page_title: Soka Gakkai
section_title: Toda years: 1945–1958
hierarchical_section_title: Soka Gakkai / History / Toda years: 1945–1958
caption_attribution_description: Josei Toda,Second Soka Gakkai president .
context_page_description: Soka Gakkai is a Japanese Buddhist religious movement based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese priest Nichiren as taught by its first three presidents Tsunesaburō Makiguchi, Jōsei Toda and Daisaku Ikeda. It is the largest of the Japanese new religions and claims the largest membership among Nichiren Buddhist groups. “The organization bases its teachings on Nichiren's interpretation of the Lotus Sutra and places chanting "Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō" at the center of devotional practice. The organization promotes its goals as supporting "peace, culture, and education".
  The movement was founded by educators Makiguchi and Toda on 18 November 1930, and held its inaugural meeting in 1937. It was disbanded during the Second World War when much of the leadership was imprisoned for violations of the 1925 Peace Preservation Law and charges of lèse-majesté. After the war, it expanded to a claimed total of 750,000 households in 1958 through explosive recruitment, held to be unprecedented in Japanese media. Further expansion was led by its former third president Daisaku Ikeda. According to its own account, has 12 million members in 192 countries and territories around the world.
context_section_description: Jōsei Toda was released from prison on July 3, 1945, after serving two years of imprisonment on the charges of lèse majesté.  His health had been severely compromised and businesses destroyed.  He immediately set out to rebuild the organization that had been repressed and dismantled by the government during the war. From this start Toda served as the link between the movement's founder, Makiguchi, and Ikeda who led its international evangelism.
caption: Jōsei Toda, second President of the Sōka Gakkai
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