The moment to perform the new school song arrived at last.
The chorus sang energetically. Though they’d had only a brief time to practice, their voices merged in perfect harmony as they sang, their voices merged in perfect harmony as they sang,

“Over the scarlet hills covered in blooming azaleas….”

Shin’ichi followed the lyrics on a copy prepared for him by the Steering Committee as he listened. It was a rousing melody. The lyrics too, had a poetic quality, brimming with ideals, hope and aspiration.
The song brilliantly captured the school’s founding spirit.
Shin’ichi was deeply impressed.
When they finished, he picked up the microphone and asked, “Who created this song?”
The composer and lyricist raised their hands.
“It’s really wonderful,” Shin’ichi said. “I was very moved.”
Hearty applause shook the gymnasium.
“But, if it’s all right with you, I’d like to make a few slight revisions. Is that OK?”
The lyricist nodded, and the audience cheered and applauded even louder.

After obtaining the lyricist’s approval, Shin’ichi made his suggestions.
“In the first stanza, I’d like to change ‘Solid white butterflies dance joyously’ to ‘White butterflies dance joyously,’ and ‘A refreshing breeze blows powerfully through the air.’
In the second stanza, ‘The spirit of righteous anger burns in our hearts’ might be better as ‘The spirit of justice burns in our hearts.’
In the third, I’d suggest changing ‘The distant horizon beyond the vast green mountains’ to ‘Mount Fuji in the distance beyond the vast green mountains,’ and the last line from ‘For whose sake do we inquire into the truth of life?’ to ‘For whose sake do we seek the truth of life?”

The student who had written the lyrics was impressed. He felt as if President Yamamoto’s suggestions had hit the mark. They were all parts he had fretted over and worried about until the last minute.
The school’s founder had transformed stiff, clunky phrasing into easily accessible imagery. Now, through the joint efforts of Shin’ichi and the students, the Soka University Student Song had been completed.

Your stance and passion, truly befitting the ideal of university students, have been fully and clearly manifested in today’s Soka University Festival.

In the future you will all advance on your respective paths, but there is no such thing as a smooth and easy path in life. The bigger your goal or objective, the greater the difficulties you will encounter on your way. The person who overcomes these is a person of outstanding excellence. Once you decide that something is your true path in life, you should consistently exert yourself to the fullest on that path, in your respective position of responsibility, never shirking or seeking to avoid painful challenges. Unless you overcome such challenges, I don’t think you can become “the real thing.” This is the foundational point for human education.

This is why I want the members of the first and second classes to consider yourselves founders of the university and exert yourselves with real determination. Everyone has a destiny or fate that cannot be avoided. When you determine to embrace this destiny, it can be turned into mission and your entire life can made to shine. I hope you will appreciate my sincere expectations and that each of you will carry yourselves as founders of this university.