Murasaki Shikibu Shū

This is the first paperback edition of Richard Bowring’s translation of the diary of Japan’s greatest prose writer, author of the celebrated Tale of Genji. Also included is the first translation of her autobiographical poems. A highly personalized mixture of penetrating self-analysis and reportage, the diary gives us a unique glimpse of the Heian court at its apogee. It is well known for descriptions of the ceremonial surrounding the birth of a prince, but most of all, perhaps, for Murasaki’s tart appraisals of her famous contemporaries, Izumi Shikibu and Sei Shōnagon, author of The Pillow Book. In contrast, the poems are seen by Professor Bowring as separate from immediate autobiographical context.

“This is a splendid translation, and as a piece of scholarship, it is a tour de force. The fame of the diary’s early pages will be even further enhanced by Bowring’s rendering.”—Masao Miyoshi, University of California at Berkeley

“The atmosphere of mediaeval rituals, meticulously depicted by Murasaki, creates a series of vivid, surrealistic impressions. … Of particular piquancy is the gossip, especially tidbits concerning distinguished personalities.”—Hiroakai Sato, Asiaweek

Richard Bowring is University Lecturer in Japanese, University of Cambridge.