CHAPTER IV
"GENJI MONOGATARI"[1]
We now come to two works which by common consent mark the highest point to which the classical literature of Japan attained, namely, the Genji Monogatari and the Makura Zōshi. The authors were contemporaries, and both of them were women.
The real name of the author of the Genji Monogatari has not come down to us. She is known to history as Murasaki no Shikibu. Critics are not agreed as to the reason why she was called Murasaki, a word which means "purple," nor does it greatly matter. Shikibu, if it meant anything, would indicate that she was in some way connected with the Board of Rites. It was, however, customary at this time for the ladies of the court to take to themselves fancy official designations which had no particular application. In her case the name was perhaps suggested by the circumstance that her father held office in that Department.
Murasaki no Shikibu belonged to a junior branch of the great Fujiwara family, or rather clan, which held so distinguished a position in Japan during many centuries of its history, and which has produced such numbers of
- ↑ There is a translation of the first seventeen (out of fifty-four) chapters of this work by K. Suyematsu. Although a highly creditable performance under the circumstances, it is not satisfactory. The translator had not Motoöri's commentary before him, and the Kogetsushō edition is a very uncertain guide.
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