If this sounds a little like our own starstruck Hollywood, it kinda was-with all the glitzy glamour and cutthroat competition that that implies. Court members led lives of luxury funded by their estates in the countryside while they looked down upon 'the little people' outside the capital. When the Fujiwara family dominated court life (from the mid-9th to the mid-11th century), aristocratic government and culture was at its peak. Heian-kyo was THE place to see and be seen–anybody who was anybody could be found strolling through those streets (or, more likely, being carried through them on palanquins). As the center of the Japanese universe at the time, Heian-kyo lent its name to these four centuries in Japanese history, known as the Heian period ( heian jidai 平安時代（へいあんじだい）). Cutthroat Court Life in the Mid-Heian Periodįrom 794 to 1185–almost four hundred years-the hip and happening city of Heian-kyo (modern day Kyoto) acted as Japan's imperial capital.

If the pen is indeed mightier than the katana, Murasaki could have kicked Tomoe's ass. At a time when paper and ink were precious luxury items, people were scraping together every scrap available just for the chance to read her scribbles. This 11th century wordsmith single-handedly wrote her way into history as the world's first novelist and one of Japan's most-celebrated cultural heroes. That said, I don't think Murasaki Shikibu has anything to worry about. As you might have guessed from the inaugural article in this series, the sword-slinging samurai Tomoe Gozen seems like a tough act to follow.

Murasaki name meaning