However, it was long after Sei Shonagon left the Imperial Court that Murasaki Shikibu began to serve Empress Shoshi, so they couldn't have known each other (but Dr. Bunei TSUNODA advocated a different opinion in his thesis 'Sei Shonagon: Her Later Years,' and he pointed to the possibility that she might have continued her service at the Imperial Court after Teishi passed away, with reference to the word 'Shonagon Myobu' of Ichinomiya Atsuyasu Imperial Prince in "Gonki" (FUJIWARA no Yukinari's Diary).
しかし、紫式部が中宮彰子に伺候したのは清少納言が宮仕えを退いてからはるか後のことで、二人は一面識さえないはずである（もっとも、角田文衞博士は論文「晩年の清少納言」で異説を提唱し、『権記』に見える一宮敦康親王の「少納言命婦」を手掛かりに、清少納言が定子死後もその所生の皇子女に引き続き仕えた可能性を指摘した）。