The three editions

The monk Tetsugen had a dream: to publish a book in Japanese, containing all the sacred verses.
Determined to transform this dream into reality, he began to travel the country in order to raise the necessary money.

However, just as he had managed to get together enough money to begin work on the project, the river Uji flooded, provoking a catastrophe of gigantic proportions.
When he saw the victims of the flood, Tetsugen resolved to spend all the money he had collected on relieving the sufferings of the people.

Afterwards, he resumed his struggle to make his dream come true: he went from door to door, he visited the various islands of Japan, and once more he managed to raise the money he needed.
When he returned, exultant, to Edo, a cholera epidemic was sweeping the country. Again, the monk used the money to treat the sick and to help the families of the dead.

Undeterred, he returned to his original project. He set off again and, nearly twenty years later, he published seven thousand copies of the sacred verses.

They say that Tetsugen actually published three separate editions of the sacred texts.

But the first two are invisible.