Jiǎ Dǎo 賈島 (779–843), zì Làngxiān 閬仙, was a Fànyáng 范陽 native (modern Héběi Zhuōzhōu). He took the tonsure as a young man under the dharma-name Wúběn 無本 (Hán Yù’s Sòng Wúběn shī guī Fànyáng poem dates from this period, Yuánhé 6 = 811) before returning to lay life. He failed the jìnshì repeatedly and was eventually demoted to Chángjiāng 長江 (in Sìchuān) zhǔbù — hence the title of his collection (Chángjiāng jí KR4c0059). His final post was Pǔzhōu sīcāng cānjūn, where he died.
Jiǎ Dǎo is, with Mèng Jiāo 孟郊, the canonical kǔyín poet — the master of austere, image-pivoted verse hard-won through obsessive revision. The famous tuīqiāo 推敲 anecdote (Hán Yù’s intervention in his choice between seng tuī yuèxià mén “monk pushes gate beneath moon” and seng qiāo yuèxià mén “monk knocks gate beneath moon”) is the defining commonplace of mid-Táng poetic discipline. With Mèng Jiāo, Yáo Hé 姚合, and Lǐ Dòng he is grouped as one of the four “kǔyín” poets. Late-Táng patron-relations centered on Lìnghú Táo (zǎixiàng from Dàzhōng 4 = 850 — but see chronological discussion in KR4c0059).
Principal work in the corpus: Chángjiāng jí KR4c0059 in 10 juǎn, 378 poems. Catalog gave 788–843; CBDB (id 94227) and standard biographical sources give 779–843, used here.