Jia Dao
賈島 • Illustration — 《尋隱者不遇》 松下問童子 言師採藥去 只在此山中 雲深不知處 Seeking the Master but not Meeting by Jia Dao Beneath a pine I asked a little child. / He said the Master went to gather herbs. / Alone was he upon this mountainside, / The clouds so deep he knew not where he was. Jia Jia Dao (779–843), courtesy name Langxian (浪仙), was a Chinese Buddhist monk and poet active during the Tang dynasty.
Also recorded as Kuyinke · Jieshishangren · Wuben
Jia Dao
- Born
- 779
- Died
- 843
- Nationality
- Tang dynasty
- Occupation
- poet · calligrapher · writer
- Languages
- Chinese
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
賈島 • Illustration — 《尋隱者不遇》 松下問童子 言師採藥去 只在此山中 雲深不知處 Seeking the Master but not Meeting by Jia Dao Beneath a pine I asked a little child. / He said the Master went to gather herbs. / Alone was he upon this mountainside, / The clouds so deep he knew not where he was. Jia Jia Dao (779–843), courtesy name Langxian (浪仙), was a Chinese Buddhist monk and poet active during the Tang dynasty.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Jia Dao. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
In this article
Biography
Biography
Jia Dao was born near modern Beijing; after a period as a Buddhist monk, he went to Chang'an. He became one of Han Yu's disciples, but failed the jinshi exam several times. He wrote both discursive gushi and lyric jintishi. His works were criticised as "thin" by Su Shi, and some other commentators have considered them limited and artificial. According to Dr. James J.Y. Liu (1926–1986), a professor of Chinese and comparative literature, Jia's poem The Swordsman (劍客) "seems...to sum up the spirit of knight errantry in four lines." "The Swordsman" reads in Liu's translation as follows: For ten years I have been polishing this sword; Its frosty edge has never been put to the test. Now I am holding it and showing it to you, sir: Is there anyone suffering from injustice? A metric translation of the original Chinese poem with one iamb per Chinese character reads as follows: A decade long I honed a single sword, Its steel-cold blade still yet to test its song. Today I hold it out to you, my lord, and ask: "Who seeks deliverance from a wrong?" The original Chinese: 劍客: 十年磨一劍, 霜刃未曾試. 今日把示君, 誰有不平事. The opening line of The Swordsman is often used as a proverb to refer to a long and arduous undertaking.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
779
Jia Dao born.
843
Jia Dao died.
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Renditions Magazine.
- 2.Liu, James J.Y. The Chinese Knight Errant. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967 ( )
- 3.MEMORIAL RESOLUTION
- 4.Extremely sharp.
- 5.Tian Min, 2020. Medium article.
- 6.Li, Hongshan. Fighting on the Cultural Front: U.S.-China Relations in the Cold War. Columbia University Press. 335. 2024. 9780231207058.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Jhon Jairo VelásquezAuthor
- JhulelalAuthor
- Ji YunAuthor
- Jia BaoyuAuthor
- Jia TolentinoAuthor
- Jia YiAuthor
- Jian BozanAuthor
- Jiang GongfuAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Jia Dao?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.