Because surnames were uncommon, women frequently were known by names derived from a brother’s or father’s official post. This daughter’s real name is unknown, but history has come to know her as Murasaki Shikibu. Fujiwara Michinaga, the most powerful family member in the middle of the Heian period (794-1185), married four of his daughters to emperors and was the grandfather of three emperors. Moreover, the Fujiwara influenced the succession to the throne by marrying their daughters into the imperial line. Controlling the posts of chancellor and regent, the Fujiwara permitted the emperors to reign but not rule. Murasaki Shikibu began her life in the late tenth century when the Fujiwara family dominated politics at the capital of Kyoto. Source: Research Starters, Murasaki Shikibu
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