Tsunesaburo Makiguchi exerted himself for many years in studying and implementing pragmatic methods of education. His books, The Geography of Human Life, which delves into the principles of the natural world and human life, and The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy, which focuses on humanistic education, were written based on voluminous records of his own teaching experience. He was also the first president of the Soka Gakkai lay Buddhist association.

From the early days when he was teaching in an elementary school attached to the

Hokkaido Normal School up until the time he became the principal of Shirokane Elementary School in Tokyo, he practiced pioneering education methods that introduced numerous important reforms in spite of a rigid and nationalistic educational environment, and he opened the way for humanistic education in the future.

Throughout his life Makiguchi continued to pursue the question: “What can be done to achieve human happiness?” Bravely upholding his convictions, he stood up against the militarist government of the day and died in prison.

Toda implemented the Soka education advocated by Makiguchi in Jishu Gakkan, a school he opened in Meguro, Tokyo. Through his passionate teaching style, he fostered countless competent graduates. Moreover, he compiled his math study materials and texts and published the book A Deductive Guide to Arithmetic, which became a best seller of over one million copies.

Imprisoned together with Makiguchi by Japan’s militaristic government during World War II, Toda was released in 1945 and, continuing the will of Makiguchi, Toda rebuilt the Soka Gakkai and expanded it as a grassroots movement for peace and human happiness.

The educational philosophy of the Soka schools’ founder, Daisaku Ikeda, is grounded in the underlying values of peace, culture and humanism. Education based on this philosophy is known as “Soka (value creating) Education,” whose mission stems from a conviction that human rights and the dignity of human life must be protected and treasured. The basis of “humanistic education” lies in helping each child to bring forth his or her potential from deep within and focuses on developing the wish to lead a contributive life and the ability to empathize with the pain of others.

In his message on the opening of the Tokyo Soka Junior and Senior High Schools in April 1968, Daisaku Ikeda expressed the schools’ fundamental ideal as follows:

“… the sole objective of the Soka Schools is to send out into society capable people who will carry Japan into the future and contribute to enriching international society.”

Continuing the will of his predecessors, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, author of Soka kyoikugaku taikei (The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy), and Josei Toda, author of Suirishiki shido sanjutsu (A Deductive Guide to Arithmetic), Daisaku Ikeda has placed the utmost importance on education, stating that the students of the Soka schools are as precious as his own life and that education is the most sacrosanct of tasks. He gave concrete form to the Soka (value-creating) education philosophy by founding schools that have nurtured many global citizens who are now contributing to society.

Daisaku Ikeda, honorary president of the Soka Gakkai and president of the Soka Gakkai International, was born in Tokyo on January 2, 1928, and graduated from Fuji Junior College. In addition to Soka University and the Soka Schools, Dr. Ikeda has founded numerous other institutions, including the Min-On Concert Association, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, the Institute of Oriental Philosophy and the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research. Through such institutions and his various activities, he aims to promote peace, culture, and education and to encourage dialogue among educational, cultural, and political leaders around the world.

Recognition of Dr. Ikeda's efforts has come in the form of many awards, such as the United Nations Peace Award, the National Order of the Southern Cross of the Republic of Brazil, the Cross of Honour for Science and Art from the Republic of Austria, the Kenya Oral Literature Association Award and the title of Poet Laureate from the World Academy of Arts and Culture. He has also received honorary doctorates and professorships from universities and academic institutes around the world. Dr. Ikeda's many published works include The Human Revolution (12 volumes) and dialogues such as Choose Life: A Dialogue with Arnold J. Toynbee, Dawn After Dark with Rene Huyghe, as well as Before It Is Too Late with Aurelio Peccei, A Lifelong Quest for Peace with Linus Pauling, Dialogue between Citizens of the World with Norman Cousins, and Moral Lessons of the Twentieth Century with Mikhail Gorbachev.