Who Is Lady Rokujō (Rokujō no Miyasudokoro)?
The proud lover who became a living ghost
Rokujō no Miyasudokoro
Lady Rokujō (Rokujō no Miyasudokoro) is Hikaru Genji's older lover in The Tale of Genji and the widow of a former crown prince. She is a highly cultured, proud woman, famous for the intensity of her feelings, which turn her into an ikiryō, a living ghost that leaves her body and torments others.
In Episode 6, "Aoi," Lady Aoi's attendants shove Rokujō's carriage aside on a festival day, humiliating her in public. Afterward, every time she sleeps, she dreams of striking a woman she does not know, and she begins to fear that her soul is leaving her body. The spirit possessing Lady Aoi recites a poem in Rokujō's voice. In Episode 2, "Sakaki," she decides on her own to go to Ise with her daughter, the Shrine Princess. When Genji visits her at the Nonomiya shrine, she spends one last night with him and ends the affair.
In a famous scene after the possession, Rokujō realizes with horror that her hair and robes smell of the poppy seeds burned in the exorcism rituals. Her story inspired the Noh plays Nonomiya and Aoi no Ue.
Episodes featuring this character2
NEWEpisode 2
She Chose to End It. Then He Showed Up.The Tale of Genji: The Sacred Tree (Farewell at Nonomiya)
Lady Rokujō has decided to end her love affair herself by leaving for distant Ise. Then, just before she goes, Genji comes to see her. Through a bamboo blind they trade poems and talk until dawn. After that night she doesn't answer his letters begging her to stay, and she leaves the capital without looking back.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 6
Every Night, I Dream of Striking a WomanThe Tale of Genji: "Aoi" (Lady Rokujō)
Episode 6 of the series. On festival day, proud Lady Rokujō goes unnoticed by her lover Genji, then is publicly humiliated by his wife's retainers. That summer, one spirit refuses to leave Genji's wife, Lady Aoi, and every time Lady Rokujō sleeps, she has the same dream.
19 pages