Lady Murasaki Shikibu

Lady Murasaki Shikibu

A hero in my mind is someone who fights for an honorable way of life, and teaches younger people what it was like in their time growing up. Anyone who teaches is a hero to me because the young are our future. They teach young people of their life and the obstacles they overcame, so that the young don't make the same mistakes. A hero is a person who shows that their integrity is stronger than what you and I have because of what they have overcome through the years of their life. Someone that fights to teach other that you don't have to come from a wealthy family to become an outstanding person in the eyes of others.

Lady Murasaki Shikibu lost her mother as a child and was raised by her father. This was very unusual at the time. During this time children were raised by their mother and her family. She was taught Chinese like a boy and learned it rather fast. Her father always said she was born a women.

Lady Murasaki overcame these obstacles by becoming part of the court. She started keeping a diary, which is believed to maybe have been started before she became a lady. She used the diary to write her book, "The Tales of Genji."

My hero lived during the Heian period with her father and brothers. She was raised like a boy. Her father was so proud of how she learned and picked up the things she was being taught.

She was a hero to me, because she overcame all of the obstacles she faced. She fought for her honor in a world that thought that because she was raised as a man she was unlady like.