solitary fact concerning Murasaki's life or death; save that in 1025 she was still in Akiko's service and in that year took part in the ceremonies connected with the birth of the future Emperor Go-Ryōzen.
The Composition of Genji
It is generally assumed that the book was written during the three or at the most four years which elapsed between the death of Murasaki's husband and her arrival at Court. Others suggest that it was begun then, and finished some time before the winter of 1008. This assumption is based on the three references to The Tale of Genji which occur in the Diary. But none of these allusions seem to me to imply that the Tale was already complete. From the first reference it is evident that the book was already so far advanced as to show that Murasaki was its heroine; the part of the Tale which was read to the Emperor[1] was obviously the first chapter, which ends with a formula derived directly from the early annals: 'Some say that it was the Korean fortune-teller who gave him the name of Genji the Shining One.' Such 'alternative explanations' are a feature of early annals in most countries and occur frequently in those of Japan. Lastly, Michinaga's joke about the discrepancy between the prudishness of Murasaki's conduct and the erotic character of her book implies no more than that half-a-dozen chapters were in existence. It may be thought odd that she should have shown it to any one before it was finished. But the alternative is to believe that it was completed in seven years, half of which were spent at Court under circumstances which could have given her very little leisure. It is much more probable, I think, that The Tale of Genji, having been begun in 1001,
- ↑ For the Emperor's remark, see above, p. 25.
