When Ikeda's wrong...

Remember 1960, when Ikeda famously predicted that the day he - HE! - stood at Coit Tower in San Francisco would go down in history as one of the biggest events ever?

On October 5, 1960, President Ikeda stood at Coit Tower in San Francisco looking at the statue of Christopher Columbus and said, “Although today seems like no significant day, 20 years or another 50 years to come, this day will be more significant than when Columbus discovered the continent.” Source

Oh, I know you weren't there - none of us were, but Ikeda's cult sure made noise about Icky's prediction!

Here's how it got rewritten for the "Newwww Humpin' Revoltation":

We are striving to create here on earth a new world where indestructible happiness and eternal peace reign supreme. With the passage of time—in twenty, fifty or a hundred years—today will without a doubt be remembered as a day of profound significance in the history of our movement. - Ikeda, per Weird Fibune, 2023

Here's a picture - the only images available are basically thumbnail size - how meta. A plump little man's irrelevant little sightseeing trip abroad. That statue was removed in 2020. Here's what the site looks like now - notice that no statue of Daisak-Who? Ickeda has been installed to replace Christopher Columbus and never will be.

Sure, Ikeda had a grandiose, over-inflated sense of his own value, importance, and significance, but with the passage of time and the final end to his life, we can see and evaluate everything in proper context.

And what came of it? It's been over 65 years - surely we should be able to see by now. Turns out it's easy to say stuff.

Ikeda died a nobody and nobody cared. What a horse's ass he was.