According to research, Murasaki Shikibu's original surname is Fujiwara, and her father Fujiwara was an official at the time of "Shikibe Daijo", and the image of Murasaki in "The Tale of Genji" left a deep impression on readers, so people called "The Tale of Genji" "Murasaki Monogatari" and the author "Murasaki Shikibu".

Influenced by the family environment, Murasaki Shikibu was well-informed and proficient in Chinese since he was a child, and extensively dabbled in ancient Chinese cultural classics. At the age of 21, Murasaki Shikibu married Nobutaka Fujiwara, who was more than 20 years older than him, and became his fourth wife.

Although the polygamous family made Murasaki Shikibu feel depressed, Xuanxiao's appreciation of her talents still made her feel happy.

Unfortunately, this harmonious marriage was very short-lived, and Xuanxiao died of illness two years later. Murasaki Shikibu took his young daughter Kenko Fujiwara and began to live as a widow, and he never remarried.

In 1005, Murasaki Shikibu was summoned to the palace to serve Fujiwara Akiko (the eldest daughter of Fujiwara Michicho), the middle palace of Emperor Ichijo, and served as a personal female official, responsible for explaining the "Nihon Shoki" and Bai Juyi's poems for Akiko, the official name Fujishikibu, later changed to Murasaki Shikibu, which was deeply appreciated by the emperor and Fujiwara Michicho, and left the court around 1013.

This experience allowed Murasaki Shikibu to become familiar with the royal life and understand the inside story of the court, which prepared her for the creation of The Tale of Genji, and during this period of court years, she began to write the novel The Tale of Genji.

Murasaki Shikibu has experienced many ups and downs in his life. Her father's ordeal in the election, her own pain in polygamous marriage, and her premature widowhood all prompted her to think more about life and destiny.

The political turmoil within the court, the power struggle, the political plot behind the royal marriage, and the blood and tears of women under polygamy made Murasaki Shikibu's observation and thinking about life more profound.

His main works include the novel "The Tale of Genji", which depicts the psychological delicacy of the characters. With its elegant writing and twists and turns, it is considered to be the earliest novel in the world, and it has had a great influence on later Japanese literature.

In addition to "The Tale of Genji", there are also "Murasaki Shikibu Diary" and "Murasaki Shikibu Collection". "Murasaki Shikibu Collection" is a collection of songs selected by the author from girlhood to later years. These wakas are valuable materials for understanding the thought of Murasaki Shikibu, the style of waka, and his life.

The Murasaki Shikibu Diary records the daily life of the court and the feelings of the Murasaki Shikibu from 1008 to the autumn of 1010. The clothing, appearance, etiquette and various ceremonial activities of the court women are described in detail, which not only has high literary value, but also has high historical value.

The Tale of Genji represents the pinnacle of classical Japanese literature.

"Monogatari" is a genre of Japanese literature with national characteristics, and the most famous ones include "The Tale of Taketori", "The Tale of Rakuwa", and "The Tale of the Heike Family".

The story of Kaguya in "The Tale of Taketori" is even more well-known to women and children in Japan. "The Tale of Genji" is set in the Heian period of Japan. The main character of the story is the son of the Japanese Emperor Kiritsu, who demoted him to a vassal because he did not want him to be involved in court struggles. Given the surname Genji. And because it gives people a sense of brightness. Therefore, the United States is called the light source.

The story revolves around his love affair with a series of women, who grow up to be close to barnacles after learning that his father's favorite concubine, Barnacles, looks a lot like his late mother, Kirihu, and grows up to have a crush on barnacles.

However, barnacles are concubines after all. Even if the age difference is only five years. Still can't get close. Therefore, Genji pursued an ideal woman like a barnacle all his life.

Later, he found Barnacle's niece Ruozi, who looked very similar to Barnacle, and brought it home to raise the ideal woman he longed for. This woman was later known as Purple Shang.

However, Murasaki was not Genji's wife in name, and in the later years of the Light Source clan, he was entrusted by his brother Suzakuin to marry his niece, the female Sannomiya born to Suzakuin and Barnacle's sister, which broke Shikami's heart.

And the age difference with him is quite big after the female third palace also fornicated with someone to have children, the most female third palace monk, Zishang died of illness soon after, the light source also escaped into the empty door after experiencing the world, and became a monk.

The life of the light source clan is extremely glorious, the most reluctant official to the minister of the Taizheng Dynasty, ranking above 10,000 people under one person, and he and the illegitimate son of his stepmother Barnacle, Emperor Lengquan, secretly learned that the light source clan was actually his biological father, and gave him the status of the quasi-emperor.

Starting from the volume of "Kuang Palace", it tells the story of the love between the children and grandchildren of the light source clan after his death. The 10 volumes, from Hashihime to Yumeukihashi, are collectively known as Uji Jujo, and with Kyoto and Uji as the main stages, it depicts the love story of Kaoru no Kun, the son of the female Sannomiya, the grandson of Genji, and the three daughters of Genji's brother Hachinomiya, Maharaja, Nakakun, and Ukifune.

It is worth mentioning that most of the women in that era had no status, so all the women in the original book did not have names, and their beautiful names were added by later generations according to the narrative characteristics of the articles or some stories.

The real name of the author's Murasaki Shikibu is also not recorded, and "Purple" is the character "purple" that later generations took from the heroine of the story, "Murasaki", and "Shikibu" is the official name of the author's father.

Enjoy reading "Genji" and experience the beauty and sorrow of the Heian period.

Xie Qijun, the author of "Taste of Kyoto", said: "Time is the best indicator of the value of literary works.

After thousands of years of baptism, the charm is still enduring and there are really not many examples that can be compared with "The Tale of Genji".

"The Tale of Genji" is famous, but the average person's impression of this work is probably inseparable from the word "romance". It's just that why the love story of the noble son of Japan's Heian period has been passed down for thousands of years? It should also put a question mark in the hearts of many people.

Frankly speaking, when I first came into contact with The Tale of Genji, I had similar doubts! As I gained experience in my life, I gradually understood the goodness of The Tale of Genji.

The fact that the author Murasaki Shikibu is able to sit firmly on the throne of the first talented woman in the history of Japanese literature is actually because she delicately writes about the complex and subtle mood changes in human nature through the laying out of love stories.

Take the Rokujo Imperial Breath in the book, where her identity, appearance, and talent are all of the highest quality, as an example, she is in love with the male protagonist Light Source, but she finds that he is entangled with a woman whose conditions are far inferior to herself, and that kind of jealousy and unwillingness makes her soul out of her body and turns into a "living being" to kill each other, and regrets it afterwards.

Today, thousands of years later, men and women in the world who are suffering from love, in the face of such a "love to become a demon" mood, can probably empathize with and feel related!

Another good thing about The Tale of Genji is that it records the aristocratic culture of the Heian period in detail. At that time, the aristocracy did not need to work, and had enough spare time to enjoy flowers, chant poetry, and other elegant behaviors.

At that time, the "aesthetics of life" has been passed down from generation to generation, and it has become a characteristic of Japanese culture that emphasizes "beauty". If you want to advance from "Hari" to "Zhiri", "The Tale of Genji" is definitely a classic worth getting close to.

However, it is not easy for even Japanese people to read The Tale of Genji, and in addition to the classical style of writing, the many characters who appear in the book, as well as the unique lifestyle and social system of the Heian period, make it more difficult to read.

Over the years, many writers have devoted themselves to writing vernacular translations in the hope of gaining more modern readers for this thousand-year-old work, and the book "The Tale of Genji" edited by Professor Eiichi Shibuya of Takachiho University has undoubtedly brought The Tale of Genji closer to readers.

Professor Shibuya is clearly aware of the problems that will arise when the average reader reads The Tale of Genji, so he uses the concept of "five minutes to read" to condense the contents of the 54 chapters of the book into the most concise and easy-to-read version.

Combined with the editor's technique, a large number of pictures, tables, annotations, and small squares are interspersed to cover all kinds of knowledge related to The Tale of Genji. Including the analysis of the love affair of the light source from the perspective of the love between men and women, this literary masterpiece has become a lot more intimate and interesting.

Hikari often uses "waka" (Japanese classical poetry) to express his thoughts to his lover, but now it seems obscure to read, so I am very grateful to Professor Shibuya for setting up a special section to explain the important waka in the book.

Another surprise is the compilation of tourist attractions related to The Tale of Genji, which is another kind of travel if readers have the opportunity to visit the scene and compare it with the plot of the book.

Through "The Tale of Genji", we can get a glimpse of the beauty and sorrow of the Heian period, and from the light source, we also discover that even perfect people may not have a perfect life!

So, what kind of life should we pursue? The Tale of Genji's thorough insight into life may be one of the reasons why it has been immortal for thousands of years. (To be continued......)