On November 18, 1930, the first volume of Makiguchi's seminal work The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy was published. That the calligraphy of the title lettering was written by Tsuyoshi Inukai, the 29th prime minister of Japan, gives some indication of the interest with which the innovative ideas of Makiguchi, an elementary school principal, were received. The work and his unique insights were highly acclaimed by many leading intellectuals of Japan at the time, inluding the sociologist Hisatoshi Tanabe, educator and Under-Secretary-General of the League of Nations Inazo Nitobe, and Kunio Yanagida, first president of the Folklore Society of Japan. Nitobe, also known as author of Bushido, The Soul of Japan, wrote of Makiguchi's Pedagogy, "An educational theory for Japanese created by a Japanese [educator]. An outstanding book long and eagerly awaited by our contemporaries."

Makiguchi held that the purpose of education lay in teaching children how to create value. In defining value, Makiguchi examined and critiqued the classic concept of value advocated by the philosopher Immanuel Kant, replacing Kant's triad of values of "beauty, truth and good" with "beauty, gain and good." The philosophical and practical implications of this substitution are explored in Makiguchi's Pedagogy. The idea frames Makiguchi's conclusion—the core of Soka education—that the purpose of education should be children's happiness. Makiguchi's ideas underlie the ideals of humanistic education practiced at Soka University and are reflected most obviously in its academic tradition of "students first" and "the university serving the students."

Despite the interest in Makiguchi's ideas, they were born amidst a backdrop of rising nationalistic militarism and soon found no place within the mainstream. Japan's education system grew increasingly nationalistic and came firmly under the control of the militarist state, which shaped it to its own purposes. In 1943, Makiguchi was jailed on charges of lese majesty and violating the notorious Peace Preservation Law. He died in prison on November 18, 1944.

The sociologist Hisatoshi Tanabe commented: "Elementary school principal Jean Henri Fabre continued to devote his life to the research of entomology. Being an academic country, France was proud of Fabre and the government took the trouble of having the Minister of Education visit him on the country's behalf to pay respect and appreciation to him. Being also an elementary school principal, Mr. Tsunesaburo Makiguchi struggled against all kinds of obstacles, spending his precious life in its entirety to finally complete his epoch-making The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy. How should the cultured nation of Japan treat this great educator who the country should be proud of?"

Makiguchi's concern for the lifelong happiness of children and their growth through education, the legacy of his uncompromising confrontation with militarist authorities and of his ultimate death in prison for the cause of creating a peaceful society—this spirit continues to live in the founding principle of Soka University: "Be a fortress of peace for humankind".

Makiguchi's ideals were inherited by his disciple, Josei Toda, who exerted himself in the promotion of his mentor's education theory. It was Toda who raised the funds for the publication of The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy. Toda also established a private school, the Jisshu Gakkan, where he implemented Makiguchi's ideas to great success. Toda himself was a skilled teacher whose book, A Deductive Guide to Arithmetic, was a best-seller.

Ikeda's own struggle to realize Soka education in practice began soon after Toda's death: In 1964 Ikeda announced his plan to establish Soka University; in 1968 he established Soka Junior and Senior High Schools; and in April 1971 at the time of the graduation of the first students of Soka Senor High School and in the centennial year of Makiguchi's birth, he opened Soka University. The university initially comprised just four departments in three faculties.

Since its inception, Soka University has continued to grow and expand rapidly, now comprised of nine departments in six faculties.

As well as developing the university, Ikeda has put great effort into developing the entire Soka school system, opening the Kansai Soka Junior and Senior High Schools in Osaka, the Tokyo Soka Elementary School, the Kansai Soka Elementary School, the Sapporo Soka Kindergarten in Hokkaido and Soka Women's College in Tokyo.

He has also taken Soka education abroad, opening Soka University of Los Angeles in 1987 and later, in 2001, Soka University of America, a liberal arts college in Orange County, California. Soka kindergartens have been established in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil and Korea.

Thanks to Mr. Ikeda's efforts, some 70 years after the birth of Soka pedagogy, this philosophy of humanistic, life-affirming education is practiced from kindergarten to university and is gaining global recognition.