Read it through once

It is generally assumed that the book was written during the three or at the most four years which elapsed between the death of Murasaki’s husband and her arrival at Court. Others suggest that it was begun then, and finished some time before the winter of 1008. This assumption is based on the three references to _The Tale of Genji_ which occur in the _Diary_. But none of these allusions seem to me to imply that the _Tale_ was already complete. From the first reference it is evident that the book was already so far advanced as to show that Murasaki was its heroine; the part of the _Tale_ which was read to the Emperor[19] was obviously the first chapter, which ends with a formula derived directly from the early annals: ‘Some say that it was the Korean fortune-teller who gave him the name of Genji the Shining One.’ Such ‘alternative explanations’ are a feature of early annals in most countries and occur frequently in those of Japan. Lastly, Michinaga’s joke about the discrepancy between the prudishness of Murasaki’s conduct and the erotic character of her book implies no more than that half-a-dozen chapters were in existence. It may be thought odd that she should have shown it to any one before it was finished. But the alternative is to believe that it was completed in seven years, half of which were spent at Court under circumstances which could have given her very little leisure. It is much more probable, I think, that _The Tale of Genji_, having been begun in 1001, was carried on slowly after Murasaki’s arrival at Court, during her holidays and in spare time at the Palace, and not completed till, say, 1015 or even 1020. The middle and latter parts certainly give the impression of having been written by some one of comparatively mature age. In 1022 the book was undoubtedly complete, for the _Sarashina Diary_ refers to the ‘fifty-odd chapters of _The Tale of Genji_.’ In 1031 Murasaki’s name is absent from a list where one might expect to find it, and it is possible that she was then no longer alive.[20]