![]() ![]() In 999, Murasaki returned to Kyoto to marry Fujiwara no Nobutaka, a man nearly her father’s age. When Murasaki’s father was assigned to the post of governor of Echizen, she accompanied him in 996 and evidently spent several years in the provinces. In fact, the Heian period marked the emergence of an original Japanese literature liberated from Chinese stereotypes much of it was produced by talented women such as Murasaki. Women, who were not expected to know Chinese, were given free rein to write in kana, and they experimented with new literary forms to express uniquely Japanese sentiments. Men, however, looked down on using the easy kana syllabaries, preferring to use characters alone in imitating Chinese genres. Writing thus became less intimidating in addition, Japanese ideas could be liberated from Chinese models wedded to the foreign script. Thus, kana blended three different systems into one written language. This new syllabary, called hiragana, was used with katakana (a script, also derived from Chinese characters, reserved for writing foreign words) and kanji (Chinese characters). As a result, the Japanese eventually used the cursive, written form of certain Chinese graphs for sound value alone. Unfortunately, the Chinese characters, linked as they were to the monosyllabic Chinese syntax, were awkward for expressing the very different polysyllabic Japanese language. The Japanese, lacking a written script for their language, had borrowed the Chinese system about the time that Buddhism was introduced from the continent (via Korea) in the sixth century. In addition, Murasaki was proficient at kana writing. She also was well versed in Japanese literary genres and Buddhist writings. She often delighted her father by quoting from the Chinese histories, composing poems in imitation of Chinese masters, and displaying a command of literature that normally would have been expected only of boys. In fact, she was better at composition in Chinese than her brother Nobunori. Murasaki, however, received a broad education in both the feminine arts and the traditional Chinese classics. Men, on the other hand, were to learn the Chinese classics and the histories in preparation for official careers. Heian women were expected to be educated at home in calligraphy, playing the koto, embroidery, painting, and other feminine arts. He married a daughter of Fujiwara no Tamenobu, and about 978, they had a daughter. Eventually, through the assistance of Michinaga, his powerful kinsman, Tametoki rose to a post in the bureau of ceremonials ( shikibu-shō). A low-ranking member of the court bureaucracy, he was adept in the Chinese Confucian classics and poetry talents he inherited from his father and grandfather, who were literary figures in their own right. 945) was a member of a cadet branch of this clan. ![]() Some sources call her Tō Shikibu, tō being another way of reading the first part of Fujiwara.Fujiwara no Tametoki (b. Shikibu, her father’s title, became part of her name and Murasaki (violet or purple) perhaps was derived from the color of the wisteria flower, whose Chinese character made up the first syllable of the name Fujiwara (wisteria plain). Because surnames were uncommon, women frequently were known by names derived from a brother’s or father’s official post. This daughter’s real name is unknown, but history has come to know her as Murasaki Shikibu. Fujiwara Michinaga, the most powerful family member in the middle of the Heian period (794-1185), married four of his daughters to emperors and was the grandfather of three emperors. Moreover, the Fujiwara influenced the succession to the throne by marrying their daughters into the imperial line. Controlling the posts of chancellor and regent, the Fujiwara permitted the emperors to reign but not rule. Murasaki Shikibu began her life in the late tenth century when the Fujiwara family dominated politics at the capital of Kyoto. Source: Research Starters, Murasaki Shikibu ![]()
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