Shikibu-shō is also where the Lady Murasaki Shikibu derives her name, probably owing to the senior secretary post that her father and her husband once occupied in the ministry.

The minister, or the Shikibu-kyō (式部卿) had the grave authority to grade the performances of civil officers, recommend their appointments and awards, and decide on their ceremonial seniorities and privileges.

[3] The Shikibu-shō (式部省) was headed by the minister, whose office was ordinarily filled by a son or close relative of the emperor, of the fourth grade or higher.

[7] The same prince wrote a diary entitled The Rihō Ō ki (吏部王記)[7][24] Shikibu-no-tayū (式部大輔) Minamoto no Yasumitsu [ja] 969,[25] though the man also nicknamed the Major Counselor of Momozono (桃園大納言) held numerous offices.

[26] As were Tametoki and Tadataka just mentioned, men who concurrently held Shikibu-no-daijō with another office of rokui-no-kurōdo (六位蔵人) "Chamberlain of sixth grade" gained special permission to ascend the court, and were addressed as Denjō no jō (殿上の丞) "[16] The Senior secretaryship was normally filled by a noble of Junior Sixth Rank, Lower Grade (正六位下), but occasionally a fifth rank candidate was appointed.

Such an overqualified nobleman may be referred to as Shikibu-no-jō-no-shaku (式部丞の爵), with an example of the expression occurring in The Pillow Book,[7] Things That Give a Vulgar Impression (146), as "A Secretary in the Ministry of Ceremonial who has been raised to the Fifth Rank" (Ivan Morris tr.)

Such a nobleman is alternatively called a Shikibu-no-taifu (式部大夫),[7] with instances in the Imakagami, Ōkagami, Genpei Jōsuiki[7] as well as The Pillow Book, "Hateful Things (14)": "Senior Secretary of the Fifth Rank".