Lady Murasaki-FC

Anna Villars

Lady Murasaki served as an inside guide to the Japanese elite. I like The Diary of Lady Murasaki because it showed how lives were viewed by the Japanese elite. The main theme of The Diary of Lady Murasaki was aimed towards how everyone had a title and a purpose in the household. Everything seemed precised from the birth of an elite son to ceremonial festivals to the passing out of gifts. Ranks and titles played a major role on how a person was viewed by others. Appearances were a very big deal to see an elite person without being considered proper was a shock. Another main theme of The Diary of Lady Murasaki was how there was competition amongst the elite to being the loudest or the most stylish was how the elite would gain attention and the complaints of their peers.
Lady Murasaki's diary played the role of a modern tabloid. Lady Murasaki mentions people of different ranks on how they acted or dressed. Her main subject was how the elite women would dress according to the occasion from the smallest detail to the embroidery of sleeves to whether the hair should be worn up or down. Lady Murasaki would mention the elite with proper ranking titles when she mentioned them in the diary.
The Diary of Lady Murasaki ties in with class discussion on how the elite would have certain advantages with clothes and culture. The diary mentions the tiger head was presented for the son's first bath. This is an example of trade from China and is another example how the elite would only have rare things that normal people would not have in the country. The diary also mentions how the numerous elite would be kept in the site for the emperor to control his elite he would have to keep them close enough that they would not gain too much power to over take him.
The Diary of Lady Murasaki is a good read for the details of the lives of the elite class of Japan. Although sometimes the titles can be overwhelming it still shows the respect of Lady Murasaki for other elites.