Fujiwara no Michinaga
records the daily life of the Heian era lady-in-waiting and writer, Lady Murasaki Shikibu, author of "The Tale of Genji". Most likely written between 1008 and 1010, the largest portion consists of descriptive passages of the birth of Empress Shōshi's (Akiko) children (future Emperors Go-Ichijō and Go-Suzaku) and related festivities, with smaller vignettes describing life at the Imperial court and relations between other ladies-in-waiting and court writers such as Izumi Shikibu, Akazome Emon and Sei Shōnagon. It also gives a lively account of the regency of the powerful Fujiwara no Michinaga. Like the romantic novel Genji Monogatari, the diary deals with emotions and human relationships, particularly with Murasaki Shikibu's constraints at the court of Akiko, loneliness and futility after her husband's death (in 1001). The author is critical of her contemporaries, the men for their discourteous ways (including Fujiwara no Michinaga) and the women for their inexperience and lack of education and will. The diary is considered a masterpiece of Nikki Bungaku.