The Golden Gate Bridge, celebrated for its innovative design and strength, is a suspension bridge over the Golden Gate Strait, the stretch of water where the San Francisco Bay meets the Pacific Ocean. Each year, multitudes venture across the bridge, which opened in May 1937, admiring the steel cables that hold it together.
On his first visit to San Francisco, in October 1960, Ikeda Sensei described to those accompanying him his impression of the bridge and its symbol of strength:
As they headed away from the city, San Francisco Bay unfolded off to their right. Soon, the Golden Gate Bridge with its magnificent red towers came into view. As they approached, its soaring structure seemed to loom above them.
The group decided to stop for a short break at a small park near the bridge. Stepping out of their cars, they saw on display a section of the suspension cable used in the bridge. A sign explained that the cable was 37 inches in diameter and comprised 27,572 separate strands of wire. Shin’ichi and the others stood in a circle around the display.
“The cable is thick, but each wire is quite thin. How amazing that it can hold up the bridge!” exclaimed Katsu Kiyohara. Nodding in agreement, Shin’ichi then spoke to Yukiko Gilmore and Chiyoko Taylor, who had been appointed respectively as the San Francisco District leader and women’s division leader the day before.
“It’s true that the individual wires are not very thick, but when bunched together in great numbers, they display incredible strength. This resembles the unity of itai doshin (many in body, one in mind). In the Soka Gakkai, too, though each person’s strength may be small, when that strength is combined and the members are firmly united, they can display unimaginable power. Unity is strength.
“From now on, you must play a central role in unifying the members’ efforts to support the kosen-rufu movement and the happiness of the people of San Francisco.” (The New Human Revolution, vol. 1, revised edition, pp. 118–19)
—Prepared by the World Tribune staff
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