(Probably a lot of purple things in Japan are named after Lady Murasaki.) There’s a Japanese ink, purple of course, named after Nippon’s #1 purple girl -$20 a bottle on Amazon, if you’re into purple ink. It was written by a woman whose personal name is lost but who acquired the nickname “Murasaki” on account of its being the name of the most important female character in the book. The Tale of Genji-what is it? It is a super-long, super-detailed proto-novel, written in Japan in the early years of the eleventh century. A woodblock print from 1852 featuring a scene from The Tale of Genji
