Aoi no Ue

rdf:langString Aoi no Ue

rdf:langString Aoi no Ue (葵の上) is a fictional character in The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari). Daughter of the Minister of the Left (Tō no Chūjō's sister) and Genji's first principal wife, she marries Genji when she is sixteen and he is only twelve. Proud and distant from her husband, Aoi is constantly aware of the age difference between them and very much hurt by Genji's philandering. For a short while, after giving birth to Genji's son, Yūgiri, and suffering episodes of spirit possession, Aoi becomes appealing in Genji's eyes. The episode of spirit possession itself (mono no ke) is extremely controversial and brings forward two female characters of the tale: Aoi (Genji's wife) and Lady Rokujō (Genji's mistress). The relationship between the two women may be that between victim and aggressor, if one follows the traditional interpretation of spirit possession, or that between accomplices expressing their discontent with the Heian system of polygynous marriage (and with Genji, obviously). Aoi dies at the end of the "Aoi" chapter and her exit from the tale is thus definitive. Aoi no Ue is also the title of a Noh play about her, translated as Lady of the Court, or in the modern version by Yukio Mishima, The Lady Aoi. Aoi no Ue is the Senior Minister of State (Sadaijin) family's daughter and Hikaru Genji's formal wife (Haruhiko 2018). She was seriously ill and possessed by a phantom which was caused by Hikaru Genji's first lover Rokujō (Haruhiko 2018). While her family struggled to recover her and attempted various cures, nothing was able to bring her back to normal (Haruhiko 2018). Then her family decided to invite the master of the art of Azusa, Priestess Teruhi, in order to identify the causation of the fantom. Priestess Teruhi used a bow which is made of Japanese cherry birch and called fourth fantoms with the sound (The-Noh.com 2022). Also, the Priestess Teruhi trapped the phantom, and he found the spirit was Genji's first lover and the deceased crown prince's wife Lady Rokujō (Rokujō no Miyasundokoro) who was a very sophisticated noble lady (Shoten 2022). Although after losing Genji's attention she decided to secretly visit the festival parade which Genji attended (Shoten 2022). Then she found Lady Aoi and felt jealous, and beats and hates Genji's younger lover, lady Aoi (Shoten 2022).