Jōsei Toda

In 1997, Ikeda clarified that the method of propagation of Nichiren Buddhism depends upon the locality and the times, and that in dialogue with other faiths, "Our task is to bring forth the inherent goodness in people's hearts and, based on the concerns we share as human beings, work together in our own capacities for peace and happiness."

Toda's call for nuclear disarmament currently takes institutional form in the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research which was founded in 1996 by Ikeda. The institute promotes peace research through the organization of conferences, the publication of books, and of the yearly journal Peace & Policy. The Toda Institute focuses on three main themes: Human Security and Human Rights, Dialogue and Nonviolent Conflict Transformation, and Global Governance and World Citizenship. It seeks concrete solutions to three main issues: Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, UN Reform, and Sustainable Peace through Environmental Integrity and Social Justice.

Toda's experiences in prison as well as his efforts to build the Soka Gakkai are chronicled in two films by Japanese film director Toshio Masuda, the 1973 film The Human Revolution (Ningen Kakumei) and a 1976 sequel, The Human Revolution II (Zoku Ningen Kakumei), both starring and produced by Toho.

Toda died on April 2, 1958. Nichijun, at the eighth general meeting of the Soka Gakkai held one month later, eulogized Toda stating: "It was President Toda who, as their leader, called forth those bodhisattvas; it was in the Soka Gakkai that they gathered. In other words, it was President Toda who manifested the five and seven characters of Myoho-renge-kyo as 750,000 [bodhisattvas]." Upon his death, Toda was given the title-rank of "Chief of all the preachers of the Hokkekyo" by Nichinjun, who said Toda was "considered to be the greatest among laymen."

Toda died on 2 April 1958, while the funeral was held at his home and the coffin was afterwards carried to the Nichiren Shōshū Jozai-ji temple in Ikebukuro, where he was buried. Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi and the Education Minister Matsunaga attended the Soka Gakkai funeral held in Tokyo on April 20, where 250,000 members from Japan and overseas gathered Event news coverage asserted that although the two government officials were not members, "they bowed to some two million voters behind the altar." For two years after Toda's death, there was a leadership vacuum and the Gakkai had no president, as it was unclear if anyone was able to replace him.

Membership grew rapidly under Toda's leadership, to more than 750,000 households by December 25, 1957, just months before his death on April 2, 1958.

Addressing an assembly of 50,000 Soka Gakkai youth members on September 8, 1957, Toda issued a declaration for abolishing nuclear weapons as his will to future generations. At little more than a page of text, it was a succinct statement to the effect that there is neither victor nor humanity in any nuclear confrontation, overturning the Cold War logic of nuclear deterrence and its underlying denial that "we, the citizens of the world, have an inviolable right to live." This “Toda Declaration,” proclaiming nuclear weapons to be “the ultimate evil of mankind, our numbed and remorseless readiness to deprive others of their inviolable right to live,” remains the guiding principle of the Soka Gakkai peace movement.

A number of awareness-raising initiatives by Soka Gakkai International and its president can be traced back to Toda's 1957 call for the sake of "we, the citizens of the world" to ban both nuclear arms and the logic behind their existence. These initiatives include: the exhibit "Nuclear Arms: Threat to Our World," created in the 1980s with support from the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the campaign People's Decade for Nuclear Abolition, launched in 2007 with the exhibit "From a Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace: Toward a World Free From Nuclear Weapons"; and the exhibit "Everything You Treasure – For a World Free From Nuclear Weapons," launched in 2012 at the 20th World Congress of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War with support from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

The aggressive propagation style of the Youth Division, which also employed military-sounding organizational terms including "corps commander" and "staff office," drew increasingly alarmist press coverage. In addition to propagating the religion to neighbors, Youth Division members challenged other sects to religious debates. Though their propagation efforts were depicted by one scholar as "belligerent, activist, and ideological", the Youth Division grew exponentially, reaching a 10,390 members by the end of 1954.

Toda's programmatic approach to doctrinal teachings and organizational form as well as his keen social observations created a proselyting movement that was characterized as both militant and vigorous yet highly successful throughout the organization's rapid growth period. Toda was also effective in incorporating the powerful imagery of classical literature into his discussions and actions. For example, Toda named the young men select training group he formed the "Suiko Kai," Water Margin Club, named after the novel attributed to Shi Nai'an, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, written in vernacular Chinese rather than Classical Chinese. His intention was to inspire the group of young men to aspire the group of 108 heroic outlaws depicted in the novel. He encouraged the young men in this group and the young women in the accompanying "Kaiyo Kai" group to read classical works such as Hugo's Ninety-Three, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Caine's The Eternal City, Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, and Gogol's Taras Bulba. In this vein, in October 1954, Toda is said to have made a speech to over 10,000 Gakkai members while mounted on a white horse, proclaiming: "We must consider all religions our enemies, and we must destroy them."

Starting in 1954, Toda financed and donated to Nichiren Shoshu the first three of many local temples. He provided funding for the restoration of Taisekiji's Five-Storied Pagoda and the Somon Gate. In 1955, he constructed on the Taisekiji site the Hoan-den to house the Dai Gohonzon and the Grand Lecture Hall in 1958. (The latter building was demolished by Nichiren Shoshu in 1995.) On New Year's Day 1956, Nichijun made highly complimentary statements about the Soka Gakkai Toda had built.

The second project Toda undertook was the collection of the extant writings of Nichiren. Throughout its 700-year history, Nichiren Shoshu, although claiming it was the orthodox teaching of Nichiren, had not produced its own canon of Nichiren's writings and had to rely on collections produced by other sects. Often these collections omitted writings of Nichiren the sect deemed as essential, such as the "Ongi Kuden" (The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings). Toda offered to sponsor a definitive publication of Nichiren's writings based on the take of Nichiren Shoshu. The work was completed in less than a year by members of the Study Department under the supervision of Nichiko Hori, the retired 59th high priest of Nichiren Shoshu. The resulting one-volume compilation, Shimpen Nichiren Daishonin gosho zenshu (New Edition of the Complete Writings of Nichiren Daishonin), was published on April 28, 1952, to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Nichiren's proclamation of his teachings in 1253, and "remains Sōka Gakkai’s most important source for its Nichiren Buddhist practice."

Toda's imprisonment informed his stance on peace. On February 17, 1952, for example, Toda introduced his concept of "chikyu minzoku shugi," variously translated as "global nationalism" or "one-worldism." Urbain suggests that a modern-day equivalent would be "global citizenship," by which Toda advocated a worldview that prioritizes the interests of humanity above the interests of the state.

One incident occurred in 1952 which tarnished the reputation of the young Soka Gakkai movement. On the eve of April 28, 1952, a special commemorative event was held at the head temple to honor the 700th anniversary of Nichiren's declaration of his school with 4,000 Soka Gakkai members in attendance. As it turns out, Ogasawara had been secretly readmitted to the priesthood without the knowledge of the Soka Gakkai and was present at the event. When Ogasawara's presence was discovered, a group of 47 young men, with the participation of Toda and Ikeda, confronted him and demanded an apology for his wartime actions. Holte conjectures that 47 youth were chosen to draw a parallel to the Japanese tale of the Forty-seven Ronin. During this confrontation Ogasawara kicked Toda and Toda struck him twice. Ogasawara refused to apologize for his actions during the war or recant his doctrines.

The incident did not strain relationships between Toda and Nichiren Shoshu for a long time. The day following the incident, April 28, 1952, Toda published the first edition of the New Edition of the Complete Works of the Great Sage Nichiren (Shinpen Nichiren Daishōnin gosho zenshū), a single-volume collection of Nichiren's writings that continues to serve as the organization's primary source for its Buddhist practice. Several months later, in November 1952, Nissho, the high priest of Taiseki-ji, reprimanded Toda for the April 27th incident. Toda responded with an article entitled "Apology" printed in the Soka Gakkai's newspaper. In May 1955, Ogasawara issued a pamphlet in which he repented his indiscretion in having had the unfortunate conflict with the Soka Gakkai. As time went on Nichiren Shoshu prospered as never before in its history due to financial support from the Soka Gakkai and pilgrimages by members.

In 1952, the Soka Gakkai was legally registered as a religious organization in Japan, overcoming some initial resistance from Nichiren Shoshu clerics. At the end of that year, at the seventh Soka Gakkai general meeting, Nichijun Horigome, who was to become the 65th high priest of the order, stated,"I entrust the great propagation of the Law to the members of the Soka Gakkai."

Toda believed that the wartime collapse of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai was due to a weakness in the "doctrinal discipline of its members." According to McLaughlin, upon his 1951 inauguration and declaration of "The Great Shakubuku March," his first priority was quickly publishing doctrinal study materials. In preparation, he shifted the contents of his study lectures from explanations on the Lotus Sutra to studies on Nichiren's writings. He also created a Study Department consisting of 24 leading students who also gave local lectures.

The first product of the Study Department was "Shakubuku kyoten" (The Shakubuku Manual), published on Nov. 18th, 1951, which served to instruct members on how it exceeded other belief systems, and Makiguchi's theory of value. It spelled out the benefits of proselytizing and also provided detailed guidance about how to proselytize under different circumstances. The manual underwent eight editions and 39 printings, and included chapters on Makiguchi's theory of value and Toda's "philosophy of life."

Soon after his inauguration, Toda created a section called the "Young Men's Division" on July 11, 1951. Its inaugural meeting consisted of 187 members who were divided into four "corps." Among the attendees was Daisaku Ikeda who was to become Toda's successor. In Toda's speech he outlined his vision that the young men would lead his propagation campaign, comparing them to the youth who were the vanguard of the Meiji Restoration. The "Young Women's Division" was formed on July 19, 1951 with seventy members organized into five corps.

Toda began his presidency with a determination to build closer cooperation with Nichiren Shoshu even though his appraisal of the school was at times critical. He often spoke of "bad priests" and his wartime experiences led him to conclude that his faith was stronger than that of some of the priests. On May 12, 1951, Toda requested from High Priest Nissho a special gohonzon for attaining the organization's goal of propagation which was bestowed on May 20, 1951 and enshrined in the Soka Gakkai headquarters. On November 18, 2013 this gohonzon was moved and enshrined at the newly constructed "Hall of the Great Vow" near the Soka Gakkai's headquarters in Tokyo; members from around the world visit and chant to this gohonzon.

Despite his support for Nichiren Shoshu, Toda kept a wary eye on priests. In 1951, he tells in his own hand, in an essay entitled "The History and Conviction of the Soka Gakkai," his experience before the war, his realizations during his imprisonment, his efforts to rebuild the Soka Gakkai, and his concerns for the future. In this essay he expresses praise for Nissho, the high priest at that time, but also issues strong cautions about degenerate priests.

Ultimately Toda had to resign his position on November 12, 1950 due to his business failures. He regarded these business failures as "divine retribution for failure to devote himself to leading Soka Gakkai." After deep reflection he assented to the role of second president on May 3, 1951. At that time the membership consisted of approximately 3,000 families. At his inauguration he announced to the 1500 assembled members his determination to reach a membership of 750,000 families before his death, a target that was met with disbelief from most of the attendees.

Other scholars point to the success in finding a willing and sympathetic substratum of society to serve as its base. Toda made repeated references to "the poor and the sick," making it evident that his propagation campaign was aimed at such people and, Murata concludes, "And evidently, for many of them, their new faith worked." Media impressions also portrayed the Soka Gakkai as "a conglomeration of lower social elements —the working class, the less educated, the low in status." According to Dower, after the war the Japanese population displayed a "kyodatsu condition," a mass state of personal and collective disorientation and depression characterized by war-weariness, sickness, malnutrition, numbness, and despair as many people poured into cities in search of work and food. To these people Toda's reconceptualization of Buddha with life force and his focus on Buddhism as a transformative force in culture and politics had appeal which resulted in rapid growth in the early 1950s.

News of his release began to spread and many prewar members came to consult with him to rebuild their personal faith. Toda began to sponsor study lectures on the Lotus Sutra and Nichren's writings and he presided over small group discussion meetings. On May 1 Toda was appointed chair of the board of directors. The organization name was changed from Soka Kyoiku Gakkai to Soka Gakkai, publications resumed, a youth division was organized, and membership grew by about 200 members in 1946. On August 14, 1947 Daisaku Ikeda attended a discussion meeting and met Toda; he joined the Soka Gakkai ten days later.

Later Toda captured these realizations in the term "human revolution" which entailed transforming one's karma through Buddhist practice. This term was borrowed from a phrased used by Shigeru Nambara, president of Tokyo University, in 1947. The latter called for an inner transformation in the Japanese people to enable the success of occupation policies geared for social and political revolution. Toda used this term as the title of his autobiography published in 1957.

A case in point was Ikeda's conversion through his meeting Toda in 1947. Disaffected by the imperial state's war propaganda, Ikeda was apparently impressed by the fact that Toda went to prison for his beliefs as much as Toda's reflective clarity of message in their encounter.

He was released from prison on July 3, 1945 in failing health, severely impacted by malnutrition and harsh living conditions. Yet his prison experiences enabled him to undergo an inner transformation that brought to light his qualities of courage, wisdom, compassion, as well as an enhanced capacity for dialogue.

Released from prison on July 3, 1945, six weeks before the surrender of Japan on August 15, and physically weakened by his two years of imprisonment, Toda began reconstructing the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai.

Other scholars are skeptical of the interpretation that the growth of the Soka Gakkai under Toda's leadership could be simply ascribed to forced conversion. Some point to the organization's growth as the product of Toda's organizational acumen. During the rebuilding years of 1945–50 Toda reassembled prewar members, changed the organization's name to Soka Gakkai, developed organizational infrastructure, and began laying a foundation for propagation.

During his incarceration Toda endured malnutrition, interrogation and physical abuse without succumbing to his interrogators' demand that he recant his faith. At the start of 1944 Toda began meditating, studying, and chanting fiercely to understand the Lotus Sutra. He experienced two awakenings that had an enduring effect on the rest of his life. The first was a realization in March that the Buddha can be conceived of as "the essence of cosmic life itself" and therefore an inherent dignity shared by all human beings, which resulted in the quality of fearlessness in Toda's life. A second awakening took place in November 1944 when he became convinced that he was, in fact, one of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth, the mythic figures who appear in the Lotus Sutra and symbolize the inherent compassionate qualities within all people. From this realization Toda envisioned modern prospects of a movement whereby people awaken to life's inherent dignity and teach others to do the same.

With the onset of World War II, Makiguchi and Toda met with harassment and persecution. Both were arrested and jailed by the government in 1943 on charges of blasphemy against the deified emperor (lèse-majesté) and violating the 1925 Peace Preservation Law. At first intended to suppress "thought crimes" of left-leaning groups, the law was amended in 1941 to include religious organizations. Toda and Makiguchi were among the approximate 80,000 people arrested for violating this law between 1925 and 1945. A total of 21 Soka Kyoiku Gakkai leaders were arrested and this effectively shuttered the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai organization. Makiguchi died in prison in 1944, and Toda was released just weeks before Japan's surrender in 1945.

Toda's epiphanous realizations in 1943 and 1944, while confined to a cell in Sugamo prison, conceptually linked the vitalistic, inexhaustible "life force" of the Buddha and his sense of mission as among the Bodhisattvas of the Earth with Makiguchi's philosophy. Toda equated this with "the true meaning of life."

In particular Toda was extremely critical of Jimon Ogasawara, an ultranationalist priest Providing context to the prewar situation, Montgomery explains: "During the Pacific War, most religions supported the militaristic policies of the Japanese government. While some religions did so in order to avoid political oppression, it seems that in the end most religions in Japan became permeated with the ultranationalistic spirit and supported the war effort rather voluntarily. In particular, the Nichiren tradition of Buddhism produced thinkers such as Chigaku Tanaka or Jimon Ogasawara, who, drawing on the political aspects of Nichiren’s teaching, created ultranationalist ideologies legitimizing Japanese military policies of expansionism and colonization. These ideologies were then adopted by many Japanese religions. Reiyukai. which, through schismatic movements, produced many New Religions, such as Rissho Koseikai, was one of those religions which embraced Tanaka’s ideology and, thus, avoided wartime oppression." Ogasawara also articulated an amalgam of Buddhism and Shinto, claiming that Buddhist deities were only manifestations of the true Shinto deities, thus placing Shinto superior to Buddhism. By supporting Ogasawara's ideology, Nichiren Shoshu managed to avoid the wartime government's goal of unifying all Nichiren groups. Toda held that Ogasawara was the one primarily responsible for the government repression of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai, his and Makiguchi's imprisonment, and, ultimately, Makiguchi's death. In 1942 Ogasawara was expelled from Nichiren Shoshu.

In addition to these editing and publishing assignments, Toda wrote two works, "Guidelines for teaching mathematics" and "The establishment of the System of Value-Creating Pedagogy," both based on the principles of value-creating education. He expanded his methodologies to other fields. He published four books for fifth and sixth graders entitled "Guidance on Reading Through Reasoning." Although never published he edited the book "Guidance on the three subjects of science, geography and history," which applied the System of Value-Creating Pedagogy to these fields. His final pre-war contribution to education came in the January of 1940; Toda launched a magazine for learning, entitled "Shogakusei Nihon (Elementary School Children Japan)" which included correspondence materials. In each issue, according to Shiohara, he contributed a foreword and poured his passion into editing duties. He managed this despite strict restrictions imposed in the nation's system of militarism support.

Toda was active in creating a prominent group of 28 supporters who endorsed "The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy" including Tsuyoshi Inukai, who was to rise to become prime minister of Japan in 1931. The first volume of the "System of Value-Creating Pedagogy" included a calligraphy by Inukai as well as forewords by Inazo Nitobe, who at that time was one of the Under-Secretaries General of the League of Nations, sociologist Suketoshi Tanabe, and the folklorist Kunio Yanagita.

Makiguchi's major work, "The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy," was published on November 18, 1930. This event marks the day the Soka Gakkai considers as its founding. Makiguchi parallels Toda's role in publishing this book to that of Christen Mikkelsen Kold who popularized the educational ideas of N. F. S. Grundtvig in Denmark. Toda organized Makiguchi's enormous volume of scribbled notes into a manuscript which then Makiguchi thoroughly reviewed. "The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy" was ultimately published by Fuzanbo, of which Taizo Oinuma, the publisher of Makiguchi's "Geography of Human Life," was a manager. Four volumes were published between 1930 and 1932. During the difficult years of publishing, Toda also organized the parents of many of his Jishu Gakkan students who were also students at Shirokane Elementary School to protest and ultimately delay Makiguchi's forced retirement from Shirokane. As a result, Makiguchi was able to publish the first two volumes as an incumbent school principal, just as he wished.

Toda supported the editing and publication of Makiguchi's Sōka kyōikugaku taikei ("The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy") which was published in 1930 and marked the founding of the Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai ("Value Creation Education Society"), the organization that preceded the Soka Gakkai.

Toda's first published work, "Katei Kyoikugaku Soron" (An Anatomy of Home Education: Talking about entrance exams for middle level school, and turning our precious children into straight-A students), published in December 1929, was based on Makiguchi's work before the publishing of "The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy." He forcefully denounced "entrance examination hell" and the predicament of students who are devalued because of their poor grades." He blames teachers who try to educate children uniformly, ignoring their unique interests and perspectives. In 1930 he published the "Suirisiki Sido Sanjutsu" (Guidebook to Mathematics Through Reasoning based on the principles of Value-Creating Pedagogy). This became a best seller selling over one million copies. Makiguchi credited this book as being an excellent example of his theories, resulting in "an economy to learning," helping students achieve remarkable progress in the development of mathematical understanding as they develop their own powers of reasoning, and fostering their abilities to reason their way to "the life of value."

Following Makiguchi, Toda began practicing Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism some time between 1928 and 1930, which brought a "spiritual dimension" to their work on Makiguchi's educational theories and underlying premise that each individual has potential. Apparently Toda was initially not as eager as Makiguchi in his new faith but, out of respect and gratitude, followed his mentor's direction and attributed his personal successes to Makiguchi's teachings of modern philosophy combined with lay Nichiren Buddhism.

Rather than traveling with Makiguchi to Shirokane Elementary School when Makiguchi was forcefully transferred again, Toda opened an tutorial school called "Jishu Gakkan" where he applied value-creating pedagogy in an independent setting. Toda rented a vacant lot near Meguro Station and built a two-story facility which formally opened in 1924. Jisho Gakkan operated for two decades, earning a prominent reputation for its success rate in preparing pupils for secondary-level entrance examinations.

Toda and his wife suffered the loss of a 6-month old daughter in 1923 and his wife died two years later from tuberculosis. Toda contracted the same illness as well and was often ill.

After he began teaching in Yubari, young coalminers in the area would come to his home after work to discuss issues such as politics and history. It is documented that he also submitted an education reform proposal to the Ministry of Education containing ideas to improve the conditions of teachers as well as developing more capable school leaders. According to a diary entry in 1920, part of his reason for moving from Hokkaido to Tokyo was an ambition to become "a world citizen."

Toda's first teaching assignment was at Mayachi Primary School, located in a remote section of Ubari, Hokkaido, a coal-mining town. He started working there in 1918 as a substitute teacher and a year later was appointed as a 6th grade teacher upon passing a certification exam. He quit suddenly in 1920 but remained in correspondence with his students for 15 years.

Jōsei Toda (戸田 城聖, Toda Jōsei, 11 February 1900 – 2 April 1958) was a teacher, peace activist and second president of Soka Gakkai from 1951 to 1958. Imprisoned for two years during World War II under violating the Peace Preservation Law and the charge of lèse-majesté from against the war, he emerged from prison intent on rebuilding the Soka Gakkai. He has been described as the architect of the Soka Gakkai, the person chiefly responsible for its existence today.

Toda was born in 1900, the eleventh son of a fisherman's family in the coastal village of Shioya, in modern-day Kaga, Ishikawa, off the Sea of Japan. In 1904 his family moved to Hokkaido, settling in the fishing village of Atsuta. From the age of 15 he worked his way through school, earning certification first as a substitute primary school teacher at age 17 then, three years later, as a full-time primary school teacher. In 1920 he moved to Tokyo where he met Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, an elementary school principal, who was to become his mentor. He taught for Makiguchi until 1922, after which he opened a private school and tutored students preparing for their middle-school entrance exams.