THE THEME OF “SPIRIT POSSESSION”: MURASAKI SHIKIBU, GENJI MONOGATARI, ZEAMI, AOI-NO-UE AND YUKIO MISHIMA, AOI
THE THEME OF “SPIRIT POSSESSION”: MURASAKI SHIKIBU, GENJI MONOGATARI, ZEAMI, AOI-NO-UE AND YUKIO MISHIMA, AOI

Summary/Abstract: The theme of “spirit possession”: Murasaki Shikibu, Genji monogatari, Zeami, Aoi-no-Ue and Yukio Mishima, Aoi.The present paper tries to study the influence and traces of the theme of Spirit Possesion, drawn from the novel Genji monogatari and later reshaped dramatically in two texts largely separated in time, but both connected to the model of Murasaki Shikibu’s epic. The texts we deal with are Aoi no Ue by Zeami Motokiyo (1363-1443), a play from the nō theatre repertory, respectively the play Aoi, part of the modern nō theatre five-play collection written by Yukio Mishima (1925-1970). Starting from the well-known scene of Genji monogatari, Zeami and later Mishima would add, through a process of hypertextual reconfiguration, new valences and dimensions to the nature of the originary model, transformations which we focus upon on this study.

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