[3] He used the term "human revolution" to embrace Makiguchi's thoughts on the pursuits of education and happiness in life as "inextricably connected in a lifelong journey toward continual self-development.
[19] 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.
"[24] Toda also founded and edited an educational magazine dedicated to spreading and promoting Value-Creating Pedagogy entitled Shinshin Kyozai Kankyo (New Teaching Material: The Environment).
[26] 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.
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.
[35] 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.
[42] 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.
As McLaughlin concludes: "When Toda emerged from prison half a year later, he was driven not only by obligation to the memory of his master Makiguchi but by a sense of mission confirmed during his mystical experience that he was personally connected to Nichiren, to the primordial Buddha Śākyamuni, and to the eternal Dharma.
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.
[51] 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.
Though their propagation efforts were depicted by one scholar as "belligerent, activist, and ideological",[53] the Youth Division grew exponentially, reaching a 10,390 members by the end of 1954.
He spoke to the real problems members were facing such as economic woes, illness, and family discord, stressing the fundamentals of chanting daimoku and conversion.
[55] Shimazono states that the doctrines developed by Toda represent a significant departure from the theology of the Nichiren Shoshu sect as well as of the Gakkai's founder, Makiguchi.
Toda's vision, reshaping the traditional teachings of Nichiren Shoshu, was one of this-worldly salvation similar to other modern and popular Buddhist movements.
"[62] According to Dower, after the war the Japanese population displayed a "kyodatsu condition," a mass state of personal and collective disorientation and depression[63] characterized by war-weariness, sickness, malnutrition, numbness, and despair as many people poured into cities in search of work and food.
[70] 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.
"[71] 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.
[72][page needed] In discussing the Russell-Einstein Manifesto with Daisaku Ikeda, Sir Joseph Rotblat characterized Toda's denunciation of nuclear arms as a "moral approach.
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.
[82] 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.
[84][85] 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.
[88] 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.
[90] On May 12, 1951, Toda requested from High Priest Nissho a special Gohonzon for attaining the organization's goal of propagation[91] which was bestowed on May 20, 1951, and enshrined in the Soka Gakkai headquarters.
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.
The young men then seized Ogasawara, tore off his priestly robe, and forcibly carried him to Makiguchi's grave with a placard inscribed "Tanuki Bozu" (Raccoon Monk)[note 2] placed on him.
[99] Shimada informs that though no legal action was taken, this incident helped establish a public view of the organization as a violent cult,[100][need quotation to verify] a reputation which has abated over the years.
[117] After World War II, Toda transformed the Soka Gakkai into "a national phenomenon," increasing its membership exponentially and positioning it as "a grassroots social movement that championed peace and the rights of ordinary people."
A number of awareness-raising initiatives by the 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.
It seeks concrete solutions to three main issues: Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, UN Reform, and Sustainable Peace through Environmental Integrity and Social Justice.