President Toda and the Shinto Talisman

In the early 1940’s, trying to unite the country around its war policies, the Japanese military government was pressuring religious groups to infuse worship of the State religion, Shinto, into their beliefs.

First Soka Gakkai President Makiguchi opposed these efforts.

The Nichiren Shoshu priesthood, however, accepted policies and implemented practices and doctrines that held Nichiren Buddhism to be subordinate to State Shinto. The priesthood encouraged its followers, including Mr. Makiguchi, second president Toda and the members of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai (the fledgling Soka Gakkai), to enshrine the Shinto talisman.

Mr. Makiguchi and Mr. Toda and protested to the Nichiren Shoshu high priest that such action represented a compromise of Nichiren Daishonin’s intent and amounted to the destruction of his teachings

Later, authorities imprisoned the two Soka Gakkai leaders for their stance.

President Makiguchi died in prison a martyr to his beliefs, and Josei Toda emerged from prison determined to continue his mentor’s work of spreading Nichiren Buddhism. He immediately began rebuilding the Soka Gakkai.

The April issue of the Nichiren Shoshu Monthly, in the series titled "Explanation of the Nature of the Soka Gakkai" (p. 20), published their translation of an alleged notice by second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda regarding the Shinto talisman that reads:

"Notice by Josei Toda;Learn the emperor-centered principle, which is the spirit of the Soka Gakkai and guide the members to be free of errors…the Shinto talisman should not be placed under one’s feet. Pay extra attention not to mix this with worshipping the god based on one’s faith. (Dated June 25, 1943)"

This "Notice" (Tsucho) is a complete fabrication by the priesthood. This false document contains several errors that prove it to be an unsophisticated effort to defame President Toda and the Soka Gakkai.

The entirety of the "Notice" reads as follows:

To:  Each Director and Chapter Chief of the Soka Gakkai

From: General Director Jogai Toda (Translator’s note: Jogai is Mr. Toda’s former name.)

Notice

Under the current circumstances where we are in a decisive war, I sincerely hope that the members of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai (Value-Creating Education Association) will strengthen their loyalty to the nation to repay their debt of gratitude, make earnest efforts at your respective workplaces, strengthen your faith, and fight through until the day when America and Britain are to be defeated and crushed. I thereby ask each chapter chief to make sure that each member upholds the spirit in the following instructions pertaining to their faith and practice of shakubuku. 

1. Emphasize in your guidance to the members that they should pray, as instructed by the head temple, during the tempai prayer to heaven (in the first prayer) every morning, that the nation’s fortune will flourish and its military fortune will be eternalized, extending their respect and debt of gratitude to the successive emperors that originated from tensho daijin (Sun Goddess), the native god of this country, and Emperor Jinmu, the first emperor of this nation.
2. Give correct guidance to members while mastering the principle of the emperor-centered ideology that is the Gakkai spirit itself.
3. Refrain from doing the kind of shakubuku that disturbs people or is motivated by personal gain.
4. Do not forget that guidance of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai concerns matters of daily life.
5. Make sure that your members do not treat the talisman from the Kotaijingu Shrine on the same level as their ancestors so that they do not treat it disrespectfully.

This is all that I have to state.

June 25th

There is no original of this notice and a "copy" of it had never appeared before September 1977 when relations between Nichiren Shoshu and the Soka Gakkai started to deteriorate.  No one had seen or mentioned its existence before this.

Somebody drafted this notice with a specific agenda in mind, but no matter how elaborate the effort, a fabrication is no more than a fabrication. Telling errors were committed in creating this document.

The paper used in this copy of the supposed original is obviously worn and distressed to give the appearance of being decades old. All the corners are worn; it showed signs of deteriorating and had many holes in it. However, for all the signs of the paper disintegrating, none of the damage appears where the text is. Every word of the text is perfectly legible. The paper has a soiled crease in it indicating that it had been folded for many years, yet the holes in the document are not consistent with damage to a folded sheet of paper because they don’t match the opposite side of the crease.

Now let us review the contents.  First, the correct Chinese character of "cho" in " Tutcho" is inappropriate.  Mr. Toda, who was general director at that time, was a teacher and had frequently received this type of tsucho document from the Ministry of Education. Further, he often used this particular term at work.  Therefore, it is hard to believe that he would have incorrectly written the Chinese character in this notice.

Also, there is another crucial error in this document. Though many people assume that the Japanese expression of "emperor-centered" ideology used in the second point was used during the war years, actually, it was not a common expression around that time. Only a few radical organizations of right-wing extremists used that expression. Accordingly, it is inconceivable that the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai, which consisted mainly of educators, published an official notice with such a radical expression.

Furthermore, it was considered disrespectful to write the word emperor on the same line with other text in those days.  Usually you had to put space before the word emperor or go to the next line, writing it at the very top of the line.

For these reasons, it is apparent that the document was not produced during the war. It was undoubtedly created later around 1977 when copies were first distributed.

So who in the world fabricated this notice? In fact, in the notice itself there is a hint to the answer to this question.  The very word tempai (prayer to heaven) gives us an idea of who drafted this document. The word tempai is an unfamiliar term for Gakkai members, including those who joined during the war. The notice uses the words tempai and clarifies the meaning of the expression, "the first prayer," in the ensuing parenthesis that follows.

Nichiren Shoshu priests often used the phrase tempai in the past. The perpetrator tried very hard to create a convincing document but betrayed himself by choosing to use this expression in the notice. He could have just written "the first prayer" but wanted to appear sophisticated by adding the word tempai.

It seems the author was capable enough to create an official looking document using some old expressions from that time period even though some mistakes were made in the process. It is likely that he was an elderly person who had lived through the war. It is also clear that he studied wartime records. He may have spent many days producing this document while attempting to make it look old enough to date from that period.

Both Presidents Makiguchi and Toda, refusing the high priest’s instruction to commit a slanderous act, persisted in their belief with a firm resolve even after they were imprisoned during the wartime as thought criminals. Their commitment to their faith heralded the current circumstance where the great Law is being spread widely.

It is a fact that there are priests who are desperate to damage the great accomplishments of the first and second presidents of the Soka Gakkai. That the laity stood up to protect Nichiren Buddhism when they capitulated has been a constant source of embarrassment. Nichiren Shoshu priests were thrilled to reveal this fabricated document, asserting that it proves that the Soka Gakkai once encouraged its members to receive the Shinto talisman. It was a pathetic effort and an outright lie. Such is the desperation of the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood.

On July 10, 1951, two months after his inauguration as second president, President Toda published "The History and Conviction of the Soka Gakkai." In it he states: "The supreme philosophy of Buddhism clearly explained that Japan would be defeated if it operated based on Shintoism. In fact, the military even attempted to burn those of the Daishonin’s documents that expounded his most important teachings. The military held the reins of authority. It was like a knife in the hands of a crazy person.

"Intimidated, virtually scared to death by the military government, people foolishly agreed to build shrines to the Sun Goddess in their homes, which they worshiped blindly. In these circumstances, President Makiguchi strictly pointed out to the Soka Gakkai members that worshiping the Sun Goddess is absolutely opposed to the spirit of Nichiren Shoshu doctrines.

"Swayed by the military, the Japanese nation took strange actions. Without understanding how ideologically confused the people would become, the Japanese nation attempted to unify all religions. It went so far as to encourage all citizens to worship the Sun Goddess and ask her to unleash kamikaze. Those who refused were accused of being enemies of the nation and proponents of treacherous, antiwar thoughts. For the first time in the history of Japan, virtually the entire nation adopted faith in the Sun Goddess.

"The correct definition of the Sun Goddess is a deity that protects the Lotus Sutra. In other words, only when we pray to the Lotus Sutra will the Sun Goddess reveal her power. But the whole nation, ignorant of the importance of worshiping the Lotus Sutra of Nichiren Daishonin, merely offered prayers to the Sun Goddess. As a result, devils, rather than the answer to people’s prayers, dwelt in the talisman of the Sun Goddess, and the nation virtually became psychotic.

"We should take to heart the strictness of the Daishonin’s golden teachings without fearing authority. President Makiguchi had such vehement spirit. Nevertheless the warped military government treated him like a criminal, even though he had committed no crime. Twenty-one Soka Gakkai leaders were imprisoned solely because they refused to enshrine talismans of the Sun Goddess. At that time, many believers and priests at the head temple were shocked and at a loss as to what to do. When I heard about this, I was ashamed of them. President Makiguchi, myself and our followers were barred from visiting the head temple, and the whole country criticized our families as being enemies of the nation. Those were very strange days.

"I waited patiently for the right time to commence propagation of the great Law.

"I reeducated them about the doctrines of Nichiren Shoshu and the great powers of the Law and the Buddha within the Dai-Gohonzon. I also taught them the importance of having strong and correct faith so that they would never stop practicing under difficult circumstances. I also opened their eyes to the fact that propagation is the will of Nichiren Daishonin.

"It is only natural, then, while respecting worthy priests, that we denounce bad priests, refute evil priests, and protect Nichiren Shoshu from outside enemies with all our might, thus accomplishing harmony between priesthood and laity. It is my sincere wish that the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood will wholeheartedly praise the Soka Gakkai’s conviction and cleanse the sect by casting out evil priests. It is also my sincere request that the priesthood earnestly encourage Gakkai members to take leadership in subduing outside enemies and thereby reply to both Nichiren Daishonin and Nikko Shonin."  (August 1992 Seikyo Times) 

Partially based on a translation of Jiyu ("Emergence"), Published March 2, 1991, Issue #61.