Not knowing the cause
that you would lay it upon,
I cannot be sure—
just what sort of grass is it
that I am the tie of here

Meaning

Not knowing what cause you would lay it to, I am left uncertain—just what kind of grass am I said to be kin to?

Commentary

Part One: Wakamurasaki

　Reading the poem Genji had written, the girl did not understand it, and though she was shy about spoiling the page, she wrote her own at his urging. This is that poem. In her hand and in the directness of the verse Genji saw something of the dead nun, and held her the dearer for it. The chapter closes with this exchange, and their story is carried on into the chapters that follow.

　"Kakotsu" is to make a pretext of something, and she is saying she does not know why he should call her the grass of a tie. She takes up his "grass of the tie" and keeps the form of the exchange exactly. A child who knows nothing of Fujitsubo asks, in all innocence, the very question at the heart of the matter, and only the reader knows the answer. As the first poem Murasaki no Ue composes in the tale, it holds a weighty place.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Not knowing the cause that you would lay it upon, I cannot be sure— just what sort of grass is it that I am the tie of here

Not knowing the cause
that you would lay it upon,
I cannot be sure—
just what sort of grass is it
that I am the tie of here