In April 1979 Mr Ikeda stepped down from the Soka Gakkai presidency. He didn’t give up his goals, however. In order to fight back against the forces attempting to sunder the ties between him and the members, and to meet the members’ sincere desire for his leadership, Mr Ikeda stood up to encourage them.

Though the priesthood employed clever manoeuvres to prohibit him from attending meetings, he replied undaunted, “If I cannot attend meetings, I will visit individual members, one home at a time. If I cannot see many on one occasion, I will make many occasions to see one.” So saying, Mr Ikeda, with his wife, Kaneko, went on visiting members with earnest prayers for their happiness.