April 24th: Day of Justice

1. What Happened
Relations between the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood and the Soka Gakkai had been tense throughout the 1970s. This was due primarily to Nichiren Shoshu’s concerns over what they perceived to be the lay organization’s focus on widespread propagation in society rather than on giving appropriate attention to supporting the priesthood. This situation came to a head in March 1979, when Genjiro Fukushima, then Soka Gakkai vice president, openly criticized the priesthood in a speech. Fukushima said in part:
"When President Ikeda goes to the head temple, Gakkai members eagerl greet him, calling him 'Sensei.' But they do not go near the high priest. Nor do they yearn to see him. Even if the high priest walks by, they simply wonder, who is that old man? So priests are jealous and accuse us of treating the president as the true Buddha....”

Mr. Fukushima’s remarks were insensitive and did not help to promote understanding between the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood and the Soka Gakkai. Even though the Soka Gakkai offered an apology to the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood for Fukushima’s remarks, it was not enough. SGI President Daisaku Ikeda was forced to resign on April 24, 1979.

Daisaku Ikeda proceeded to move out of the president’s office at the Soka Gakkai Headquarters building, and often used offices at Tachikawa, Toshima, and Kanagawa Culture Centers. There was an atmosphere created by Gakkai leaders who later left the organization and the Nichiren Shoshu priests that Daisaku Ikeda not attend big Soka Gakkai meetings or give guidance to members, and that the Seikyo Shinbun stop printing his guidance or even photos of him. It was as if he no longer existed – he was even discouraged from traveling around Japan.

On April 2, 1980, under orders from the priesthood, Soka Gakkai leaders prepared and published an article in the Seikyo Shinbun under Daisaku Ikeda’s name. It was an apology for disrespecting the authority of the priests.

At the end of 1981 (based on his mentor Toda’s words “Once we have embarked on a struggle for kosen-rufu, we must win at all costs. To lose after having begun a battle is a huge disgrace”), Daisaku Ikeda stood up again and launched guidance trips around Japan, and eventually overseas. Nine years later, the priesthood excommunicated the SGI.

In his own account of this incident published in the World Tribune, April 9, 2004, under the title “Stormy April 24th”, SGI President Ikeda writes:

To protect my sincere fellow members, I sought with all my being to find a way to forge harmonious unity between the priesthood and lay believers. But all my efforts looked as if they would come to naught when a top Soka Gakkai leader — who later quit and renounced his faith — made inappropriate remarks. The organization’s enemies, who were waiting all along to destroy us, pounced eagerly. The priests raised an uproar and demanded that I take responsibility for this person’s words. I agonized over the situation. I knew I had to prevent further suffering from being inflicted on our members and to protect them from the persecution of priests. …

One day, I asked the top leaders of the Soka Gakkai, “Do you think that my resignation would settle the problem?” There was a painful silence. Then someone spoke: “You can’t go against the flow of the times.” The atmosphere of the room froze. A sharp pain tore through my heart. Even if all our members urged me not to, I was willing to bow in apology, if it would bring an end to the turmoil. And in fact, my resignation may have unavoidable. I also knew how exhausted everyone was, due to the long, defensive battle in which they had all fought so hard.

But “flow of the times”? It was the attitude, the state of mind underlying that utterance that so disturbed me. I could detect no trace of the fighting spirit to protect the Soka Gakkai with one’s life or the willingness to fight together with me, no matter the times or circumstances….

Had the top leaders of the Soka Gakkai forgotten the spirit of their beloved mentor? How pathetically they had let themselves be defeated! Where was the Soka Gakkai spirit that they should have allowed themselves to be so overcome by circumstances?

This news came as a complete surprise to the majority of leaders. I entered the hall halfway through the meeting, and cries rose from the audience: “Sensei, don’t resign!” “Sensei, remain as our president!” “All our members are waiting for you!”
Later, Daisaku Ikeda recalled the incident as a “spiritual beheading,” one that took place exactly 700 years after the Atsuhara persecution. In a poem, he wrote:

This far, far too bitter day
I will never forget
The dusk presses in
And I walk alone.