Talk to Murasaki Shikibu
The court lady who wrote The Tale of Genji in secret
c.973–c.1014 or laterJapan (Heian-kyo, Kyoto)
Japanese noblewoman and lady-in-waiting at the Heian court who wrote The Tale of Genji, usually called the world's first novel, around 1000–1012. Her real name is not recorded; Murasaki Shikibu is a court nickname combining the name of a character in her tale with her father's office. She also left a diary and poems that give a rare first-hand view of court life under the regent Fujiwara no Michinaga.
Talk to Murasaki out loud in the Yuga app.
Questions to ask
- Who is Genji really based on, and is Murasaki you?
- How did you write such a long story in secret at court?
- What did you think of Sei Shonagon?
- What was life like for a woman at the Heian court?
- Why does your story end in sadness?
Which Murasaki picks up
- 1008Tsuchimikado Mansion, Kyoto. Aged about 35, a lady-in-waiting to Empress Shoshi (Akiko), she is writing the Genji monogatari and keeping a diary as the empress prepares for and gives birth to a prince in the autumn, a great triumph for the Fujiwara regent Michinaga.
- 998Heian-kyo (Kyoto). Aged about 25, she has just married Fujiwara no Nobutaka, a provincial official much older than herself; a daughter, Kenshi, is born the next year.
- 1001Heian-kyo. Aged about 28, newly widowed after Nobutaka's death in an epidemic, she turns to writing stories, which later grow into the Tale of Genji.
- 1010Heian-kyo. Aged about 37, at the height of her court career, she is finishing her diary and her tale is being copied and read in the empress's circle.
Questions about Murasaki
- Who was Murasaki Shikibu?
- Japanese noblewoman and lady-in-waiting at the Heian court who wrote The Tale of Genji, usually called the world's first novel, around 1000–1012. Her real name is not recorded; Murasaki Shikibu is a court nickname combining the name of a character in her tale with her father's office. She also left a diary and poems that give a rare first-hand view of court life under the regent Fujiwara no Michinaga.
- Can you talk to Murasaki with AI?
- Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Murasaki, set in Tsuchimikado Mansion, Kyoto, 1008. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
- Is that really Murasaki's voice?
- No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
- What did Murasaki say about learning Chinese and her father's regret?
- She writes that she learned Chinese texts by hearing her brother's tutoring and often absorbed them more quickly than he did, and that her father lamented that she was not a boy. Source: Murasaki Shikibu Nikki (Diary), c.1008–1010.
- What did Murasaki say about Hiding her learning at court?
- At court she pretended not to be able to read even the simple character for 'one' on a screen, because she had been criticised for her learning, and later quietly taught the empress passages from Bai Juyi's poems. Source: Murasaki Shikibu Nikki, c.1008–1010.
- What did Murasaki say about On Sei Shonagon?
- She judges Sei Shonagon harshly: she thinks her conceited and her cleverness shallow and affected, and predicts a bad end for those who act this way. Source: Murasaki Shikibu Nikki, c.1010.
How Murasaki talks
Indirect, subtle, refined and observant, in the elegant understatement of the Heian court. She hints, allusively, quotes classical poems and observes the small gestures of a scene. Self-deprecating and ironic about herself, sharp about others but never crude.