Onna San no Miya (女三宮)
The word Onna San no Miya can refer to the following:
The third daughter of a successive emperor (the third Imperial Princess).
A name for a fictional third princesses whose real name does not appear in the story, for convenience's sake. As an example, there are three Imperial Princesses who appear in "The Tale of Genji."
The younger sister of Emperor Kiritsubo, who is the mother of To no Chujo and Lady Aoi. See the article on Omiya (The Tale of Genji).
The third daughter of Emperor Kiritsubo and the high priestess of Kamo (a maiden imperial princess appointed to serve the deities of the Kamo-jinja Shrine). Her mother is Empress Kokiden.
The third princess of Emperor Suzaku and lawful wife of Hikaru Genji. On whom there is more below.
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Onna San no Miya (also called Nyo San no Miya) is a fictional character in "The Tale of Genji" written by Murasaki Shikibu, and an important character in its second part, from the 'Wakana' (Spring Shoots) chapter and onward.
She is a niece of Hikaru Genji and his second lawful wife.
(His first lawful wife was Lady Aoi. According to a prominent theory, Lady Murasaki's status is regarded as only remaining eligible to be a lawful wife because she did not go through the proper marriage process.)
She is the third princess of Emperor Suzaku and an Imperial Princesses of the second court rank. Her mother is Lady Fujitsubo (also called Lady Genji, Fujitsubo's younger paternal half-sister). Ochiba no Miya (Onna Ni no Miya, the Second Princess) is her older paternal half-sister.
When Emperor Suzaku was going to renounce the world, he felt pity for the young and innocent Onna San no Miya, who had lost her own mother and had no guardian, and determined to marry her to Genji, who had been reduced to the status of a subject but had been made a Jun Daijo tenno (quasi ex-emperor). She began living in the main hall of the spring quarter in the Rokujo-in estate as his lawful wife. Genji was stirred by this and ended up agreeing to the marriage, for one because he could obtain the brand of an Imperial Princess and also because the princess was the niece of Fujitsubo just like Lady Murasaki (Murasaki no yukari, literally "having 'a link to the color purple'"). However, he was disappointed with how childish the princess was due to having been doted on by her father and reared in an overprotective manner, and he instead grew to love Lady Murasaki even more deeply than before. However, the princess went though an aggressive and one-sided tryst with Kashiwagi, who felt deeply about her. This resulted in her giving birth to an illegitimate child whom they named Kaoru, whose mental development was affected dramatically growing up under such distress. Furthermore, Genji, who realized what had been going on, became sarcastic toward her. Onna San no Miya could not endure it any more, and begged her father Suzakuin to allow her to renounce the world and become a Buddhist nun. Things being as they were, Genji was reluctant to let the young princess become a Buddhist nun, but she did not pay the slightest attention to Genji anymore.
After Genji passes away, she appears in the 'Uji Jujo' (The Ten Books of Uji), in which she has left the Rokujo-in estate and spends her remaining years at the Sanjo mansion that Emperor Suzaku had left to her. Onna San no Miya's actions, showing no interest in raising her child and instead throwing herself at the teachings of Buddha, have a deep influence on the character of her son, Kaoru. It is said that once Kaoru became an adult he, in turn, became like a parent to her ('Niou no Miya' (His Perfumed Highness)).