The Tale of Genji 3e663a
by Murasaki Shikibu 5j2a25
The Tale of Genji PDF edition and other Murasaki Shikibu books available for free from our library. 501228
Readers of the Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan, translated by Madame Omori and Professor Doi, will that the second of the three diaries is that of a certain Murasaki Shikibu. The little that is known of this lady’s life has been set forth by Miss Amy Lowell in her Introduction to that book. A few dates, most of them very insecure, will be found in Appendix I of this volume. It is, however, certain that Murasaki was born in the last quarter of the tenth century, that she lost her husband in 1001, and that a few years later she became lady-in-waiting to the Empress Akiko. We know that she was chosen for this post on of her proficiency in Chinese, a subject which the young Empress was anxious to study.