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Lady Murasaki's mother died while she was a child, so Murasaki was raised, contrary to customs of the time, by her father Tametoki, a scholar and officer of the imperial court. During Heian-era Japan, couples lived separately and children were raised by the mother and her family. Also contrary to customs of the time, her father gave her a male's education. Males were educated in and taught Chinese, the official language of the court, while females were taught kana and poetry. Her father praised her intelligence and ability, but lamented she was "born a woman".

At the royal court, she was the lady in waiting for Empress Shoshi/Akiko, and may have been hired by Fujiwara Michinaga to serve the Empress.

Three works are attributed to Murasaki, the most important being The Tale of Genji. The Murasaki Shikibu Diary and The Murasaki Shikibu Collection were arranged and published posthumously. The Murasaki Shikibu Collection was a compilation of 128 poems written by Murasaki.

Her real name is unknown. Her diary states that she was nicknamed "Murasaki" at court, after a character in The Tale of Genji. "Shikibu" refers to her father's position in the Bureau of Ceremony (shikibu-sho).

A fictionalized biography of Murasaki called The Tale of Murasaki: A Novel was written by Liza DalbyLiza Dalby is an American anthropologist and novelist. Her book Geisha (filmed as American Geisha is based on her experience as a novice geisha in Japan. Her other books include Kimono: Fashioning Culture and the novel The Tale of Murasaki a fictional acc, who is the only Westerner to have been trained as a geishaGeisha are traditional Japanese artist-entertainers. The word geisha literally means "art person" or "artisan. Geisha were very common in the 18th and 19th centuries, and are still in existence today, although their numbers are dwindling. The geisha tradi.