The autobiographical novel of Daisaku Ikeda, president of SGI. 1975 is the founding year of the International Soka Gakkai. On January 26, representatives from more than fifty countries around the world gather on the island of Guam to celebrate the start of a worldwide peace movement. President Yamamoto is fresh from a trip to the United States during which he met with the U.N. secretary general and the U.S. secretary of state. It is the latest step in a series of initiatives he has taken to foster dialogue and détente among the world's great powers.
The First World Peace Conference is an opportunity for Shin'ichi to reconfirm before all the assembled representatives the goal he was entrusted with by his mentor Josei Toda: "Mr. Toda, I will devote my whole life to realizing kosen rufu in the world in order to bring happiness and peace to all mankind." The Soka Gakkai president's people's diplomacy initiatives continue, and in April he leaves for a third trip to China, to be followed by another trip to the Soviet Union and Europe. The Soka Gakkai meanwhile continues to expand the scope of its activities. In July the city of Honolulu in the Hawai'i Islands hosts a major cultural festival that marks another new step in the kosen rufu movement around the world.
