki was in attendance—alluding to the character in The Tale of Genji—Murasaki quickly told him that none of the novel's characters lived at court, which she considered tawdry and unpleasant unlike the court she created in her novel. That night she left the dinner, writing, "Counsellor Takai ... started pulling at Lady Hyōbu's robes and singing dreadful songs, but His Excellency said nothing. I realized that it was bound to be a terribly drunken affair this evening, so ... Lady Saishō and I decided to retire."qtd in Keene (1999), 45 According to Japanese scholar Donald Keene
Donald Keene
Donald Lawrence Keene is a Japanologist, scholar, teacher, writer, translator and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture. Keene was University Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years...
, male courtiers at the Imperial court were "drunken men who make obscene jokes and paw at women".Keene (1999), 44–45
Although the women lived in semi-seclusion in curtained
Kichō
A is a portable multi-paneled silk partition supported by a two-rod T-pole. It came into use in aristocratic households during and following the Heian period in Japan when it became a standard piece of furniture...
areas or screened spaces
Byobu
are Japanese folding screens made from several joined panels bearing decorative painting and calligraphy, used to separate interiors and enclose private spaces, among other uses.- History :...
, the men intruded on the women's privacy.Bowring (2005), xxvii Murasaki describes Michinaga entering her space early one morning, "I can see the garden from my room", she writes, "The air is misty; the dew is still on the leaves. The Lord Prime Minister is walking there .... He peeps in over my screen! His noble appearance embarrasses us and I am ashamed of my morning (not yet painted and powdered face)."Shikibu, 127 Privacy was nonexistent. The Imperial palace burned down in 1005 and most of Murasaki's tenure at court was spent at one or another of Michinaga's mansions, either the Biwa mansion in the Fujiwara quarter of Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, the Tsuchimikado mansion, or Ichijo's mansion which was close to the palace grounds. Ladies-in-waiting slept on thin mats
Futon
Futon is an English word derived from Japanese , a term generally referring to the traditional style of Japanese bedding consisting of padded mattresses and quilts pliable enough to be folded and stored away during the day, allowing the room to serve for purposes other than as a bedroom...
rolled out on bare wood floors; interior spaces had few boundaries with a room often created by curtaining off a space. The dwellings were raised off the ground opened to the gardens
Japanese garden
, that is, gardens in traditional Japanese style, can be found at private homes, in neighborhood or city parks, and at historical landmarks such as Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and old castles....
with little privacy as described by Bowring: "A man standing outside in the garden looking in .... and his eyes would have been roughly level with the skirts of the woman inside."Bowring (2005), xxv-xxvii
In the winters the houses were cold and drafty with few braziers
Irori
Irori are a type of traditional sunken hearth common in Japan. Used for heating the home and cooking food, irori are essentially square pits in the floor with a pot hook, or jizaikagi...
, requiring multiply layered of clothing for warmth, the combinations of which became of almost ritual fascination to the women. Court attire for Heian era court women consisted of six or seven garments, with some garments layered as many as five or six times such as the lined silk robes, uchigi, which involved matching or combining colors of the linings and the garment itself to create a distinctive impression.Bowring (2005), xxvii In one passage about a ceremony for the infant, Murasaki writes about two women whose color combinations were lacking and of the significance of making a mistake at courtly functions: "That day all the women had done their utmost to dress well, but .... two of them showed a want of taste when it came to the color combinations at their sleeves ... [in] full view of the courtiers and senior nobles."Lady Murasaki, 65
Murasaki became withdrawn and lonely, and was perhaps considered stupid, shy or both.Keene (1999), 46 She writes of herself: "Do they really look on me as such a dull thing, I wonder? But I am what I am .... [Shōshi] too has often remarked that she thought I was not the kind of person with whom one could ever relax .... I am perversely stand-offish; if only I can avoid putting off those for whom I have genuine respect."qtd. in Keene (1999), 46 The benefit of being withdrawn seems to have been that she had time to write while living in a crowded court.Keene (1999), 46
The diary and Genji
Murasaki's The Tale of GenjiThe Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
is not given much attention in her diary. She writes that the Emperor had it read to him, and the colored papers and calligraphers were being selected for the manuscript, and that Michinaga snuck into her room and took a manuscript from her.Keene (1999), 46–47 Parallels exist between the later chapters of Genji and the diary: scenes mentioned in the diary such as Ichijo's visit to Michinaga's mansion in 1008—a splendid imperial procession—according to Genji scholar Haruo Shirane, "corresponds almost image for image" to an imperial procession in "Chapter 33 (Wisteria Leaves)" of The Tale of Genji.Shirane (1987), 221 Shirane believes that enough similarities exist between the two works to suggest that they may have been written at the same time.Shirane (1987), 36
Style and genre
The genre of diary writing popular at the time, Nikki Bungaku, is more of an autobiographical memoirMemoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
than a diary in the modern sense, according to Japanese scholar Helen McCullough. The format was a genre that typically included poetry in the form of waka
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...
,Waka is always 31 syllables with a measures of 5/7 or 7/5 syllables. In the diary, Murasaki used the so-called short form consisting of a measure of 5/7/5/7/7 syllable. See Bowring, xix was meant to convey information to the readers, such as Murasaki's descriptions of court ceremonies. The author of a Heian-era nikki selected what to include, expand, or exclude. Time was treated in a similar manner: a nikki might present long entries for a single event while other events were omitted. The nikki was considered a form of literature, often not written by the subject, almost always written in third-person, and sometimes included elements of fiction or history.
Few if any dates are included in the work, and little is written about Murasaki's working habits, which leads Donald Keene to remark that she failed to write a "writer's notebook". Unlike official accounts of the period written by historians, Murasaki's diary is important because she recounts events from her point-of-view with her self-reflections, bringing to the events a human aspect lacking in official accounts.Keene (1999), 41–42 Keene believes the diary shows her as a withdrawn and perceptive woman with few friends. She is unflinching in her criticism of the other ladies-in-waiting, seeing through the superficial facades to their inner core, a quality he believes is beneficial for a novelist, but perhaps not helpful in a closed society.Keene (1999), 45 The diary is a repository of knowledge regarding the Heian Imperial court which is considered highly important in Japanese literature, although it may not have survived in a complete state.Keene (1999), 42–44
The diary shows three distinct styles, according to Bowring. The first is a chronicles of events, which would normally have been written in Chinese during this period. The second is a self-reflective analysis, which he believes is the best example of self-analytic reflection from the period and her mastery of this type of style, still rare in Japanese, is evidence of her adding to the development of written Japanese by overcoming the limits of an inflexible language and writing system. The third is the epistolary style, a newly developed trend, which he considers the weakest portion of the work because she seemed to have been unable to break free of the rhythms of spoken language.Bowring (2005), xviii - xix He explains that a spoken language maintains a specific rhythm that relies on the presence of another person. Spoken language can be ungrammatical, relies on "eye contact, shared experiences and particular relationships [to] provide a background which allows speech to be at times fragmentary and even allusive". On the other hand written language must assume an absence of audience and compensate for "the gap between the producer and receiver of the message".Bowring (2005), xviii
Emakimono
In the 13th century a handscrollEmakimono
, often simply called , is a horizontal, illustrated narrative form created during the 11th to 16th centuries in Japan. Emakimono combines both text and pictures, and is drawn, painted, or stamped on a handscroll...
of the diary was produced, The Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki. The scroll, meant to be read from left to right, consists of calligraphy
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
illustrated with paintings. Writing in "The House-bound Heart", Japanese scholar Penelope Mason explains that in an emakimono or emaki a narrative reaches its full potential through the combination of the writer's and the painter's art. About 20 percent of the scroll has survived; based on the existing fragments, the images would have closely followed the text of the diary.Mason (1980), 24
The illustrations in the emaki follow the late-Heian and early Kamakura period
Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....
convention of Hikime-kagibana (line-eye and hook-nose) in which individual facial expressions are omitted. Also typical of the period is the style of fukimuki yatai (blown off roof) depictions of interiors which seem to be visualized from above looking downward into a space. According Mason, the interior scenes of human figures are juxtaposed against empty exterior gardens—the characters are "house-bound".Mason (1980), 22-24
In the diary Murasaki wrote of human emotions such as love, hate, and loneliness, feelings which make the illustrations powerful explains Mason, who considers the Murasaki Shikibu Nikki emaki to be the "finest extant examples of prose-poetry narrative illustrations from the period". Mason (1980), 29 The illustration in which two young courtiers try to open the lattice blinds to enter the women's quarters is particularly poignant because Murasaki can be seen holding the lattice shut against their advances. In the distance, to the right of the scroll, is a lovely garden, from which she is separated by the architecture and the men.
The Diary of Lady Murasaki (紫式部日記 Murasaki Shikibu Nikki) records the daily life of the Heian era lady-in-waiting and writer, Lady Murasaki Shikibu
Murasaki Shikibu
Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012...
, author of The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
. Most likely written between 1008 and 1010, the largest portion consists of descriptive passages of the birth of Empress Shōshi
Empress Shōshi
or Empress Shōshi , , also known as , the eldest daughter of Fujiwara no Michinaga, was Empress of Japan from c. 1000 to c. 1011...
's (Akiko) children, with smaller vignettes
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
describing life at the Imperial court and relations between other ladies-in-waiting
Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...
and court writers such as Izumi Shikibu
Izumi Shikibu
was a mid Heian period Japanese poet. She is a member of the . She was the contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu, and Akazome Emon at the court of Joto Mon'in.-Early life:...
, Akazome Emon
Akazome Emon
was a Japanese waka poet who lived in the mid-Heian period. She is a member both of the and the .-Biography:Emon is though to be the daughter of Akazome Tokimochi, but her biological father was likely her mother's first husband, Taira Kanemori. Emon was born before her mother's marriage to...
and Sei Shōnagon
Sei Shonagon
Sei Shōnagon , was a Japanese author and a court lady who served the Empress Teishi around the year 1000 during the middle Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Pillow Book .-Name:...
.
The work was written in kana
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
, a newly developed writing system that brought vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
Japanese from a spoken language to a written language. The form of the diary is unlike contemporary diaries or journals—some events are developed with much more detail than others. The work includes short vignettes, poetry in the form of waka
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...
, and an epistolary section.
In the 13th century (during the Kamakura period
Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....
), an unknown artist painted the color, handscroll of Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki.
Background
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
, a Japanese writing script and syllabary
Syllabary
A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent syllables, which make up words. In a syllabary, there is no systematic similarity between the symbols which represent syllables with the same consonant or vowel...
, opened the written word and the vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
. At first kana was used for writing court poetry, waka
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...
, but by the 10th century works of prose became more common. Chinese continued as the language of government, but women who were uneducated in Chinese were encouraged to read and write in Japanese. They began to take advantage of the new script, as literary forms such as monogatari
Monogatari
is a literary form in traditional Japanese literature, an extended prose narrative tale comparable to the epic. Monogatari is closely tied to aspects of the oral tradition, and almost always relates a fictional or fictionalized story, even when retelling a historical event...
and diaries (nikki
Nikki Bungaku
is a genre of Japanese diary literature including prominent works such as the Tosa Nikki, Kagerō Nikki, and Murasaki Shikibu Nikki. While diaries began as records imitating daily logs kept by Chinese government officials, private and literary diaries emerged and flourished during the Heian period...
) became more popular,Mason (2004), 109 and imperial ladies-in-waiting began to write diaries. As a result, written Japanese was in many respects developed by women who used the language as a form of self-expression and, according to Japanese literature scholar Richard Bowring
Richard Bowring
Professor Richard John Bowring PhD, Litt.D is Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Fellow of Downing College.-Education:*1960-64 Blundell's School...
, it was women who undertook the process of building "a flexible written style out of a language that has only previously existed in a spoken form", although he mentions that the diaries of the period were unsuccessful in fully making the transition from a spoken to a written form of the language.Bowring (2005), xviii
Murasaki's diary covers a discreet period, most likely from 1008 and 1010. Only short and fragmentary pieces have survived, and it remains vital to the understanding of the author given that otherwise, so little is known about her. Most of her biographical facts are derived from the diary (Murasaki Shikibu nikki) and her c. 1014 short poetry collection, the Murasaki Shikibu shū Poetic Memoirs.Shirane (1987), 215
Born into a minor branch of the Fujiwara clan, her father, a scholar of Chinese literature, educated her and her brother in classical Chinese
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese...
. From about 998 to 1001 she was married to Fujiwara no Nobonori—who died of an outbreak of plague 1001—during which time she bore a daughter. A few years later, probably in 1006, at the request of Fujiwara no Michinaga
Fujiwara no Michinaga
represents the highpoint of the Fujiwara regents' control over the government of Japan.-Early life:He was the fourth or fifth son of Fujiwara no Kaneie by his wife Tokihime, daughter of Fujiwara no Nakamasa...
, she entered imperial service to his daughter Empress Shōshi
Empress Shōshi
or Empress Shōshi , , also known as , the eldest daughter of Fujiwara no Michinaga, was Empress of Japan from c. 1000 to c. 1011...
.Shirane (2008b), 293 Her given name is unknown; as was customary for women of the period, who were identified by their rank or that of a husband or another close male relative, she is known as Shikibu for her father's rank at the Ministry of Ceremonials (Shikibu-shō) and her court nickname Murasaki, from a character in her romantic monagatari Tale of the Genji. The diary was probably written after she entered imperial service.
Contents
The extant diary consists of three parts: a long section describing the events surrounding the birth of Shōshi's eldest son; a second portion written in an epistolary format about the attributes and characters of imperial ladies-in-waiting; and a compilation of court anecdotes. In the diary Murasaki describes court life from her point-of-view with emphasis on the birth of Shōshi's son Emperor Go-IchijōEmperor Go-Ichijo
was the 68th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Go-Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 1016 through 1036.This 11th century sovereign was named after Emperor Ichijō and go- , translates literally as "later;" and thus, he is sometimes called the "Later Emperor Ichijō"...
, an event of enormous importance to Michinaga: nine years after becoming concubine and then Empress to Emperor Ichijō
Emperor Ichijo
was the 66th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 986 to 1011.-Traditional narrative:Before he ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was Kanehito-shinnō....
Shōshi bore an heir who became emperor
Emperor Go-Ichijo
was the 68th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Go-Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 1016 through 1036.This 11th century sovereign was named after Emperor Ichijō and go- , translates literally as "later;" and thus, he is sometimes called the "Later Emperor Ichijō"...
bringing immense power to Michinaga.Bowring (2005), xv The diary opens with descriptions of lengthy preparations for the birth, including readings of sutras
Sutras
Sutras may refer to:*Sūtra - A type of literary composition in Buddhism and Hinduism*Sutras - An album by 1960s rock musician Donovan...
and other Buddhist rituals. Murasaki's own self-reflections and the chronologically detailed descriptions of events surrounding the birth are often presented as vignettes
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
.Bowring (2005), xl - xli
She describes court life in detail with an emphasis on women's fashions such as the kimonos
Junihitoe
The is an extremely elegant and highly complex kimono that was only worn by court-ladies in Japan. Literally translated, it means "twelve-layer robe". The older term, still used by scholars but not widely recognised in mainstream Japan, is Karaginu Mo...
and multi-layered court clothing. The combinations of colors in a woman's clothing required attention and were important because they marked stylistic aesthetics.Bowring (2005), xxviii Murasaki also describes the weather and the changing of season as well as the less pleasant aspects of court life, such as drunken nobles who often seduced the ladies-in-waiting. The diary includes anecdotes about drunken revelries and courtly scandals concerning women who, because of behavior or age, were made to leave court, as well as her own concerns about aging and her overwhelming loneliness. Murasaki suggests that the court women with whom she lived were weak-willed, uneducated, and inexperienced with men.Keene (1999), 44Ury (2003), 175–188
Going beyond writing descriptions of court events, Murasaki adds a sense of self to the diary entries. She writes about emotions and feelings: her sense of helplessness at court; her feelings of inadequacy regarding her low rank compared to higher-ranked courtiers and relatives in the Fujiwara clan; and her feelings of loss and loneliness since her husband's death.Mason (1980), 30 She adds a few autobiographical details about her life before entering service , such as this anecdote about learning Chinese as a child: "When my brother Nobunori ... was a boy my father was very anxious to make a good Chinese scholar of him, and often came himself to hear Nobunori read his lessons. On these occasions I was always present, and so quick was I at picking up the language that I was soon able to prompt my brother whenever he got stuck. At this my father used to sigh and say to me: 'If only you were a boy how proud and happy I should be.Waley, vii
Michinaga and Empress Shōshi
Keene believes Heian court life, as presented in Murasaki's diary, is the antithesis of court life she imagined in her romantic novel, The Tale of GenjiThe Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
, and that her hero the "shining prince" Genji sharply contrasts to Michinaga's crassness.Keene (1999), 42–44 Arguably the most powerful man at the imperial court and certainly the most powerful male figure in Shōshi's court, Murasaki describes situations in which he embarrasses his wife Rinshi and daughter by his drunken behavior. Moreover, he may have embarrassed his wife through his flagrant flirtations with Murasaki, although other scholars dispute this point.Ury (2003), 175–188
The half of the diary devoted to the birth of Shōshi's son was most likely written as tribute to Michinaga,Shirane (1987), 215 but Murasaki shows him as over-bearing, particularly in the sections where he takes charge during the birth of his grandson, Prince Atsuhira
Emperor Go-Ichijo
was the 68th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Go-Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 1016 through 1036.This 11th century sovereign was named after Emperor Ichijō and go- , translates literally as "later;" and thus, he is sometimes called the "Later Emperor Ichijō"...
. Because of the taboo against childbirth in the Imperial palace, the child was born at the Tsuchimikado mansion where Michinaga assumes the dominant role, despite the presence of the Emperor
Emperor Ichijo
was the 66th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Ichijō's reign spanned the years from 986 to 1011.-Traditional narrative:Before he ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was Kanehito-shinnō....
himself (the child's father) and the attending priests. After the child's birth Michinaga visited the infant twice daily, whereas the Emperor appears to have been allowed only a single very short imperial visit, described meticulously in the diary.Keene (1999), 42–44Bowring (2005), xxiv-xxv Murasaki chronicled Michinaga's ceremonial visit to his daughter and grandson 16 days after the birth, at a lavish ceremony, describing in detail the ladies-in-waiting attire in passages such as this: "Saemon no Naishi .... was wearing a plain yellow-green jacket, a train
Train (clothing)
A train in clothing is the long back portion of a skirt or dress that writes a trail on the ground behind the wearer in ruler , or a separate trailing overskirt. It is a common part of a court dress or a wedding dress....
shaded darker at the hem, and a sash and waistbands
Obi (sash)
is a sash for traditional Japanese dress, keikogi worn for Japanese martial arts, and a part of kimono outfits.The obi for men's kimono is rather narrow, wide at most, but a woman's formal obi can be wide and more than long. Nowadays, a woman's wide and decorative obi does not keep the kimono...
with raised embroidery in orange and white checked silk".qtd in Mulhern (1991), 86
Shōshi, a serious and studious young woman who expected decorum from her ladies-in-waiting—often difficult at a fractious court—decided to learn to read Chinese and had Murasaki teach her. The request was unconventional because Chinese was considered the "male language", the language of government and religion, while Japanese kana was reserved for women. Nevertheless, Shōshi wished to read the then popular ballads of 9th century Chinese poet Bai Juyi. The Chinese lessons were conducted in secret with Murasaki explaining: "Since the summer before last, very secretly, in odd moments when there happened to be no one about, I have been reading with Her Majesty the two books of "Songs." There has of course been no question of formal lessons; Her Majesty has merely picked up a little here and there, as she felt inclined. All the same, I have thought it best to say nothing about the matter to anybody".Waley (1960), ix-x
Ladies-in-waiting
Murasaki wrote about other ladies-in-waiting at court, most notably about Sei ShōnagonSei Shonagon
Sei Shōnagon , was a Japanese author and a court lady who served the Empress Teishi around the year 1000 during the middle Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Pillow Book .-Name:...
(author of The Pillow Book
The Pillow Book
is a book of observations and musings recorded by Sei Shōnagon during her time as court lady to Empress Consort Teishi during the 990s and early 11th century in Heian Japan. The book was completed in the year 1002....
), in service to Shōshi's rival and co-empress, Empress Teishi
Fujiwara no Teishi
Fujiwara no Teishi was an Empress consort of Japan. She was the consort of Emperor Ichijō of Japan.- Sources :...
(Sadako). The empresses competed for educated women and created a rivalry between the women writers. Shōnagon had probably left court when Murasaki arrived at about 1006, five years after Empress Teishi's death, but Murasaki would known Shōnagon and in the diary Murasaki writes disparagingly about her:
Sei Shōnagon's most marked characteristic is her extraordinary self-satisfaction. But examine the pretentious compositions in Chinese script which she scatters so liberally over the Court, and you will find them to be .... blunders. Her chief pleasure consists in shocking people .... She was once a person of great taste and refinement; but now she can no longer restrain herself from indulging, even under the most inappropriate circumstances....Waley (1960), xiii
Also in Shōshi's employ were Izumi Shikibu
Izumi Shikibu
was a mid Heian period Japanese poet. She is a member of the . She was the contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu, and Akazome Emon at the court of Joto Mon'in.-Early life:...
and Akazome Emon
Akazome Emon
was a Japanese waka poet who lived in the mid-Heian period. She is a member both of the and the .-Biography:Emon is though to be the daughter of Akazome Tokimochi, but her biological father was likely her mother's first husband, Taira Kanemori. Emon was born before her mother's marriage to...
—Shikibu a poet and Emon the author of a monogatari.Mulhern (1994), 156 Murasaki was critical of Shikibu's writing and poetry: "Izumi Shikibu is an amusing letter-writer; but there is something not very satisfactory about her. She has a gift for dashing off informal compositions in a careless running-hand; but in poetry she needs either an interesting subject or some classic model to imitate. Indeed it does not seem to me that in herself she is really a poet at all".Waley (1960), xii
Court life
Murasaki appears to have been unhappy and lonely at court, complaining about the courtiers and princes who were frequently drunk and behaved badly. In one incident court poet Fujiwara no KintōFujiwara no Kinto
, also known as Shijō-dainagon, was a Japanese poet, admired by his contemporaries and a court bureaucrat of the Heian period. His father was the regent Fujiwara no Yoritada and his son Fujiwara no Sadayori...
joined a group of women at a banquet and asked whether Murasaki was in attendance—alluding to the character in The Tale of Genji—Murasaki quickly told him that none of the novel's characters lived at court, which she considered tawdry and unpleasant unlike the court she created in her novel. That night she left the dinner, writing, "Counsellor Takai ... started pulling at Lady Hyōbu's robes and singing dreadful songs, but His Excellency said nothing. I realized that it was bound to be a terribly drunken affair this evening, so ... Lady Saishō and I decided to retire."qtd in Keene (1999), 45 According to Japanese scholar Donald Keene
Donald Keene
Donald Lawrence Keene is a Japanologist, scholar, teacher, writer, translator and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture. Keene was University Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years...
, male courtiers at the Imperial court were "drunken men who make obscene jokes and paw at women".Keene (1999), 44–45
Although the women lived in semi-seclusion in curtained
Kichō
A is a portable multi-paneled silk partition supported by a two-rod T-pole. It came into use in aristocratic households during and following the Heian period in Japan when it became a standard piece of furniture...
areas or screened spaces
Byobu
are Japanese folding screens made from several joined panels bearing decorative painting and calligraphy, used to separate interiors and enclose private spaces, among other uses.- History :...
, the men intruded on the women's privacy.Bowring (2005), xxvii Murasaki describes Michinaga entering her space early one morning, "I can see the garden from my room", she writes, "The air is misty; the dew is still on the leaves. The Lord Prime Minister is walking there .... He peeps in over my screen! His noble appearance embarrasses us and I am ashamed of my morning (not yet painted and powdered face)."Shikibu, 127 Privacy was nonexistent. The Imperial palace burned down in 1005 and most of Murasaki's tenure at court was spent at one or another of Michinaga's mansions, either the Biwa mansion in the Fujiwara quarter of Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, the Tsuchimikado mansion, or Ichijo's mansion which was close to the palace grounds. Ladies-in-waiting slept on thin mats
Futon
Futon is an English word derived from Japanese , a term generally referring to the traditional style of Japanese bedding consisting of padded mattresses and quilts pliable enough to be folded and stored away during the day, allowing the room to serve for purposes other than as a bedroom...
rolled out on bare wood floors; interior spaces had few boundaries with a room often created by curtaining off a space. The dwellings were raised off the ground opened to the gardens
Japanese garden
, that is, gardens in traditional Japanese style, can be found at private homes, in neighborhood or city parks, and at historical landmarks such as Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and old castles....
with little privacy as described by Bowring: "A man standing outside in the garden looking in .... and his eyes would have been roughly level with the skirts of the woman inside."Bowring (2005), xxv-xxvii
In the winters the houses were cold and drafty with few braziers
Irori
Irori are a type of traditional sunken hearth common in Japan. Used for heating the home and cooking food, irori are essentially square pits in the floor with a pot hook, or jizaikagi...
, requiring multiply layered of clothing for warmth, the combinations of which became of almost ritual fascination to the women. Court attire for Heian era court women consisted of six or seven garments, with some garments layered as many as five or six times such as the lined silk robes, uchigi, which involved matching or combining colors of the linings and the garment itself to create a distinctive impression.Bowring (2005), xxvii In one passage about a ceremony for the infant, Murasaki writes about two women whose color combinations were lacking and of the significance of making a mistake at courtly functions: "That day all the women had done their utmost to dress well, but .... two of them showed a want of taste when it came to the color combinations at their sleeves ... [in] full view of the courtiers and senior nobles."Lady Murasaki, 65
Murasaki became withdrawn and lonely, and was perhaps considered stupid, shy or both.Keene (1999), 46 She writes of herself: "Do they really look on me as such a dull thing, I wonder? But I am what I am .... [Shōshi] too has often remarked that she thought I was not the kind of person with whom one could ever relax .... I am perversely stand-offish; if only I can avoid putting off those for whom I have genuine respect."qtd. in Keene (1999), 46 The benefit of being withdrawn seems to have been that she had time to write while living in a crowded court.Keene (1999), 46
The diary and Genji
Murasaki's The Tale of GenjiThe Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
is not given much attention in her diary. She writes that the Emperor had it read to him, and the colored papers and calligraphers were being selected for the manuscript, and that Michinaga snuck into her room and took a manuscript from her.Keene (1999), 46–47 Parallels exist between the later chapters of Genji and the diary: scenes mentioned in the diary such as Ichijo's visit to Michinaga's mansion in 1008—a splendid imperial procession—according to Genji scholar Haruo Shirane, "corresponds almost image for image" to an imperial procession in "Chapter 33 (Wisteria Leaves)" of The Tale of Genji.Shirane (1987), 221 Shirane believes that enough similarities exist between the two works to suggest that they may have been written at the same time.Shirane (1987), 36
Style and genre
The genre of diary writing popular at the time, Nikki Bungaku, is more of an autobiographical memoirMemoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
than a diary in the modern sense, according to Japanese scholar Helen McCullough. The format was a genre that typically included poetry in the form of waka
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...
,Waka is always 31 syllables with a measures of 5/7 or 7/5 syllables. In the diary, Murasaki used the so-called short form consisting of a measure of 5/7/5/7/7 syllable. See Bowring, xix was meant to convey information to the readers, such as Murasaki's descriptions of court ceremonies. The author of a Heian-era nikki selected what to include, expand, or exclude. Time was treated in a similar manner: a nikki might present long entries for a single event while other events were omitted. The nikki was considered a form of literature, often not written by the subject, almost always written in third-person, and sometimes included elements of fiction or history.
Few if any dates are included in the work, and little is written about Murasaki's working habits, which leads Donald Keene to remark that she failed to write a "writer's notebook". Unlike official accounts of the period written by historians, Murasaki's diary is important because she recounts events from her point-of-view with her self-reflections, bringing to the events a human aspect lacking in official accounts.Keene (1999), 41–42 Keene believes the diary shows her as a withdrawn and perceptive woman with few friends. She is unflinching in her criticism of the other ladies-in-waiting, seeing through the superficial facades to their inner core, a quality he believes is beneficial for a novelist, but perhaps not helpful in a closed society.Keene (1999), 45 The diary is a repository of knowledge regarding the Heian Imperial court which is considered highly important in Japanese literature, although it may not have survived in a complete state.Keene (1999), 42–44
The diary shows three distinct styles, according to Bowring. The first is a chronicles of events, which would normally have been written in Chinese during this period. The second is a self-reflective analysis, which he believes is the best example of self-analytic reflection from the period and her mastery of this type of style, still rare in Japanese, is evidence of her adding to the development of written Japanese by overcoming the limits of an inflexible language and writing system. The third is the epistolary style, a newly developed trend, which he considers the weakest portion of the work because she seemed to have been unable to break free of the rhythms of spoken language.Bowring (2005), xviii - xix He explains that a spoken language maintains a specific rhythm that relies on the presence of another person. Spoken language can be ungrammatical, relies on "eye contact, shared experiences and particular relationships [to] provide a background which allows speech to be at times fragmentary and even allusive". On the other hand written language must assume an absence of audience and compensate for "the gap between the producer and receiver of the message".Bowring (2005), xviii
Emakimono
In the 13th century a handscrollEmakimono
, often simply called , is a horizontal, illustrated narrative form created during the 11th to 16th centuries in Japan. Emakimono combines both text and pictures, and is drawn, painted, or stamped on a handscroll...
of the diary was produced, The Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki. The scroll, meant to be read from left to right, consists of calligraphy
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
illustrated with paintings. Writing in "The House-bound Heart", Japanese scholar Penelope Mason explains that in an emakimono or emaki a narrative reaches its full potential through the combination of the writer's and the painter's art. About 20 percent of the scroll has survived; based on the existing fragments, the images would have closely followed the text of the diary.Mason (1980), 24
The illustrations in the emaki follow the late-Heian and early Kamakura period
Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....
convention of Hikime-kagibana (line-eye and hook-nose) in which individual facial expressions are omitted. Also typical of the period is the style of fukimuki yatai (blown off roof) depictions of interiors which seem to be visualized from above looking downward into a space. According Mason, the interior scenes of human figures are juxtaposed against empty exterior gardens—the characters are "house-bound".Mason (1980), 22-24
In the diary Murasaki wrote of human emotions such as love, hate, and loneliness, feelings which make the illustrations powerful explains Mason, who considers the Murasaki Shikibu Nikki emaki to be the "finest extant examples of prose-poetry narrative illustrations from the period". Mason (1980), 29 The illustration in which two young courtiers try to open the lattice blinds to enter the women's quarters is particularly poignant because Murasaki can be seen holding the lattice shut against their advances. In the distance, to the right of the scroll, is a lovely garden, from which she is separated by the architecture and the men. Mason (1980), 32-33
The scroll was discovered in 1920 in a five segment piece, by Morikawa Kanichirō (森川勘一郎). The Gotoh Museum
Gotoh Museum
The is a private museum in the Kaminoge district of Setagaya on the southwest periphery of Tokyo. It was opened in 1960, displaying the private collection of Keita Gotō, chairman of the Tokyu Group...
holds segments one, two and four; the Tokyo National Museum
Tokyo National Museum
Established 1872, the , or TNM, is the oldest and largest museum in Japan. The museum collects, houses, and preserves a comprehensive collection of art works and archaeological objects of Asia, focusing on Japan. The museum holds over 110,000 objects, which includes 87 Japanese National Treasure...
holds the third segment; the fifth remains in a private collection. The portion of the emakimono held at the Gotoh museum have been designated as National Treasures of Japan
National treasures of Japan
National Treasures are the most precious of Japan's Tangible Cultural Properties, as determined and designated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs...
.Gotoh Museum (in Japanese)
Translations
In 1920, Annie Shepley Omori and Kochi Doi combined a translation of Murasaki's diary with that of Izumi ShikibuIzumi Shikibu
was a mid Heian period Japanese poet. She is a member of the . She was the contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu, and Akazome Emon at the court of Joto Mon'in.-Early life:...
(The Izumi Shikibu nikki) and the Sarashima nikki under the title Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan. Their translation had an introduction by Amy Lowell
Amy Lowell
Amy Lawrence Lowell was an American poet of the imagist school from Brookline, Massachusetts who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.- Personal life:...
. A more recent English translation was published by Richard Bowring in 1982.Ury (1983), 175
Sources
- Bowring, Richard JohnRichard BowringProfessor Richard John Bowring PhD, Litt.D is Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Fellow of Downing College.-Education:*1960-64 Blundell's School...
(ed). "Introduction". in The Diary of Lady Murasaki. (2005). London: Penguin. ISBN 976-0-14-043576-4 - Frédéric, Louis. Japan Encyclopedia. (2005). Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP. ISBN 06-7401-753-6
- Henshall, Kenneth G. A History of Japan. (1999). New York: St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-21986-5
- Keene, DonaldDonald KeeneDonald Lawrence Keene is a Japanologist, scholar, teacher, writer, translator and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture. Keene was University Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years...
. Seeds in the Heart: Japanese Literature from Earliest times to the Late Sixteenth Century. (1999). New York: Columbia UP. ISBN 0-231-11441-9 - Keene, Donald. Travelers of a Hundred Ages: The Japanese as revealed through 1000 years of diaries. (1999). New York: Columbia UP. ISBN 0-231-11437-0
- Lady Murasaki. The Diary of Lady Murasaki. (2005). London: Penguin. ISBN 976-0-14-043576-4
- Lowell, AmyAmy LowellAmy Lawrence Lowell was an American poet of the imagist school from Brookline, Massachusetts who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.- Personal life:...
. "Introduction". in Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan. Translated by Kochi Doi and Annie Sheley Omori. (1920) Boston: Houghton Mifflin. - Mason, Penelope. (2004). History of Japanese Art. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0131176010
- Mason, Penelope. "The House-Bound Heart. The Prose-Poetry Genre of Japanese Narrative Illustration". Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Spring, 1980), pp. 21-43
- McCullough, HelenHelen Craig McCulloughHelen Craig McCullough was an eminent scholar of classical Japanese poetry and prose. Born in California, she graduated from Berkeley in 1939 with a degree in political science. After the outbreak of World War II, she entered the U.S. Navy’s Japanese Language School in Boulder, Colorado...
. Classical Japanese Prose: An Anthology. (1990). Stanford CA: Stanford UP. ISBN 0-8047-1960-8 - Mulhern, Chieko Irie. Japanese Women Writers: a Bio-critical Sourcebook. (1994). Westport CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-25486-4
- Mulhern, Chieko Irie. Heroic with Grace: Legendary Women of Japan. (1991). Armonk NY: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0-87332-527-3
- Reschauer, EdwinEdwin O. ReischauerEdwin Oldfather Reischauer was the leading U.S. educator and noted scholar of the history and culture of Japan, and of East Asia. From 1961–1966, he was the U.S. ambassador to Japan.-Education and academic life:...
. Japan: The Story of a Nation. (1999). New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-557074-2 - Shikibu, Murasaki. "Pages from Murasaki Shikbu's Diary". in The Life of Ancient Japan. Singer, Kurt (ed). (2002). Japan Library. ISBN 1-903350-01-8
- Shirane, Haruo. The Bridge of Dreams: A Poetics of "The Tale of Genji". (1987). Stanford CA: Stanford UP. ISBN 0-8047-1719-2
- Shirane, Haruo. Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600. (2008b). New York: Columbia UP. ISBN 978-0-2311-3697-6
- The Japan Book: A Comprehensive Pocket Guide. (2004). New York: Kodansha International. ISBN 978-4-7700-2847-1
- Ury, Marian. The Real Murasaki. Monumenta Nipponica. (Summer 1983). Vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 175–189.
- Waley, ArthurArthur WaleyArthur David Waley CH, CBE was an English orientalist and sinologist.-Life:Waley was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, as Arthur David Schloss, son of the economist David Frederick Schloss...
. "Introduction". in Shikibu, Murasaki, The Tale of Genji: A Novel in Six Parts. translated by Arthur Waley. (1960). New York: Modern Library.