„Real things in the darkness seem no realer than dreams.“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji
Tale of Genji, The Tale of Genji, trans. Arthur Waley, Ch. 1: Kiritsubo
Murasaki Shikibu quotes
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Murasaki Shikibu
Birthdate: 973
Date of death: 1014
Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, widely considered to be the world's first novel, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012. Murasaki Shikibu is a descriptive name; her personal name is unknown, but she may have been Fujiwara no Kaoruko , who was mentioned in a 1007 court diary as an imperial lady-in-waiting.
Heian women were traditionally excluded from learning Chinese, the written language of government, but Murasaki, raised in her erudite father's household, showed a precocious aptitude for the Chinese classics and managed to acquire fluency. She married in her mid-to late twenties and gave birth to a daughter before her husband died, two years after they were married. It is uncertain when she began to write The Tale of Genji, but it was probably while she was married or shortly after she was widowed. In about 1005, Murasaki was invited to serve as a lady-in-waiting to Empress Shōshi at the Imperial court by Fujiwara no Michinaga, probably because of her reputation as a writer. She continued to write during her service, adding scenes from court life to her work. After five or six years, she left court and retired with Shōshi to the Lake Biwa region. Scholars differ on the year of her death; although most agree on 1014, others have suggested she was alive in 1031.
Murasaki wrote The Diary of Lady Murasaki, a volume of poetry, and The Tale of Genji. Within a decade of its completion, Genji was distributed throughout the provinces; within a century it was recognized as a classic of Japanese literature and had become a subject of scholarly criticism. Early in the 20th century her work was translated; a six-volume English translation was completed in 1933. Scholars continue to recognize the importance of her work, which reflects Heian court society at its peak. Since the 13th century her works have been illustrated by Japanese artists and well-known ukiyo-e woodblock masters.
Works
The Diary of Lady Murasaki
Murasaki ShikibuQuotes Murasaki Shikibu
„The sadness of things.“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji
Tale of Genji, Passim. Cf. Lacrimae rerum.
Variant translations:
The pathos of things.
A sensitivity to things.
The sorrow of human existence.
„I have never thought there was much to be said in favor of dragging on long after all one's friends were dead.“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji
Tale of Genji, The Tale of Genji, trans. Arthur Waley, Ch. 29: The Royal Visit
„Autumn is no time to lie alone“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji
„Ceaseless as the interminable voices of the bell-cricket, all night till dawn my tears flow.“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji
Tale of Genji, The Tale of Genji, trans. Arthur Waley, Ch. 1
„No art or learning is to be pursued halfheartedly," His Highness replied, "…and any art worth learning will certainly reward more or less generously the effort made to study it.“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji
Tale of Genji, Ch. 17: Eawase (trans. Royall Tyler)
„Sei Shōnagon is a smug and horrible person. She acts so smart and is always writing in true [Chinese] characters, but if you look closely, you can find lots of mistakes. People who try that hard to be different from everyone else always end up falling behind, with trouble waiting in their future; and people who are that affected act all mono no aware and attend all the interesting events even when they're lonely and bored, so that in the end the affectation stops being an act. How exactly are things going to end well for a person like that?“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Diary of Lady Murasaki
The Diary of Lady Murasaki, source http://no-sword.jp/blog/2010/03/iced_cream.html
„One ought not to be unkind to a woman merely on account of her plainness, any more than one had a right to take liberties with her merely because she was handsome.“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji
Tale of Genji, The Tale of Genji, trans. Arthur Waley, Ch. 36: Kashiwagi
„Does it not move you strangely, the love-bird's cry, tonight when, like the drifting snow, memory piles up on memory?“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji
Tale of Genji, The Tale of Genji, trans. Arthur Waley, Ch. 20: Asagao
„[The art of the novel] does not simply consist in the author's telling a story about the adventures of some other person. On the contrary, it happens because the storyteller's own experience of men and things, whether for good or ill—not only what he has passed through himself, but even events which he has only witnessed or been told of—has moved him to an emotion so passionate that he can no longer keep it shut up in his heart.“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji
Tale of Genji, The Tale of Genji, trans. Arthur Waley, Ch. 25: The Glow-Worm
„You that in far-off countries of the sky can dwell secure, look back upon me here; for I am weary of this frail world's decay.“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji
Tale of Genji, The Tale of Genji, trans. Arthur Waley, Ch. 40: The Law
„So all they see of me is a façade. There are times when I am forced to sit with them and on such occasions I simply ignore their petty criticisms, not because I am particularly shy but because I consider it pointless. As a result, they now look upon me as a dullard.
"Well, we never expected this!" they all say. "No one liked her. They all said she was pretentious, awkward, difficult to approach, prickly, too fond of her tales, haughty, prone to versifying, disdainful, cantankerous and scornful; but when you meet her, she is strangely meek, a completely different person altogether!"
How embarrassing! Do they really look upon me as such a dull thing, I wonder? But I am what I am. Her Majesty has also remarked more than once that she had thought I was not the kind of person with whom she could ever relax, but that I have now become closer to her than any of the others. I am so perverse and standoffish. If only I can avoid putting off those for whom I have a genuine regard.“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Diary of Lady Murasaki
The Diary of Lady Murasaki, trans. Richard Bowring
„Unforgettably horrible is the naked body. It really does not have the slightest charm.“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Diary of Lady Murasaki
The Diary of Lady Murasaki
„I have finally realized how rarely you will find a flawless woman, one who is simply perfect. No doubt there are many who seem quite promising, write a flowing hand, give you back a perfectly acceptable poem, and all in all do credit enough to the rank they have to uphold, but you know, if you insist on any particular quality, you seldom find one who will do. Each one is all too pleased with her own accomplishments, runs others down, and so on. While a girl is under the eye of her adoring parents and living a sheltered life bright with future promise, it seems men have only to hear of some little talent of hers to be attracted. As long as she is pretty and innocent, and young enough to have nothing else on her mind, she may well put her heart into learning a pastime that she has seen others enjoy, and in fact she may become quite good at it. And when those who know her disguise her weaknesses and advertise whatever passable qualities she may have so as to present them in the best light, how could anyone think ill of her, having no reason to suspect her of being other than she seems? But when you look further to see whether it is all true, I am sure you can only end up disappointed.“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji
Tale of Genji, Spoken by Tō no Chūjō in Ch. 2: The Broom Tree (trans. Royall Tyler)
„To be pleasant, gentle, calm and self-possessed: this is the basis of good taste and charm in a woman. No matter how amorous or passionate you may be, as long as you are straightforward and refrain from causing others embarrassment, no one will mind. But women who are too vain and act pretentiously, to the extent that they make others feel uncomfortable, will themselves become the object of attention; and once that happens, people will find fault with whatever they say or do: whether it be how they enter a room, how they sit down, how they stand up or how they take their leave. Those who end up contradicting themselves and those who disparage their companions are also carefully watched and listened to all the more. As long as you are free from such faults, people will surely refrain from listening to tittle-tattle and will want to show you sympathy, if only for the sake of politeness. I am of the opinion that when you intentionally cause hurt to another, or indeed if you do ill through mere thoughtless behavior, you fully deserve to be censured in public. Some people are so good-natured that they can still care for those who despise them, but I myself find it very difficult. Did the Buddha himself in all his compassion ever preach that one should simply ignore those who slander the Three Treasures? How in this sullied world of ours can those who are hard done by be expected to reciprocate in kind?“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Diary of Lady Murasaki
The Diary of Lady Murasaki, trans. Richard Bowring
„Seeing the water birds on the lake increase in number day by day, I thought to myself how nice it would be if it snowed before we got back to the Palace—the garden would look so beautiful; and then, two days later, while I was away on a short visit, lo and behold, it did snow. As I watched the rather drab scene at home, I felt both depressed and confused. For some years now I had existed from day to day in listless fashion, taking note of the flowers, the birds in song, the way the skies change from season to season, the moon, the frost and snow, doing little more than registering the passage of time. How would it all turn out? The thought of my continuing loneliness was unbearable, and yet I had managed to exchange sympathetic letters with those of like mind—some contacted via fairly tenuous connections—who would discuss my trifling tales and other matters with me; but I was merely amusing myself with fictions, finding solace for my idleness in foolish words. Aware of my own insignificance, I had at least managed for the time being to avoid anything that might have been considered shameful or unbecoming; yet here I was, tasting the bitterness of life to the very full.“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Diary of Lady Murasaki
The Diary of Lady Murasaki, trans. Richard Bowring (Penguin Books, 1996)
„Though the snow-drifts of Yoshino were heaped across his path, doubt not that whither his heart is set, his footsteps shall tread out their way.“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji
Tale of Genji, The Tale of Genji, trans. Arthur Waley, Ch. 19: A Wreath of Cloud
„It is useless to talk with those who do not understand one and troublesome to talk with those who criticize from a feeling of superiority. Especially one-sided persons are troublesome. Few are accomplished in many arts and most cling narrowly to their own opinion.“
— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Diary of Lady Murasaki
The Diary of Lady Murasaki, In Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan
