History & The Arts
World-Changing Women: Murasaki Shikibu
...educated at home and reputedly learned Chinese by listening outside the door while her father taught her brother. She married at about the age of twenty but her husband died soon after, leaving her with a daughter. She then lived quietly for some years. In 1004 Murasaki entered the service of the Empress Akiko, possibly due to her talent for story-writing. No one knows...