Asian Horror : Vengeful Spirits

The living spirit of Lady Rokujo attacks Lady Aoi, from The Tale of Genji.

The Illustration from manga adaptation version drawn by Waki Yamato in 1980

 The vengeful spirit, is one of the popular topic of the asian countries; such as China, Japan and Korea. In this review of Asian horror, I will describe about the one of the example of a vengeful woman from The Tale of Genji, written by Murasaki Shikibu in 11th century of Japan.

 The main character, Prince Genji is the love starved man that who lost his mother when he was little and have fallen love with Lady Fujitsubo, the young stepmother with low age gaps. She was really looking alike Genji's real mother and took care of Genji's childhood like older sister takes care of younger brother.

 Genji's first love was hopeless. And his wife, Lady Aoi was super cold and self-assertive woman who doesn't compatible with Genji. 
So, Genji was struggling with this relationship problem and cause he woos the women with his good appearance. Lady Rokujo was also one of the high ranking women who accepted him, but she was also getting forgotten.

Lady Rokujo could not express her true feelings as she wished without breaking court decorum. Instead, she repressed her feelings of jealousy, which began to transform her into a demon.

 One night, while sightseeing during the Hollyhock Festival, Lady Rokujo’s carriage collided with the carriage belonging to Genji’s rightful wife Lady Aoi. After already losing her place to Genji’s wife, Lady Rokujo discovered that Lady Aoi was pregnant with Genji’s child. The insult was too much. Her repressed jealousy escaped from her body and transformed into an living spirit, which haunted Lady Aoi every night. Eventually, this living was witnessed by Genji, who burnt a anti-spiritual incense for his wife to protect her against evil spirits.

 Lady Aoi gave birth to Genji’s son, but shortly afterwards became possessed by Lady Rokujo’s vengeful spirit. The living spirit was finally exorcised, but the possession took its tool of Lady Aoi and she passed away.

 Lady Rokujo had hoped to become Genji’s next wife, but she discovered that her own hair and clothes carried the odor of anti-spiritual incense. She realized that she had been responsible for the hauntings. Thinking that Genji could never love her after murdering his wife, Lady Rokujō left the capital and joined her daughter at the Ise Shrine.