Murasaki Shikibu

He cannot think of anything he has done to arouse such resentment, he says, and so he must live with resentment which seems without proper cause

she was next to defenseless

t may have been because of a bond in a former life that she bore the emperor a beautiful son, a jewel beyond compare

It may have been because of a bond in a former life that she bore the emperor a beautiful son, a jewel beyond compare.

When the young prince reached the age of three, the resources of the treasury and the stewards’ offices were exhausted to make the ceremonial bestowing of trousers as elaborate as that for the eldest son

The carriage was pulled up and Myōbu alighted.

her detractors were numerous and alert to the slightest inadvertency

he had not had the courage of his resolve to appoint her an imperial consort, and he wished to make amends by promoting her one rank

was for just such an occasion, they remarked to one another, that the phrase “how well one knows” had been invented.

autumn winds tore threateningly at the garden. Only the rays of the moon managed to make their way through the tangles.