The “Determination” chapter, from The Human Revolution, choronicles Shin’ichi Yamamoto (as Ikeda Sensei appears in the work) leading a historic propagation campaign.
Josei Toda assessed the situation in Kansai for exactly what it was: almost hopeless. With full knowledge of this he dared to entrust Shin’ichi Yamamoto with the campaign in that area. It appeared that he must be planning some surprise operation. If the spot Shin’ichi held in Toda’s heart had not grown larger and larger as the months and years passed, Toda would not even have considered him.
More than anything Toda wanted Shin’ichi to command the campaign. Victory or defeat was secondary to him. He must put his disciple through the arduous task of opening a new path toward kosen-rufu in the future. Shin’ichi was the apple of his eye, and he knew that he himself could not expect to live many more years. He must see Shin’ichi fight gallantly and display all his potential as a Bodhisattva of the Earth. Only then could Toda be sure that the organization would remain steadfast even after his death. He had already made up his mind to place total responsibility for ensuring the ongoing flow of the Soka Gakkai’s movement for kosen-rufu in the hands of this 28-year-old youth.
For the past nine years, Shin’ichi Yamamoto had never once protested against Toda’s requests, whether they were explicit or implicit. Even in the midst of the terrible struggles and hardships he shared with Toda during 1950 and 1951, he had continued to answer his mentor’s expectations with his whole life. Toda made any number of seemingly impossible demands. But each time Shin’ichi would put himself in the vanguard, remove the obstacles and open the way.
When Shin’ichi heard what Toda expected of him in the forthcoming Kansai campaign, he responded to his teacher’s call without a moment’s hesitation. However, even at that moment he was all too painfully aware of the wide gap that lay between reality and the goal.
At first Shin’ichi sank into despair. Although he told no one, he was in constant torment, day in and day out, with the baffling problem of how to unfold the campaign. In the midst of his painful search for a solution he was about to scream out in agony, when one after another, like rising clouds, passages of the Gosho (Nichiren Daishonin’s writings) appeared in his mind. These passages sharply pointed out to him how to turn the impossible into the possible. They told him that the key to victory did not necessarily lie in numerical strength but in the indestructible unity of even a few people and clearly revealed that the power of faith was unlimited. After all, wasn’t he a believer of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism in the Latter Day? If the Dai-
shonin’s teachings were true, then there was no way that he could fail to prove them. Did not the Gosho state, “Employ the strategy of the Lotus Sutra before any other” (“The Strategy of the Lotus Sutra,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 1001)? Shin’ichi now thoroughly realized that the only thing he could count on were the Gohonzon and the Gosho.
Shin’ichi began by determining to win the victory and then traced the process backwards to decide on the first step to be taken in the campaign. To achieve the goal, it was essential to at least double the present membership. If this were realized, victory waited at the end of the road, no matter how severe it might be along the way. Very well, Shin’ichi thought. In order to double the current strength, the members would have to be participating happily in their movement to spread Buddhism. This, in turn, demanded that they be sufficiently inspired and encouraged to increase their power of faith and strengthen their prayers to the Gohonzon. They had been practicing for only a short time. They must first of all be deeply convinced of how truly great and valid Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism was. They must realize the righteousness of his teaching through documentary, theoretical and actual proof so that a whirlpool of joy—the joy of faith—would emerge.
As luck would have it, Shin’ichi was the lecturer in charge of the candidates for the Study Department. First of all, he decided, he would encourage the members in Kansai, which he liked so well, through the study of Buddhism. The faces of his dear friends in that area appeared one after another to his mind’s eye—faces bright with determination. Beginning that autumn every word and phrase he spoke in his lectures was filled with an almost extraordinary enthusiasm.
It was raining on the night of Oct. 14. Shin’ichi was at home racking his brains over the general plans for the campaign when Seiichiro Haruki unexpectedly dropped in. Haruki was apparently bewildered by the fact that he had been recommended as a candidate. To Shin’ichi, the former star pitcher looked pitifully crestfallen.
“I’m in a fix,” Haruki said with his Kansai accent. “I don’t have the least idea of what to do.”
“We all have a mission to accomplish in this world,” Shin’ichi encouraged him. “We’ve got to keep that in mind and do everything we can.”
Haruki remained unsmiling.
“No one can tell how the battle will go until he actually fights it,” Shin’ichi said, staring at his visitor.
“This is my maiden battle. It’s your first one too, Sei. We are both destined to challenge the campaign. I know it’s not going to be an easy task, but the president told us to do it. Isn’t that reason enough?”
“Too much reason” Haruki said. “But I have no idea what to do.” For the first time since he had arrived he looked up and faintly smiled at Shin’ichi.
“I didn’t think the strong-armed pitcher would be scared of an election,” Shin’ichi said, also smiling. “Let’s use our courage and do as much as we can.”
“This time my courage just won’t come out. It would if I were standing on the mound, ready to pitch my first ball, but being a candidate is worlds apart from being a ball player.”
“I know. That’s why I said this is our maiden battle. The Gosho says that Nichiren’s disciples should not be cowardly. Make up your mind, Sei. Leave the rest to the Gohonzon. We’ll just pray and pray and move forward.”
“Right. Maybe I’m a born coward,” Haruki muttered to himself, his face serious. Shin’ichi could not help laughing.
“A coward in his first battle,” he chuckled “It might make a wonderful cartoon.” Haruki also burst out laughing, scratching his head bashfully.
They immediately set out to do what they had just vowed to each other: They knelt before the Gohonzon, observed gongyo and prayed and prayed.
Haruki stayed until midnight. After seeing him off, Shin’ichi opened his Gosho and began a long, deep contemplation. He understood all too clearly why Haruki had hesitated. He himself would have liked to have gone to someone and grumbled a word or two about his own anguish, but he could not. According to the statistics, it was possible for the three candidates in the national constituency and the one in the Tokyo metropolitan electorate to be elected. On the other hand, it was as clear as day that Haruki had not the slightest chance. However, Shin’ichi’s heart held a fiery determination not to let Haruki fail.
He could not allow the campaign to end in failure for two reasons. First, the defeat would frustrate one of President Toda’s plans. Second, it would mean that Shin’ichi would have lost his first full-scale battle for kosen-rufu. It would be a tremendous setback in his life, a life dedicated to a supreme mission. He must win by all means. If this campaign, his first, ended in triumph, it would become the source from which all his future endeavors would spring. If the beginning sets the pattern for what follows, then there is no other alternative but to achieve a victory. He did not know it at the time, but he was later to realize that this was the very campaign that proved his capability, the battle which decided his course in life.
Shin’ichi was firmly resolved to endure, no matter what efforts he might be forced to make or what hardships he might face, until he achieved his goal. He had stood up alone. (pp. 1311–13)
July 4, 2025, World Tribune, pp. 6–7
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