Murasaki Shikibu
c. 978 CE–c. 1014 CE · Writer · Heian-kyō (Kyoto)
Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese writer and lady-in-waiting of the Heian court, best known as the author of The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari), widely regarded as a foundational work of Japanese literature and often called the world's first novel. Born into a minor branch of the Fujiwara clan, she was the daughter of the scholar-official Fujiwara no Tametoki and received an unusual literary education. She served Empress Shōshi and kept a diary (the Murasaki Shikibu Nikki) recording court life. Her personal name is unknown; "Murasaki Shikibu" is a sobriquet drawn from a character in her novel and her father's office.
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Heian-kyō (Kyoto)
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Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Murasaki Shikibu’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
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Hindu world
Rulers world
- Basil II· 958 CE–1025 CE
- Mahmud of Ghazni· 971 CE–1030 CE
- Ly Thai To· 974 CE–1028 CE
- Hisham II· 966 CE–1013 CE
- al-Qadir· 947 CE–1031 CE
- Vladimir the Great· 958 CE–1015 CE
- Rajendra Chola I· 971 CE–1044 CE
- Rajaraja Chola I· 947 CE–1014 CE
- Yaroslav the Wise· 978 CE–1054 CE
- al-Aziz Billah· 955 CE–996 CE
- al-Zahir li-I'zaz Din Allah· 1005 CE–1036 CE
- Almanzor (al-Mansur ibn Abi Aamir)· 938 CE–1002 CE
- Yaropolk I of Kiev· 958 CE–980 CE
- Tughril I· 990 CE–1063 CE
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