There is a gap of two years between "Under the Cherry Blossoms" and the present chapter "Aoi"; Genji is now 22 to 23. In the period in-between, Genji's father, the Kiritsubo Emperor has abdicated, and Suzaku, his son by the Kokiden Consort, has become emperor. Fujitsubo's infant son by the Kiritsubo emperor (who is in fact Genji's son) has become Heir-Apparent (at age 3 or 4).
[Kamigamo Shrine]
"Aoi" is a long and important chapter. Let's first look at the plant mentioned in the chapter title. "(Futaba) aoi" (asarum caulescens, hollyhock or heart-vine), grows on the forest floor and consists of a pair of broad, heart-shaped leaves that spring from a single stem. The aoi plant is sacred to the Kamo shrines (Shimogamo and Kamigamo in Kyoto) and at the Kamo festival people used to decorate their headdresses and carriages with it. During the Heian Period, these leaves were believed to protect against natural disasters such as earthquakes and thunder, and were often hung under the roofs of homes for protection. However, as the aoi plant is relatively rare, often substitutes with similarly shaped leaves were used, such as the leaves of the katsura tree. But the hollyhock was firmly established as the symbolical flower of the Kamo shrines.
[Asarum caulescens]
[Aoi crest]
[The Aoi Crest of the Shimogamo Shrine]
The Kamo festival was the greatest festival of Kyoto in the time of the Genji, and still exists as a beautiful panorama of courtly times. The main festival procession is held on May 15, but there are various events and rituals before that date.
The origins of the festival may go back to the belief that a drought and epidemic which struck the country in the 6th c., were a form of divine punishment by the Kamo deities. Therefore the emperor sent a messenger with a retinue to the shrine to conduct various rituals to appease the deities, such as riding a galloping horse, and say prayers for a bountiful harvest. This became an annual ritual, and the galloping horse performance developed into an equestrian archery performance.
The deities enshrined in Shimogamo are Kamo-taketsunemi-no-mikoto and his daughter Tamayorihime-no-mikoto. This daughter once was sitting at the boards of the Kamo River (I don't want to destroy the romantic atmosphere, but as a matter of fact in olden times rivers were used as toilets), when a fiery red arrow came drifting towards her on the waves. It is as if Freud has conceived this scene. Of course Tamayori got pregnant (never let your daughter go alone to the river) and gave birth to Kamo-wake-ikazuchi, a god who was subsequently enshrined in the Kamigamo Shrine, the related facility further upstream.
Emperor Kanmu who in 794 made Heiankyo (Kyoto) his new capital, recognized the deities of the Kamo shrines as protectors of the capital, and established the Aoi Matsuri as an annual imperial event. The festival reached its peak of grandeur in the middle of the Heian Period, but waned in the Kamakura and the following Muromachi periods, and finally the festival procession was discontinued. Thereafter it was held with fits and starts, until 1953, when the modern festival procession was held for the first time. Since then, it has been canceled three times, from 2020 to 2022, because of the corona virus pandemic.
[Inside the Shimogamo Shrine]
The following rituals are held before the day of the main procession:
- Yabusame Ritual on May 3, held in Tadasu no Mori at the Shimogamo Shrine. Dressed in traditional Heian Period costume, riders galloping down the forest path shoot arrows with tips shaped like turnips at targets along the course.
- Saio-Dai Misogi Ceremony on May 4, held at the Mitarashi River at either the Shimogamo or Kamigamo Shrine (nowadays, the location alternates every year). The women who will participate in the Aoi Matsuri procession, including the Saio-Dai, undergo a purification ceremony at the Mitarashi River in which a paper doll, called kamishiro, is floated down the water. The Saio-Dai is one of the two most important figures during the festival. She used to be chosen from the sisters and daughters of the Emperor to dedicate herself to the Shimogamo shrine, and her role was to maintain ritual purity and to represent the Emperor at the festival. Nowadays, the role of the Saio-Dai is played by an unmarried civilian woman from Kyoto, dressed in the traditional style of the Heian court (twelve layers of the traditional junihitoe).
- Mikage Matsuri on May 12. Kamo Priests visit the Mikage Shrine (at the foot of Mt Hiei, in northern part of the the Eastern Hills) to invite the "aramitama", the "rough spirit" of the deities and accompany them to the Shimogamo shrine, in a procession of more than 100 people in Heian costume.
[The main procession setting out from Gosho]
The main procession on May 15 is led by the Imperial Messenger, followed by a retinue of 600 people all dressed in the traditional costumes of Heian nobles, plus two oxcarts, four cows and thirty-six horses. The oxcarts are adorned with artificial wisteria flowers. The procession starts at the Kyoto Imperial Palace and slowly works its way towards the Shimogamo shrine and finally (in the early afternoon) the Kamigamo shrine. At both shrines, the Saio-Dai pays her respects, and the Imperial Messenger intones the imperial rescript praising the deities and requesting their continued favor.
[Ox cart decorated with wisteria blossoms]
In this chapter of the Genji an incident takes place at the festival - not during the main procession, but on the day of the Saio-Dai Misogi Ceremony. There are so many aristocrats setting out in their ox-drawn carriages that a true traffic jam ensues on Ichijo Avenue which is packed with spectators. Moreover, the occupants of the carriages are competing to occupy the best spot to see Genji pass by as one of the participants. A quarrel erupts between Lady Aoi, Genji's principal wife (now pregnant), and his lover, the Rokujo Haven (Rokujo no Miyasudokoro). Rokujo has hesitated whether to attend or not, torn as she is between her desire to see Genji in the procession and the pain caused by his diminished love. She finally decides to come, but rides in an inconspicuous carriage so as not to attract attention. Carriages were status symbols, like an expensive, outsized car today, and parking places from where the occupants could watch the festival, had to be reserved in advance (of course, the ladies in the carriages remained behind their bamboo blinds and did not get out). When the carriage of her rival, Aoi, suddenly arrives and the vehicles of lesser mortals are pushed aside by Aoi's retainers, her pride is wounded. Rokujo's carriage is forced into a corner, so that she can't see anything of the procession. What is more, she has been humiliated in public and feels great resentment.
Rokujo is a proud aristocratic lady. Genji seems to have been initially attracted to her because of the very difficulty of approaching such a woman, the widow of a former crown prince (presumably one of Emperor
Kiritsubo's brothers) who would have become empress, if not for her
husband's early death. Although in the "Hahakigi" chapter Genji and his friends agreed that high ranking women were to be avoided, Genji was somehow drawn to Rokujo. But once he has succeeded in making her his lover, his passion subsides. He finds her too sensitive, and there is a discrepancy in ages (Rokujo is about seven years older than Genji). The problem is that Rokujo has fallen more deeply in love with Genji than he with her.
[Wisteria flowers on the ox-drawn carriage]
In fact, there is something unusual about the way in which Murasaki Shikibu introduces Rokujo. That is in the Yugao chapter, where Genji is said to be on his way to visit her as his lover, but then makes a detour to the house of his nurse, leading to the discovery of Yugao. But his affair with Rokujo is nowhere told in detail, nor do we get complete biographical information about her - we have to glean the details from the general narrative and piece them together ourselves. Has Murasaki Shikibu on purpose left it out as there was nothing special to tell about their early relation (the author was anyhow mostly interested in telling about Genji's affairs with unknown women of the middle rank)? Or has an early chapter about Rokujo been lost?
Because of her outstanding social position, Rokujo is entitled to be treated with the utmost respect, something which Genji, too caught up in his philandering, neglects to do. Humiliated by Genji's disrespect for her, angered by the rumors of his affairs, on top of that Rokujo now is slighted by Genji's wife Lady Aoi. Her uncontrolled jealousy, which leads to her own unhappiness and the destruction of others, is her fatal flaw.
As her daughter has been selected as a new "Ise Vestal" (Saio), Rokujo, unable to stand Genji's coldness, contemplates accompanying her daughter to Ise (the system of having a woman related to the imperial house stay at Ise was introduced by Emperor Tenmu. Since then, every time a new emperor succeeded to the throne - like now Emperor Suzaku -, a new Saio was chosen and set out on a journey from the capital to Ise). Rokujo apparently hopes that leaving the capital may help her forget Genji, although it was not customary that the mother of an Ise Vestal accompanied her daughter.
[Aoi, by Tosa Mitsunobu, Harvard Art Museums]
Aoi's pregnancy has weakened her - the people around her are even worried that she may have a miscarriage or die in childbirth, which might pollute others (pregnant women were believed to be in a state of defilement) and lead to bad karma in her own next life. In her weakened condition, she is also more susceptible to psychic influences - for example attacks by spirits such as mono no ke.
From her side, the proud Rokujo feels so humiliated by Lady Aoi that she perhaps unconsciously wishes her rival dead. She blames herself for her lack of self-control. When the time of Aoi's delivery nears, an evil spirit possesses her and she suffers terribly. At first the cause of Aoi's sickness baffles the doctors, and Genji has numerous prayers and rituals performed to exorcise it, but to no avail. Finally, diviners succeed in compelling the spirit that possesses Aoi to speak. The words that issue from Aoi's mouth are not in her own voice, but - as Genji realizes to his horror - the voice of Rokujo (there is an impressive scene in Kurosawa's film Rashomon in which a female medium conveying the words of a dead man, suddenly starts speaking in a deep, male voice). Finally, Lady Aoi gives prematurely birth to a son who will be called Yugiri ("Evening Mist"), and then suffers a sudden seizure and dies.
It should be noted that Murasaki Shikibu - like others of her time - firmly believed in the existence of spirits - especially vengeful ones. Illness was believed to be caused by such spirits, and often exorcists played a larger role at the sickbed than doctors. The belief that the vengeful spirit of a former minister who had been banished, Sugawara no Michizane, was causing destruction in Heiankyo and in the palace, motivated the building of shrines in his honor at great cost. The author faithfully describes the world around her.
(The fact that Rokujo's spirit possesses Aoi, has led readers, critics and scholars to speculate that the unnamed spirit in Yugao also must have been Rokujo. There is however no proof for that (no name is mentioned in the novel), and it could just as well be a spirit from the haunted house in which Yugao dies.)
Troubled by the gossip about her involvement in Aoi's possession, Rokujo herself comes to believe in her own guilt, which strengthens her determination to accompany her daughter to Ise.
[Aoi Matsuri in the Gosho palace grounds]
It is only at the time of her illness and death that Aoi appears
sympathetic in Genji's eyes. Genji finally starts to appreciate her, something which never happened before. Their marriage was an arranged one, and as Aoi was several years older, she at first considered Genji more as her little brother than her husband. And we have seen that Genji fell in love with vulnerable women, who played the baby to him, and not with cold and proud types as Aoi. She was such a perfect lady that she simply intimidated Genji. Their marriage failed because of their incompatibility of character.
After the 49 day mourning period has ended, Genji returns to his Nijo mansion, where he has hidden Musasaki. He sees her for the first time after a long while and realizing that she has grown up (she is 14 or 15, which was the marriageable age for women in the Heian period), he makes her his secondary wife. For four years Genji has enjoyed a platonic, paternal relation with Murasaki while waiting for her to reach maturity. Murasaki is shocked by the sudden change in their relationship - she considered Genji in the first place as a father. Genji sends Murasaki the usual "morning after" poem, but that makes her all the more upset, because she feels that she has been deceived. Genji may indeed have been inconsiderate in his abrupt seduction of her, but Seidensticker's translation here goes wrong by implying that Genji forced himself on Murasaki. He has brought her up to marry her and now the time is right. Genji is perhaps somewhat patronizing towards Murasaki, but he is also very solicitous and conscientious in arranging the ritual foods signifying marriage. In contrast to Yugao and others, Genji makes Murasaki his official secondary wife. Why not his first wife, now that Aoi has died? Because - again! - Heian court society was a terrible hierarchical society and Murasaki's rank was unfortunately much too low to make her his principal wife.
Genji-e: As regards Genji-e, the most famous scene illustrated is the "Carriage Competition" during the Kamo festival, when the carriages of Aoi and Rokujo compete for viewing space (see photo above).
No plays: The Aoi chapter has become the subject of a famous No play ”Aoi no Ue". The story has been changed for dramatic effects: the play is wholly focused on Rokujo as the possessing spirit. Aoi is merely represented by a folded robe at the front of the stage over which Rokujo (the shite) does battle with the exorcising priest, the holy man of Yokawa (the waki). The spirit battle ends - contrary to the novel - in the triumph of the Law of the Buddha and Rokujo's spirit is subjugated.
[Mitarashi river (purification place) in Shimogamo Jinja]
The Shimogamo Shrine and Kamigamo Shrine in Kyoto are among my most favorite places in the old capital, on the one hand because I used to live in that area in the past, and also because I often prefer their refined atmosphere for hatsumode at New Year to that of other shrines (here and here). And the Aoi Matsuri (May 15) is a great chance to get a whiff of the atmosphere of the Genji!
See https://www.shimogamo-jinja.or.jp/ and https://www.kamigamojinja.jp/.
Access to Shimogamo: City Bus Stop Shimogamo Jinja-mae (#4 or #205) / 12 min walk from Demachiyanagi Station on the Keihan Railway.
Access to Kamigamo: City Bus Stop Kamigamo Jinja-mae (last stop of bus #4).
I am indebted to the discussion about Aoi and Rokujo in Seeds in the Heart, Japanese Literature from the Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century, by Donald Keene (1993, Henry Holt, p. 495-500).
[The photos in this article - except Harvard Museum of Art - are my own]