Murasaki wrote The Diary of Lady Murasaki, a volume of poetry, and The Tale of Genji.

Scholars differ on the year of her death although most agree on 1014, others have suggested she was alive in 1025. After five or six years, she left court and retired with Shōshi to the Lake Biwa region. She continued to write during her service, adding scenes from court life to her work. In about 1005, Murasaki was invited to serve as a lady-in-waiting to Empress Shōshi at the Imperial court, probably because of her reputation as a writer. 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. She married in her mid-to late twenties and gave birth to a daughter before her husband died, two years after they were married.

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. Murasaki Shikibu is a nickname her real name is unknown, but she may have been Fujiwara Takako, who was mentioned in a 1007 court diary as an imperial lady-in-waiting. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 10. Murasaki Shikibu (Lady Murasaki) (c.978–c.1014 or 1025) was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period.

Murasaki shikibu