Sōka Gakkai in Japan

Abstract

This chapter discusses the contemporary characteristics and historical development of Sōka Gakkai 創価学会, or the 'Value Creation Study Association', a group that began in 1930s Japan as a society of educators and grew into a postwar religious mass movement. Sōka Gakkai is now not only Japan's largest collective of religious adherents; it is most likely the largest mass movement in Japanese history. Today, the group has a self-declared membership of 8.27 million households in Japan and more than 1.5 million adherents in 192 countries abroad under its overseas umbrella organization Soka Gakkai International, or SGI.1 Recent scholarship challenges these figures and points to a figure in the neighborhood of two percent of the Japanese population.2 Yet even allowing for the certain

Sōka Gakkai and Politics in Japan

“…The Komei Political Federation was at the beginning the political section of the youth division (Aruga 2000, p. 114) and electoral activities were categorized by the group as ‘cultural activities’ ( bunka katsudō ). These activities was part of the mission of converting all people to Nichiren Shōchū Buddhism, or kōsen rufu (literally, ‘declaring (the Lotus Sutra ) far and wide’, McLaughlin 2009, p. 5), to use Sōka Gakkai’s own terminology 8…”

“…The political activities started by Toda achieved their peak under the leadership of his successor, Ikeda Daisaku, former president of Sōka Gakkai who nowadays holds the title of Honorary President of SGI. Ikeda initially declared that the group did not intend to become an independent political party and in his earlier speeches promised that the aim was not to enter the House of Representatives, but to use political activities to support the religious mission of the group (McLaughlin 2009, p. 92). As Nakano has noted: ‘The aim was to help purify the political world and support political actions that would benefit the people’ (1996, p. 125).…”

“…In 1956 the group was accused of illicit campaigning and in 1957 45 members were accused by the Osaka Public Prosecutor of public elections law violations. During the campaign in support of the candidate Nakao Tatsuyoshi, a group of Young Men’s Division members were accused with attempting to buy votes, because they distributed cigarettes, caramels and box containing money to supporters the night before the elections (McLaughlin 2009, p. 90). The head of the boards of directors, Koizumi Takashi and Ikeda Daisaku, head of the Youth Division Chief of Staff were arrested.…”

“…His early political views was based on an elaboration of a programme for what he called a ‘Buddhist democracy’ ( buppō minshushugi ), which he imagined as a ‘humanitarian socialism’ ( ningen shakaishugi ) that seeks an ‘equality of value’ and aims for the unification of societal and individual welfare. However, after the formation of Kōmeitō and the 1970s scandal (related, as discussed above, to the accusation toward the group of having attempted to stop the publication of a critical book), the group renounced its plan to construct the national ordination platform and Buddhist language was eliminated from the political party (McLaughlin 2009, p. 98).…”

“…Today, Sōka Gakkai claims 3 more than 8 million households in Japan, while 12 million members in 192 countries are claimed by Soka Gakkai International (SGI), an international network created in 1975 (Okuyama 2010; Shukan daiyamondo 2009). Although these claims are contestable and the real membership is probably below the numbers declared by the group, Sōka Gakkai can surely be defined as not only one of the biggest religious groups, but one of the biggest private organizations active in Japan (McLaughlin 2009).…”