As if predicting Mr Ikeda’s future, Dr Toynbee said that the SGI leader would surpass him in receiving honorary degrees around the world.

Mr Ikeda’s dialogue with Arnold J. Toynbee was conducted from 1972 through 1973. “At that time of Soka University’s founding in 1971, I was a student of what I call Toynbee University,” Mr Ikeda recalls.

At the end of the dialogue which totaled 40 hours over 10 days. Dr Toynbee told Mr Ikeda that while he himself was a man of learning, the SGI leader was a man of action, and recommended that Mr Ikeda continues dialogues such as theirs with illustrious individuals. In those days the world was in the midst of the Cold War. However, Mr Ikeda energetically met and talked with leaders and intellects of East and West with the conviction that dialogue is the humane way of thawing the icy walls of mistrust between people.

As if predicting Mr Ikeda’s future, Dr Toynbee said that the SGI leader would surpass him in receiving honorary degrees around the world. The first honorary doctorate for Mr Ikeda came from Moscow State University. It was just after Mr Ikeda sent a messenger to the historian with a just-published copy of their dialogue in Japanese edition. To date, he had received a total of 374 honorary doctorates and academic honors from around the world. (updated as of Nov 2017)