Few outside Japan are familiar with haiku's precursor, haikai (comic linked verse). Fewer still are aware of the role of Chinese Daoist classics in turning haikai into a literary art. This book examines the haikai poets' adaptation of Daoist classics, particularly the Zhuangzi, in the 17th century and the transformation of haikai into high poetry.

Her method involves an extensive hermeneutic reading of haikai texts, an in-depth analysis of the connection between Chinese and Japanese poetic terminology, and a comparison of Daoist traits in both traditions. The result is a penetrating study of key ideas that have been instrumental in defining and rediscovering the poetic essence of haikai verse. Basho and the Dao adds to an increasingly vibrant area of academic inquiry - the complex literary and cultural relations between Japan and China in the early modern era. Researchers and students of East Asian literature, philosophy, and cultural criticism will find this book a valuable contribution to cross-cultural literary studies and comparative aesthetics.