Editing Soka Gakkai (section)

===The reconstruction of the organization===
Toda officially re-established the organization, now under the shortened moniker ''Sōka Gakkai'' ("Value-creation society"), integrated his prison awakenings into the doctrine of the Soka Gakkai, began locating members who had dispersed during the war, started a series of lectures on the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren's letters, undertook business ventures (largely unsuccessful) to provide a stream of revenue for the organization, provided personal encouragement to many members, launched a monthly study magazine {{Nihongo||大白蓮華|Daibyaku Renge}}, and the newspaper ''[[Seikyo Shimbun]]'', launched propagation efforts, and involved the active participation of youth including [[Daisaku Ikeda]] who was to become his right-hand man and successor.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bethel|first1=Dayle M.|title=Makiguchi the value creator: revolutionary Japanese educator and founder of Soka Gakkai|date=1994|publisher=Weatherhill|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8348-0318-3|pages=91–3|edition= 1st paperback}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Offner|first=Clark B.|title=Modern Japanese Religions: With Special Emphasis Upon Their Doctrines of Healing|url=https://archive.org/details/modernjapanesere0000offn|year=1963|publisher=Twayne Publishers|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/modernjapanesere0000offn/page/101 101]–102}}</ref>

Noah Brannen, a Christian missionary writing in 1969,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mendel|first1=Douglas Jr.|title=Book Reviews|url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=6119320|website=The Journal of Politics|publisher=Cambridge University|access-date=19 July 2015}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> describes the Soka Gakkai's study program at this point as "the most amazing program of indoctrination Japan has ever seen".  New members attended local study lectures, subscribed to weekly and monthly periodicals, studied Toda's commentaries on the Lotus Sutra, took annual study examinations, and were awarded titles for their achievements such as Associate Lecturer, Lecturer, Associate Teacher, or Teacher.<ref name=encounteringDharma />{{rp|142}}<ref name="mcfarland">{{cite book|last1=McFarland|first1=H. Neill|title=Rush Hour of the Gods|date=1967|location=New York|publisher=Macmillan}}</ref>{{rp|208}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Brannen|first1=Noah S.|title=Soka Gakkai: Japan's Militant Buddhists|date=1968|publisher=John Knox Press|location=Richmond, VA|page=143|quote=Once a year the education department gives examinations and awards students with the four successive ranks of Associate Lecturer, Lecturer, Associate Teacher, or Teacher. Every member is expected to take the exams. In a study-conscious society and examination-oriented national system of education, Soka Gakkai's indoctrination program is manifestly compatible with the climate.}}</ref>

===="The Great Propagation Drive"====

The drive began with the 1951 inauguration speech of Josei Toda when he assumed the presidency of the organization. Before 1,500 assembled members, Toda resolved to convert 750,000 families before his death.<ref name="mclaughlin">{{cite book|last=McLaughlin|first=Levi|title=Handbook of Contemporary Japanese Religions|year=2012|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-23436-9|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uiZi2mgC5a4C&pg=PA293|chapter=Soka Gakkai in Japan}}</ref>{{rp|285–286}} The accuracy of this figure was never confirmed by outside sources.<ref name="mcfarland"/>{{rp|199}} The primary vehicle of the propagation efforts were small group [[zadankai|discussion meetings]].<ref name=Stone1994>{{Cite journal|last=Stone|first=Jacqueline|date=1994|title=Rebuking the Enemies of the Lotus: Nichirenist Exclusivism in Historical Perspective|url=https://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/Rebuking%20the%20Enemies%20of%20the%20Lotus%20-%20Nichirenist%20Exclusivism%20in.pdf|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=21/2-3|pages=231–259}}</ref>{{rp|252}}

There are several competing narratives that attempt to explain how the Soka Gakkai was able to achieve this rapid growth. One narrative portrays a drive powered by the "seemingly unlimited enthusiasm" of its members<ref name="mcfarland"/>{{rp|199}} that was masterminded by Toda and channeled by his younger followers.<ref name=massSociety />{{rp|41}} The organization's own publications articulate this narrative.

A second narrative examines the Soka Gakkai's expansion through a sociological lens. White, in the first English-language sociological work on the Soka Gakkai, attributes the growth, cohesion, and sustainability of the organization to the organizational skills of its leaders, its system of values and norms that match the individual needs of members, and its ability to adapt to changing times.<ref name=massSociety />{{rp|42–56}} According to Dator, the organizational structure of the Soka Gakkai, which values individual participation within small heterogeneous groups and parallel peer associations by age, gender, and interests, fulfills members' socio-psychological needs.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/3150 | title=NIRC }}</ref>

A third narrative tracks criticisms of the Soka Gakkai in the popular press and by other Buddhist sects. This narrative implies that the propagation efforts succeeded through intimidating and coercive actions committed by Soka Gakkai members<ref name=introalternative>{{cite book|editor-last=Gallagher|editor-first=Eugene V.|title=Introduction to new and alternative religions in America|year=2006|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn.|isbn=978-0-275-98712-1|editor2-last=Ashcraft|editor2-first=W. Michael}}</ref><ref name=brannenMilitant>{{cite book|last=Brannen|first=Noah|title=Sōka Gakkai: Japan's militant Buddhists|year=1968|publisher=John Knox Press}}</ref>{{rp|80, 101}}<ref name=doherty>{{cite journal|last=Doherty|first=Herbert J. Jr.|title=Soka Gakkai: Religions and Politics in Japan|journal=The Massachusetts Review|date=Winter 1963|volume=4|issue=2|pages=281–286|jstor=25079014}}</ref><ref name=heine>{{cite book|editor-last=Heine|editor-first=Steven|title=Buddhism in the modern world: adaptations of an ancient tradition|year=2003|publisher=Oxford Univ. Press|location=New York [u.a.]|isbn=978-0-19-514697-4|edition= [Reprint.].}}</ref>{{rp|217}} such as the practice then of destroying the [[kamidana|household Shinto altars]] of new members.<ref name="kisala">{{Cite book |last=Kisala |first=Robert |title=Controversial New Religions |title-link=Controversial New Religions |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-515682-9 |editor-last=Lewis |editor-first=James R. |editor-link=James R. Lewis (scholar) |edition=1st |location=New York |language=en |chapter=Soka Gakkai: Searching for the Mainstream |editor-last2=Petersen |editor-first2=Jesper Aagaard |pages=139–152}}</ref> There were reports of isolated incidents of violence conducted by Soka Gakkai members but also incidents directed toward them.<ref name=massSociety>{{cite book|last=White|first=James W.|title=The Sōkagakkai and mass society|year=1970|publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Stanford, Calif.|isbn=978-0-8047-0728-2}}</ref>{{rp|49}}<ref name="mclaughlin"/>{{rp|287}}

[[File:DaisakuIkedaTokyoMay2010.jpg|150px|thumb|Daisaku Ikeda, third President of the Soka Gakkai, 2010]]
[[File:Международная Леонардо-премия 3.1.jpg|thumb|Daisaku Ikeda receiving "Leonardo Prize" in 2009 from Alexander Yakovlev]]
Jōsei Toda was succeeded as president in 1960 by the 32-year-old [[Daisaku Ikeda]]. Ikeda urged, from 1964, a gentler approach to proselytizing.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Seager|first1=Richard Hughes|title=Encountering the Dharma: Daisaku Ikeda, Soka Gakkai, and the globalization of Buddhist humanism|date=2006|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-24577-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/encounteringdhar0000seag/page/97 97]|url=https://archive.org/details/encounteringdhar0000seag}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Kiong|first1=Tong Chee|title=Rationalizing religion: religious conversion, revivalism, and competition in Singapore society|date=2007|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-15694-4|page=141|edition= [Online-Ausg.].|quote=[Ikeda] turned down the idea of shakubuku or aggressive proselytization for shoju a more gentle and persuasive conversion.}}</ref> Under Ikeda's leadership, the organization expanded rapidly, both inside and outside Japan during the 1960s.

Soka Gakkai's own narratives argue that within the first 16 months of Ikeda's presidency the organization grew from 1.3 million to 2.1 million members.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Offner|first1=Clark B.|last2=Straelen|first2=H. Van|title=Modern Japanese Religions: With Special Emphasis Upon Their Doctrines of Healing|url=https://archive.org/details/modernjapanesere0000offn|date=1963|publisher=Twayne Publ.|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/modernjapanesere0000offn/page/102 102]}}</ref> By 1967 it grew to 6.2 million families according to its own reporting.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kiyoaki Murata |title=Japan's new Buddhism: an objective account of Soka Gakkai.|date=1969|publisher=Weatherhill|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8348-0040-3|page=124,127|edition=1st}}</ref> By 1968, the daily ''[[Seikyo Shimbun]]'' newspaper is supposed to have attained a circulation of 3,580,000.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kiyoaki Murata |title=Japan's New Buddhism: An Objective Account of Soka Gakkai.|date=1969|publisher=Weatherhill|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8348-0040-3|page=145|edition= 1st }}</ref> Today, the Soka Gakkai claims it has a circulation of 5.5 million copies,<ref>{{Citation |last=Matsutani |first=Minoru |year=2014 |title=Soka Gakkai keeps religious, political machine humming |publisher=Japan Times |location=Tokyo, Japan }}</ref> but the number is controversial and impossible to verify since Seikyo Shinbun does not belong the [["Member News Organizations｜Pressnet". pressnet.or.jp. Retrieved 9 March 2022.|Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association]] nor the [[日本ABC協会]] who are officially in charge of the circulation numbers of Japanese newspapers.