Google Earth Community: The Grave of Murasaki Shikibu

2008 marks the 1000th anniversary of the completion of Genji Monogatari , The Tale of Genji , widely acclaimed as the most important piece of literature of the culturally brilliant Heian Period, and by some, all of Japanese letters. Many regard it as the world’s first novel.

Few details are known about Lady Murasaki’s life. She was born about 973, a member of the powerful northern Fujiwara clan, but the daughter of a comparatively minor court official, the Minister of the Bureau Civil Services or the Shikibu Shō. Her mother died when she was a child, and contrary to the customs of the times, she was raised by her father, who also broke tradition and allowed her to participate in the education of her brother in Chinese language, writing, and literature. She married at a late age for a Heian noble, in her early twenties, and had one child, who would become herself a poet of some reputation.

She began writing the Genji Monogatari in 1001, about one year after Fujiwara Michinaga, the most powerful noble in the court and by far the most powerful of all the long line of Fujiwara regents, had succeeded in having his daughter Shōshi named as empress, the first time in Japanese history when two imperial consorts where given equal top-rank status. Perhaps because of the high regard in which the early chapters of Genji were held (the chapters circulated as they were written, long before the book was completed) and perhaps because she was a member of Michinaga’s clan (high-ranking Heian nobles made considerable effort to secure appointments of their own clan to court positions at all levels), she was given a position as a lady in waiting to Michinaga’s empress daughter.

Names were seldom used in Heian society. None of the characters in her novel are given names, and the names we know them by today were provided by modern translators, including modern Japanese translations, in order to make the highly complex narrative more comprehensible. (Reading Heian period Japanese is certainly more difficult for modern Japanese than reading Chaucer is for the modern speaker of English, and many Japanese read it in the Arthur Waley English translation, until Japanese translations became available.) The “Shikibu” we know her by today was, of course, the position her father held at court. “Murasaki” (Purple, although “Violet” may fall more comfortably on the English ear) was the word used to identify perhaps the most endearing of all the numerous subtly draw female characters in the novel, and was used as a kind of nickname for her at court.

As indicated above, her work on the novel is thought to have been completed in 1008. She also produced a diary and a collection of 128 poems, both of which are considered classics. She may have died as early as 1014, although her death is commonly listed as sometime between 1025 and 1031.

Ono no Takamura (802 – 853) was a court official, scholar, and poet. He was descended from Ono no Imoko, the early 7th century emissary who led Japan’s first diplomatic mission to China. Takamura had among his close descendants Ono no Michikaze, who first developed the Japanese style of calligraphy and who is still considered one of Japan’s three greatest masters of that art, and Ono no Komachi, a major poet, and whose very name is even today considered a synonym for feminine beauty. Takamura was a man of considerable reputation, but is best remembered as the subject of a short work of fiction, the Takemura Monogatari , and also as the focus of many fantastic legends centered on his supposed relationship with the King of Hell.

Are these graves authentic? I’ve read that there are reasons to support the assumption that they are, but I’ve been unable to locate any informed speculation in English on either side of the issue. If anyone who sees this post knows about these matters, I would be grateful for help in answering this question:

If these two graves are genuine, how does one account for the fact that members of two separate clans – Heian Period nobles were customarily interred with members of their own clans at separate places -- and whose lives did not overlap, are buried side by side in what even by Murasaki’s time must still have been a remote area?

Authentic or not, despite the numerous statues and memorials scattered all over Japan, as far as I can determine, this is the only place that lays claim to being Lady Murasaki’s final resting place. In this millennial year, any visitor to Kyoto who has ever struggled through the lengthy text will probably want to stop by, burn a stick of incense, and perhaps say a little prayer of thanks and for the repose of her soul.

Edited by washi (09/04/08 06:18 AM)