Editing Soka Gakkai (section)

===Repression during the war===
{{See also|Political dissidence in the Empire of Japan#Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai resistance}}

In 1942, a monthly magazine published by Makiguchi called ''Kachi Sōzō'' ({{lang|ja|価値創造}}, "Creating values") was shut down by the government, after only nine issues. Makiguchi, Toda, and 19 other leaders of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai were arrested on July 6, 1943, on charges of breaking the Peace Preservation Law and [[lèse-majesté]]: for "denying the Emperor's divinity" and "slandering" the [[Ise Grand Shrine]]. The details of Makiguchi's indictment and subsequent interrogation were covered in July, August, and October 1943 classified monthly bulletins of the Special Higher Police.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tmakiguchi.org/religiousreformer/asreligiousreformer/detainmentinterrogation.html|title=Detainment and... -Tsunesaburo Makiguchi Website|website=www.tmakiguchi.org}}</ref>

With its leadership decimated, the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai disbanded.<ref name=ramseyer>Robert L. Ramseyer. "The Soka Gakkai". "The neighbor complained to the police, who arrested Jinno and a director of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai named Arimura." In Beardsley, Richard K., editor, Studies in Japanese culture I. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1965. p. 156</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Laderman|editor-first=Gary|editor1-link=Gary Laderman|editor2-last=León|editor2-first=Luis|title=Religion and American cultures|year=2003|publisher=ABC- CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, Calif. [u.a.]|isbn=978-1-57607-238-7|page=61}}</ref> During interrogation, Makiguchi had insisted that "The emperor is an ordinary man ... the emperor makes mistakes like anyone else".<ref name=encounteringDharma>{{cite book|last=Seager|first=Richard Hughes|title=Encountering the Dharma: Daisaku Ikeda, Soka Gakkai, and the Globalization of Buddhist Humanism|year=2006|publisher=Univ. of California Press|location=Berkeley [u.a.]|isbn=978-0-520-24577-8|url=https://archive.org/details/encounteringdhar0000seag|url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|40–41}} The treatment in prison was harsh, and within a year, all but Makiguchi, Toda, and one other director had recanted and been released.<ref name=ramseyer /> On November 18, 1944, Makiguchi died of malnutrition in prison, at the age of 73.

[[File:Josei Toda.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Jōsei Toda]], the second President of the Sōka Gakkai]]

[[Jōsei Toda]] was released from prison on July 3, 1945, after serving two years of imprisonment on the charges of [[lèse majesté]]. He immediately set out to rebuild the organization that had been repressed and dismantled by the government during the war.<ref name=Murata>{{cite book|last1=Murata|first1=Kiyoaki|title=Japan's New Buddhism: An Objective Account of Soka Gakkai|url=https://archive.org/details/japansnewbuddhis00mura|url-access=registration|date=1969|publisher=Walker/Weatherhill|location=New York & Tokyo|isbn=978-0-8348-0040-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/japansnewbuddhis00mura/page/89 89]|quote=Toda 'was burning with a desire for vengeance--not against the militarist government of Japan but against an invisible enemy who had caused his own suffering of more than two years as well as his teacher's death in jail and agony to tens of millions of his fellow countrymen.'}}</ref><ref name=Palmer>{{cite book|last1=Palmer|first1=A.|title=Buddhist Politics: Japan's Clean Government Party|date=2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-94-010-2996-4|quote=Toda's experience in prison had also been one of much suffering, including (it is reported) malnutrition, tuberculosis, asthma, heart trouble, diabetes, hemorrhoids and rheumatism. Besides breaking him physically, his imprisonment and the war had destroyed him financially.|page=6}}</ref>