Nonomiya : PhotoStory

Autumn in Kyoto. In the Sagano district, a traveling monk visits Nonomiya, formerly used for purification by imperial princesses serving at Ise Shrine.

A woman holding a sakaki branch appears. She asks the priest to leave. Today, the seventh day of ninth month of the lunar calendar, is a special day for recalling former times and performing a ritual.

Recalling former times? In response to the monk's question, the woman emotionally relates the story that on this day Hikaru Genji visited Lady Rokujō at Nonomiya.

The woman relates the life of Lady Rokujō, who was haunted by the parting. She displays deep emotion: loneliness, yearning, reproach.

Can this be an ordinary person? The monk is right. The woman reveals she is Lady Rokujō, and disappears into the evening shadows of the torii gate.

In the middle of the night, the ghost of Lady Rokujō appears before the monk. She tells of the obsession left in her heart by the humiliation when her carriage was pushed aside at the Kamo Festival.

Yearning for the past, she dances.

Lady Rokujō sweeps dewdrops from the sacred fence of brushwood.The meeting with the visiting Hikaru Genji is already long ago.

The pine crickets ring out and a fierce wind blows in Nonomiya, making worse her yearning for the past.

Even though she is a person of high birth in a holy shrine, she is still caught up in her obsession.

Lady Rokujō, wandering lost inside and outside the torii gates, cannot find her way out of this world of suffering.