How does Murasaki Shikibu use imagery in The Tale of Genji?

Since she wants to chronicle life in this idealized society, Murasaki Shikibu must convincingly portray the characters, setting, and action. Here, the fictional world is represented as true to the historic world. The first sentence reads, "In a certain reign..." This immediately provides a vague historical context to the story. Though the narrator, at this point, does not overtly come through the pages, she is already establishing trust with her reader. Later, the author intrudes upon the narration, lending it a conspiratorial tone, as if she is revealing something of herself to the readers. "I had hoped, out of deference to him, to conceal these difficult matters; but I have been accused of romancing, of pretending that because he was the son of an emperor he had no faults. Now, perhaps, I shall be accused of revealing too much."

At times, the author intrudes upon the narration to comment on her rationale for leaving out certain details, on her mood, on her writing process. Otherwise, the narrator remains unobtrusive, more or less objective though not omniscient. Richard Bowring, in Landmarks of World Literature, explains, "...it is probably that Murasaki Shikibu retained the somewhat raw technique of open narrative intrusion in order to play with her audience, to remind them that they were not reading gossip and that Genji was not to be seen in the same light as its predecessors."