Aoi no Ue

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 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, does Aoi actually appear 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,[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.

For the Noh play, see Aoi no Ue (play).

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.[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 Hawai’i Press, 1997.
  3. 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. Vidya, V. (2017). "The Saga of Saying and Unsaying: A Reconnaissance of Woman Characters in Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh". International Journal of Asian History, Culture and Tradition. 4 (5): 1–22.


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