Who Is Lady Aoi (Aoi no Ue)?

Lady Aoi (Aoi no Ue) is Hikaru Genji's first principal wife in The Tale of Genji, the daughter of the Minister of the Left and Princess Ōmiya. She is proud and reserved and finds it hard to open up to Genji.

In Episode 6, "Aoi," she goes out to watch a festival while pregnant, and her attendants push Lady Rokujō's carriage aside in the "Quarrel of the Carriages." From that summer on she suffers from a powerful spirit possession, and one spirit will not leave her no matter what prayers are said. She safely gives birth to a son (later called Yūgiri), and she and Genji finally begin to grow close. Then in autumn, while her parents and Genji are away at court, she suddenly dies.

The name "Aoi no Ue" does not appear in the original text. Later readers took it from the title of this chapter, "Aoi" (Heartvine).