D 263 693
Murasaki
Shikibu was a
court-lady (nyôbô)
who served the wife of the Emperor Ichijô and is best known as a
novelist and the author of the Genji monogatari ("Tale of
Genji"), written between 1000 and 1008. This exceptionally massive work
in 54 chapters, which describes the eventful life of the intelligent
and handsome Prince
Genji, is the foremost literary work of the Heian period and remains
the
classic work for Japanese literature.