Aoi no Ue
The Tale of Genji character
In-universe information
SpouseHikaru Genji
ChildrenYūgiri

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. Aoi temporarily gains Genji's favour after giving birth to his son Yūgiri and experiencing spells of spirit possession. 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,[1] or that between accomplices expressing their discontent with the Heian system of polygynous marriage (and with Genji, obviously).[2] 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).

Marriage

Aoi no Ue and Hikaru Genji's marriage was the first marriage for Genji which was a political marriage. Furthermore, they were not a well-matched couple and not a love match couple (Royall 2002). Aoi no Ue got pregnant in the 9th year of marriage and the relationship started turning out well. Genji has demonstrated his wife, Aoi no Ue, as an angularly dissatisfiedly and cold person, although in fact, her character was kind and warm (Royall 2002). Thus, Genji probably did not see the real part of Aoi no Ue during the beginning of the relationship (Royall 2002). Later on, Aoi no Ue gave birth to Yūgiri (a boy), although he was murdered by the spirit of Rokujō no Miyasudokoro (Royall 2002).

The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji was written by Murasaki Shikibu, who was the lady-in-waiting and a noblewoman in the early 11th century (Royall 2002). This Japanese literature is a classic work and is known by so many people in Japan even it was written in the Heian period (794–1185). Furthermore, students learn about The Tale of Genji and Murasaki Shikibu at primary school in recent years. The main character of The Tale of Genji is Genji Hikaru (光源氏) who is known as a super genius and handsome man. Moreover, He is the Japanese emperor's second son (Royall 2002). The stories are about the love relationships that Genji was with a wide variety of women. In the written story, Aoi no Ue was possessed by a baleful force, and Genji found that the cause was his former mistress, Lady Rokujō. Lady Rokujō was Genji's first lover, who despite finding him much younger than herself, sought to be his only lover.[3] Later, Genji showed a proclivity to be attracted to other beautiful women and subsequently ended up with 13 other different lovers.[3] Rokujō's hurt pride and rancour smoldered and flared into extreme jealousy and violence.[3] Then, it turned her spirit into a malevolent spirit while she was alive and decided to destroy and pursue Genji's most treasured love, Aoi no Ue.[3] Then Genji heard a voice saying 'Stop for a moment, please. I want to speak to [Prince] Genji'.[3] Genji suddenly realised the voice from Aoi no Ue's body was not actually her voice, although it was Lady Rokujō's voice.[3] After he heard the voice and realised that was Lady Rokujō, he was extremely afraid and forced to drive back. Although the attack caused by Lady Rokujō was not on purpose to attack Aoi no Ue and it was an accident triggered between two women.[3] Lady Rokujō felt heavily humiliated and her emotion which was overwrought came out from her body as a spirit flew into the young pregnant Aoi's body.[3] Although it was not only Rokujō's spirit that flew into Aoi no Ue's body but also other aimless and loose spirits trying to find an undefended body. Lady Rokujō died several years later everything happened and Genji reached middle-age, and he decided to mention Lady Rokujō as his second wife.[3] Genji blamed himself because of the negative ending and the fact that it was caused by his mistake. Also, he was affirmed that it might happen again and hoped that she will forgive him.[3]

Noh and Buddhism

Aoi no Ue. Printed by Kōgyo Tsukioka.

Buddhism is one of the most popular religions and is believed by many people. Buddhism arrived in Japan from Korea and China in the sixth century.[3] Although it was ordinated a thousand years ago in India. More than half of the Buddhists believe that people's illness and sickness, such as misfortunes was from the past spirits, and herbal medicine was one of the medications that were believed to save people.[3] Such as the story of Aoi no Ue in The Tale of Genji, Aoi no Ue's family tried to save her life by the way Buddhism treats other spiritual sicknesses. Lady Murasaki, the author of The Tale of Genji, also believes in Buddhism (Mahayana Buddhism) and other stories in The Tale of Genji includes many stories relating to Buddhism.[3] There are a lot of Buddhism stories played in Noh which is traditional Japanese entertainment, and The Tale of Genji is one of the most popular Noh in Japan.[3]

References in other works

Pioneering electronic music composers Joji Yuasa[4] and Toshiro Mayuzumi[5] both composed a piece entitled Aoi no Ue.

Aoi Ue also appears as a character in the Salman Rushdie 1995 novel, The Moor's Last Sigh.[6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Royall Tyler tends to interpret spirit possession at face value, at least in the case of another female character, Ukifune. Tyler, Royall and Susan. "The Possession of Ukifune". Asiatica Venetiana, 5 (2002): 177–209.
  2. ↑ Doris Bargen, A Woman's Weapon: Spirit Possession in The Tale of Genji, Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1997.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Barnes, Nancy J. (1989). "Lady Rokujō's Ghost: Spirit Possession, Buddhism, and Healing in Japanese Literature". Literature and Medicine. 8: 106–121. doi:10.1353/lm.2011.0101. S2CID 932296. Project MUSE 376707.
  4. ↑ "Joji Yuasa 1929- List of Works". Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  5. ↑ Loubet, Emmanuelle; Roads, Curtis; Robindoré, Brigitte (1997). "The Beginnings of Electronic Music in Japan, with a Focus on the NHK Studio: The 1950s and 1960s". Computer Music Journal. 21 (4): 11–22. doi:10.2307/3681132. JSTOR 3681132.
  6. ↑ Goonetilleke, D. C. R. A. (2010). Salman Rushdie (2nd ed.). Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 144. ISBN 9781137019301.
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