Hyakunin Isshu: Meet the Poets
Sei Shōnagon

Meaning

Even if you try to fool me with a crowing rooster in the night — I will not open the Barrier of Ōsaka for you.

Commentary

The allusion is to Meng Changjun of China, who escaped a trap by having men imitate cock-crows to open a gate at midnight. Sei Shōnagon uses this story to rebuff a man's teasing, declaring that the "Barrier of Ōsaka" — a pun on the word for "meeting" (au) and the place name Ōsaka — will not be opened by false pretenses.

Sei Shōnagon was the author of The Pillow Book (Makura no Sōshi), one of the masterworks of Heian literature. She served Empress Teishi and was celebrated for her wit, wide reading, and sharp observations. She was a contemporary and literary rival of Murasaki Shikibu.

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