is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 in The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji

is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...

(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 to 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, 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

Aoi no Ue (play)

Aoi no Ue is a Noh play based on an episode in the Tale of Genji and named for Lady Aoi, one of the novel's characters. It is an example of the fourth category of "miscellaneous" Noh plays. Aoi no Ue was the first of many Noh plays based on the Tale of Genji...

 about her, translated as Lady of the Court, or in the modern version by Yukio Mishima

Yukio Mishima

was the pen name of , a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor and film director, also remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'état...

, The Lady Aoi.
Pioneering electronic music composers Joji Yuasa

Joji Yuasa

is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:Born in Kōriyama, Fukushima, he is self-taught as a composer.In 1951 or 1952, together with the composer Tōru Takemitsu and other contemporary artists and musicians, he founded Jikken Kobo , an organization dedicated to the...

 and Toshiro Mayuzumi

Toshiro Mayuzumi

Toshiro Mayuzumi was a Japanese composer.-Biography:...

 both composed a piece entitled Aoi no Ue.
Aoi Ue also appears as a character in the famous Salman Rushdie novel, The Moor's Last Sigh

The Moor's Last Sigh

The Moor's Last Sigh is the fifth novel by Salman Rushdie, and was published in 1995. Set in the Indian cities of Bombay and Cochin , it is the first major work that Rushdie produced after the The Satanic Verses affair, and thus is referential to that circumstance in many ways, especially the...

.