In January 1958, Mr. Ikeda reported to Mr. Toda that they would soon reah the goal of 100,000 members in the young men division. Mr. Toda was vey happy and said:" The young men division is now sold. With this many young men, we can achieve anything. The dawn of a new age for the people is coming."
At the time of Mr. Toda's inauguration as Soka Gakkai 2nd president in May 1951, the organisation in reality only had about 3,000 members, with very few young people among them. As propagation efforts continued to stagnate, Mr. Ikeda told Mr. Toda not to worry, that he would take the lead and increase the young men division membership to 100,000. Then he set about achieving breaktroughs in propagation in various regions throughout Japan.
From the time Mr.Toda's businesses had fallen into dire financial straits, Mr. Ikeda had been giving his all to support his mentor. Mr. Toda was therefore worried for Mr. Ikeda's well-being. He once said:" Daisaku, your health is poor. If you keep overexerting yourself as you"re doing now, you won't live to see 30. I'll chant for your health with all my might. You chant too, so that you can contribute to develop the Soka Gakkai."
Mr. Ikeda fulfilled every single promise he made to his mentor, Mr. Toda. He tranformed each organisation to which he was assigned - no matter what condition it was into a vibrant, dynamic organisation that could be a driving force for tremendous growth.
Mr. Toda said:" Daisaku always does what he says he will do. You can count on his word."
