WORLD MATE

WORLD MATE TIMELINE

1934:  Uematsu Aiko was born.

1951 (March 18):  Handa Haruhisa (aka Fukami Seizan [until 1994] and thereafter Fukami Tōshū) was born in Hyōgo Prefecture.

c. 1960:  Handa Shihoko, Fukami’s mother, joined Sekai Kyūseikyō and began to visit its local church with Fukami.

c. 1966:  Fukami received from Sekai Kyūseikyō an ohikari locket pendant, which authorised him to perform the movement’s main ritual known as jōrei .

c. 1970:  Fukami developed a strong interest in, and then converted to, Oomoto.

1976:  Having graduated from Dōshisha University in Kyoto, Fukami started work as a salesperson in Tokyo, and began to visit the Japanese office of the Chinese philanthropic organization World Red Swastika Society.

1977:  Fukami met Uematsu at the Japanese office of the World Red Swastika Society.

1978:  Uematsu founded the company Misuzu Corporation, and Fukami established the preparatory school Misuzu Gakuen as part of its business.

1984:  Uematsu and Fukami established the religious group Cosmo Core.

1985:  Cosmo Core changed its name to Cosmo Mate.

1986:  Fukami published his best-selling book Kyōun (Lucky Fortune).

1989:  Fukami founded the publisher Tachibana Publishing.

1991:  Fukami founded the consulting firm B. C. Consulting.

1993:  Two former female members of Cosmo Mate sued Fukami for damages in March, claiming that he acted indecently with them, and reached a settlement in December of that year.

1994 (April):  Cosmo Mate changed its name to Powerful Cosmo Mate.

1994 (May and June):  Former members sued Fukami and Powerful Cosmo Mate for damages in May and June respectively, claiming that he and the movement defrauded them of a lot of money.

1994 (December):  Powerful Cosmo Mate changed its name to World Mate.

1994:  The International Shinto Foundation (ISF, New York) and Shinto Kokusai Gakkai (International Shinto Studies Association [formerly known as International Shinto Research Institute], Tokyo) were established.

1995:  World Mate began to hold kokubō shingyō gatherings, which aimed to empower Japan’s national defence.

1996 (April):  World Mate sued the Shizuoka Prefecture government for not accepting the movement’s application for registration under the Religious Corporation Law.

1996 (May):  Tax penalties were imposed by the Ogikubo tax office in Tokyo on the company Cosmo World, which the tax bureau claimed was linked to World Mate.

1996:  World Mate provided funds for establishing, and operating, the Sihanouk Hospital Center of Hope, as World Mate and Fukami emphasized practising philanthropy and charity in Cambodia thereafter.

1997:  Fukami completed a master’s course in voice at Musashino Academia Musicae, a Japanese college of music.

2001:  World Mate and Fukami filed a defamation suit against Noh critic Ōkouchi Toshiteru and the publisher of the magazine psiko. They also made a claim for damages against journalists contributing to, and the publisher of, the magazine Cyzo.

2002:  The website Wārudo Meito Higai Kyūsai Netto ワールドメイト被害救済ネット (the title of which translates as “the website that aims to support those who suffer damage caused by World Mate”) was launched by lawyers and journalists.

2005 (January):  Fukami stood down from the position of vice president of Shinto Kokusai Gakkai.

2006 (May):  At the Tokyo High Court, World Mate obtained a reversal of the tax penalty imposed by the Ogikubo tax office in 1996.

2006:  Fukami received a Doctor of Literature at Tsinghua University in China.

2007:  Fukami obtained a Doctor of Literature in Chinese Classic Literature degree at Zhejiang University in China.

2008:  The Worldwide Support for Development (WSD), a not-for-profit organization chaired by Fukami, was established.

2010:  World Mate was the fifth largest donor (and the largest among religious organizations) to political parties and Diet members.

2012:  World Mate gained certification as a religious corporation by Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

2013-2014:  The Global Opinion Leaders Summit, hosted by the WSD, was held three times.

FOUNDER/GROUP HISTORY

World Mate’s charismatic leader Fukami Tōshū 深見東州 (formerly known as Fukami Seizan 深見青山 ), whosebirth name is Handa Haruhisa 半田晴久, [Image at right] was born in Hyōgo Prefecture in 1951. At that time his father, Handa Toshiharu, was still a university student actively involved in left-wing political movements. According to Fukami’s column posted on World Mate’s website, his mother Shihoko, three years older than Toshiharu, was a relative of Toshiharu’s father (i.e. Fukami’s grandfather).

Toshiharu found it quite difficult to get a steady job due to his political activities and therefore could not afford to take care of Shihoko and Fukami. According to Ōhara (1992), in addition to such financial difficulties , his increasingly arrogant attitude and violence towards Shihoko troubled her deeply. As a result, she joined Sekai Kyūseikyō 世界救世教, one of Japan’s largest Shinto-based NRMs (new religious movements), with the hope that Toshiharu would stop his domestic violence.

She made frequent visits to a local Kyūseikyō church with Fukami, which caused him to gradually deepen his faith in the movement. When Fukami was fifteen, he was given an ohikari locket pendant by Kyūseikyō; fifteen is the usual age for bestowing this pendant on members. According to Kyūseikyō, the pendant enables its holder to do the practice of jōrei, a healing art of purifying the spirit by radiating a divine light (ohikari) from the palm.

Although Shihoko sincerely believed in the efficacy of the healing art of jōrei , she suffered an unidentified, serious illness around the end of the 1960s, when Fukami was a high school student. He asked a senior member of Oomoto 大本 to remove the spiritual cause of her illness (Isozaki 1991; Ōhara 1992). Oomoto was a Shinto-based NRM emphasizing healing practices, to which Okada Mokichi, Kyūseikyō’s founder, had belonged prior to establishing his movement. Shihoko subsequently recovered from her illness. Then Fukami visited Matsumoto Matsuko, a female psychic of Oomoto, who, he claimed, led him to become aware of the presence of kami or deity. After entering D ō shisha University in Kyoto in 1972 (Yonemoto 1993; Hasegawa 2015), he became deeply committed to Oomoto.

Fukami received a degree in Economics at Dōshisha in 1976 and started to work at a construction company in Tokyo. Then he visited the Japanese office of the Chinese philanthropic organization World Red Swastika Society, established by the religious movement Tao-yuan. The Red Swastika Society had been on close terms with Oomoto since the 1920s. In its Japanese office located in Tokyo, Fukami displayed an outstanding ability as a saniwa , a spiritual interlocutor or interpreter who claims to be able to judge the authenticity and nature of divine oracles received by mediums. Then, according to Ishizaki (1991) and Ōhara (1992), Su no Kami the Supreme Deity, who was believed in Kyūseikyō to be the creator of the universe, told Fukami to devote himself to the way of Deity (kami no michi) and informed him that a person would come to see him in the near future; Fukami decided to quit his job and deepen his relationship with the Red Swastika Society.

In 1977, a middle-aged woman named Uematsu Aiko 植松愛子 (formerly known as Tachibana Kaoru) visited the Japanese office of the Red Swastika Society. It was the person that Deity had talked to Fukami about, for Uematsu also had been informed by Deity that a young man would come to see her soon. Uematsu, born in 1934, used to be a member of Mahikari 真光 (Yonemoto 1993), which was established in 1959 by Okada Kōtama, a former follower of Sekai Kyūseikyō. After her mother died when Uematsu was thirty-three, she, Fukami claims, received a divine revelation that told her to train her soul through housework and to lead women. Uematsu then organized a personal school for tea ceremony, flower arrangement, and confectionery making ( Ōhara 1992 ), which were traditional women’s arts in Japan. After she met Fukami, her school gradually developed into a small religious group, which had some twenty members (Yonemoto 1993).

While they congregated at her house in the Ogikubo area of Tokyo, Uematsu, who was sponsored by Tsugamura Shigerō, a patent attorney and former member of Mahikari (Yonemoto 1993), formally founded the company Misuzu Corporation in 1978. In practical terms, however, Fukami was the operating force behind the company. In that year he established Misuzu Gakuen みすず学苑 , a preparatory school for potential applicants to high status universities. Eventually he succeeded in running this school, which has become widely known among high-school students in Tokyo.

Although busy with his business, Fukami continued to be engaged in doing religious activities with Uematsu. In 1984, they established the religious group Cosmo Core, which has formally been regarded as the beginning of World Mate. In 1985, they changed its name to Cosmo Mate. In 1986, Fukami published five books under the pseudonym Fukami Seizan, which enhanced his profile as a leader of the movement. His second book Kyōun 強運 (Fukami 1986b), whose English-edition is entitled Lucky Fortune, [Image at right] sold especially well (According to Tachibana Publishing, a publishing firm established in 1989 by Fukami, more than 1,700,000 copies of the book have been sold). Consequently Cosmo Mate showed rapid growth from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. During this period some other NRMs, such as Aum Shinrikyō and Kōfuku no Kagaku, began to be active in Tokyo and they, along with Cosmo Mate, became increasingly visible and attracted media and public attention. For example, in its January 1993 issue, Bungei Shunj ū , one of the most popular, opinion-shaping magazines in Japan, selected fifty potential reformers from a variety of fields, two of whom were Fukami and the Aum founder, Asahara Shōkō.

After that, however, the pace of the growth of Cosmo Mate slowed down mainly due to several lawsuits that members or former members brought against Fukami in 1993 and 1994 claiming, for example, sexual harassment and fraudulent activities. Moreover, in December 1993 and in March 1994 the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau, suspecting tax evasion, conducted inspections of the company Cosmo Mate (which l ater, around 1995, changed its name to Cosmo World and then later to its present name of  Nihon Shichōkaku-sha 日本視聴覚社 ), claiming that this company was related to the religious organization Cosmo Mate. This also worsened the movement’s image. Cosmo Mate (as a religious organization) changed its name to Powerful Cosmo Mate in March 1994, and then to World Mate in December of that year.

Fukami also changed his personal name from Seizan to Tōshū in 1994. In this same year he began to pursue academic studies in Japanese and Chinese religions. In December 1994, Fukami established the International Shinto Foundation (ISF). This non-profit organization has promoted Shinto studies, especially beyond Japan, seeking in particular to promote Fukami’s view of what Shinto studies should be (Antoni 2001). Fukami has in such ways made large donations to universities and colleges abroad, including the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and Columbia University in New York. He has also been awarded a number of honorary and visiting professorships and degrees. Moreover, since the mid-1990s, Tachibana Publishing, run by Fukami, has focused especially on publishing books on classic Zen and Confucianism. Most of these books are written or edited by Japanese scholars. In 2006, Fukami received the degree of Doctor of Literature at Tsinghua University in China. In 2007, Tachibana Publishing published his doctoral thesis, Bijutsu to Shijō 美術と市場 (Fine Arts and their Market). Also in that year, Fukami obtained the degree of Doctor of Literature in Chinese Classic Literature degree at Zhejiang University in China.

In addition to academic studies, Fukami has been increasingly committed to art activities since the 1990s. He has performed as a music composer and arranger, conductor, vocalist, composer of waka and haiku poetry, calligrapher, tea master, flower arrangement master, Noh actor, ballet dancer, and modern stage actor. In 1997, Fukami completed a master’s course in voice at Musashino Academia Musicae, a Japanese college of music. He has licenses to teach Noh plays for the Hōshō School, tea ceremony for the Edo Senke Shinryū School, flower arrangement for the Saga Goryū School, and Japanese calligraphy. Fukami has given these kinds of art performances not only to World Mate members but also to the general public. In 2009, Fukami received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the Julliard School in New York. In 2014, he demonstrated Japanese calligraphy, the art of writing characters with a large fude 筆 (brush), at the British Museum in London.

Furthermore, Fukami has made prophetic pronouncements about a coming crisis that he said would occur in Japan in the near future, and emphasised the need to prevent this. In February 1995, a month after the Hanshin-Awaji great earthquake of January, and before Aum Shinrikyō’s sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system in March, World Mate held kokubō shingyō 国防神業 gatherings, or gatherings for Shinto-style rituals that aimed to empower Japan’s national defence. These drew on the spiritual message Fukami said he had received from the female Oomoto founder, Deguchi Nao, that Japan would face an impending crisis. In the later part of the 1990s, kokubō shingyō gatherings became regarded as one of the most crucial events within the movement.

In the early years of this century, World Mate developed the aim of establishing a World Federal Government in Japan by the year 2020, for Fukami maintained that Japan, as a spiritual centre of the world, would play a critical role in achieving world peace. According to Fukami, unless this World Federal Government was realised, Miroku no yo (Age of Miroku) or Paradise on Earth, would not come. However, he abandoned the goal of founding the Government by 2020. He feared that if he tried to carry this plan out, it would bring about a catastrophic natural disaster and mass deaths provoked by deities seeking to assist in the establishment of this Government.

In the earlier part of the 1990s, World Mate had sought to legally register itself as shūkyō hōjin 宗教法人 (religious corporation) under the 1952 Religious Corporation Law. It made this application to the government of Shizuoka Prefecture, where its headquarters was located. However, at this juncture the government did not accept the application, for it doubted that activities of World Mate, regarded as closely related to the company Nihon Shichōkaku-sha , were totally religious (according to Asahi Shimbun, April 19, 1996, Shizuoka edition; Shizuoka Shimbun, May 17, 1996, Evening edition).

Moreover, in the early 2000s, World Mate faced various accusations. With the rapid growth of the Internet at the time, a large number of self-described, existing and former members argued for and against World Mate and Fukami within cyberspace. For example, in 2002, several journalists and lawyers launched a website attacking the movement on behalf of those who, they claimed, had suffered damage at the hands of World Mate. Although World Mate claimed to be suffering a lot of groundless calumnies and rumours on the Internet, these accusations inevitably damaged its image.

Nevertheless, after a renewed application, in 2012 World Mate was successful in gaining certification as a religious corporation from the Cultural Affairs Agency (the section within Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in charge of administering religious corporations). Little reliable information has been available about why World Mate was approved as a religious corporation in that year. It, however, might be that, due to the Supreme Court’s decision made on May 22, 2006 that Nihon Shichōkaku-sha was not related to World Mate (Handa 2006), the movement’s activities formally came to be seen as religious.

There have been some suggestions that Shimomura Hakubun, a former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, might have had an influence in this decision of the Cultural Affairs Agency. This, at least, was the implication behind the claim made in the April 16, 2015 issue of Shūkan Bunshun, a weekly magazine with one of the largest circulations in Japan. The magazine reported that some companies established by Fukami, including Tachibana Publishing, had donated three million yen to Shimomura in 2005, a year when Shimomura was serving either as Minister (Monbu Kagaku Daijin Seimukan 文部科学大臣政務 ) or as a Parliamentary Secretary for Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The magazine also claimed that World Mate had donated three million yen to Shimomura in 2009. Given that weekly magazines in Japan have a reputation for using questionable sources for their stories and for not always being reliable, these claims remain unverified. However, they have contributed to a wider perception, fuelled by parts of the mass media, that World Mate’s activities may not be restricted solely to the realms of religious practice.

After registering with the government as a religious corporation in 2012, World Mate, Fukami Tōshū in particular, considerably enhanced its media visibility by placing frequent, spectacular advertisements of his books and events in national newspapers. In addition, for the past several years World Mate has become active in making large donations to several influential politicians (Hasegawa 2015), while Fukami has emphasized inviting these politicians to various events focusing on him. Although World Mate has postponed its plan of establishing a World Federal Government in Japan, it appears to have developed a policy of seeking to enhance its influence in the Japanese political world.

DOCTRINES/BELIEFS

World Mate claims itself to be a Shinto-based movement. Nevertheless, its leader, Fukami Tōshū, shows interest in various religions, including not only Shinto but also Buddhism and Confucianism, as is common among many other founders of Japanese NRMs. Moreover, he has published widely on a variety of themes from religion to divination, business and management, education, comedies, romances, and fine art. Therefore, it is quite difficult to give a clear description of his teachings.

However, in many of these writings, including those apparently unrelated to religion, Fukami has repeatedly emphasised that any of our daily activities should be carried out as shingyō 神業, or divine practices whereby one can train one’s soul, and that one could cultivate one’s good fortune through such practices. In fact, World Mate has encouraged followers to do the practice of shingyō and to understand its meanings.

According to Fukami, one’s fortune mainly depends on the karma (in’nen 因縁) of both/either one’s ancestors and/or oneself in one’s previous life. He also states that one is born into a family of good fortune because one did a number of good deeds to save others in one’s previous life (Fukami 1986a). By contrast, those who consider themselves out of luck, Fukami argues, should bear in mind that their improper conduct in their former lives has resulted in their misfortune in this world. Fukami, therefore, suggests that in order to have good fortune, individuals should break their connection with their bad karma (Fukami 1986a).

Japanese NRMs have commonly developed the classic Indian notion of karma in ways that highlight its moral dimensions (Kisala 1994). In this context, Fukami’s view of karma is not uncommon among Japanese NRMs. He maintains that since karma is inherent in the human mind and conduct, individuals should reform themselves so as to break away from their bad karma (Fukami 1987). The best method of cutting off one’s bad karma is to cultivate virtue by acting on behalf of others.

However, in order to completely cut off one’s bad karma, according to Fukami, one needs to not only cultivate virtue but also to worship one’s ancestors. In the middle of every August, World Mate, although it is a Shinto-based movement, holds a Buddhist memorial service for its members’ ancestors, called go-senzo tokubetsu dai-hōyō ご先祖特別 大法要, focusing on a magical ritual Fukami performs for the purpose of saving, or reforming, the spirits of participants’ ancestors linked to their bad karma. Such a view of the potential variability of karma through the practice of ancestor worship mainly derives from the tradition of Japanese folk religion rather than from Buddhism.

World Mate regards the ultimate goal of a person’s life as attaining the state of shinjin gōitsu 神人合一, or oneness with kami or a deity. Fukami (1987) claims that, in contrast to the paternal relationship between God and humans in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, humans can have a friendly relationship with deities in the divine world of Japan. In order to achieve the state of oneness with kami, it is important to maintain a good relationship with them by cultivating virtue, for deities are pleased with a person’s virtue cultivation. According to Fukami (1986b), however, many Japanese people have the wrong idea that self-oriented shugyō 修行 or ascetic practices are required to attain the state of oneness with kami. He claims that religious austerities drain people of their physical power and undermine the vigour of their souls, and that those who practise self-oriented shugyō tend to be possessed by evil spirits. Fukami calls this kind of ascetic exercise kōten no shugyō 後天の修行 (posterior practice), while he recommends doing senten no shugyō 先天の修行 (anterior practice) by which a person pleases kami (Fukami 1986b; 1986c).

By senten no shugyō, Fukami means the daily practice of obeying the moral principle of makoto 誠 (sincerity), which tells people to be unselfish and free from greed (mushi muyoku 無私無欲) (Fukami 1986c), and, in other words, to devote themselves entirely to the service of others and do what others are reluctant to do. Fukami regards self-oriented ascetic practices, including not only shugyō in Buddhism but also misogi 禊 (cold water purification practices) in Shinto, as meaningless. According to him, people find it much more difficult to obtain merits (kudoku 功徳) through such self-oriented practices, than working tirelessly for others in their everyday lives. These merits are materialised in the spiritual world after one’s death and the amount of merits earned becomes an important indicator of whether one is sent by kami to heaven or hell.

The spiritual world is the place to which humans move after their death and departure from this material world. It consists of three realms: heaven, hell, and chūyū reikai 中有霊界, located between heaven and hell (Fukami 1986a). Such a view of the spiritual world is similar to that of the movements, Oomoto and Sekai Kyūseikyō, that Fukami was initially involved with.

The realm to which a dead person goes depends on what that person did in the present world. Fukami (1986a) indicates the conditions under which a dead person can ascend to heaven. The heavenly world, according to Fukami, also consists of three realms. The lowest one is a place for those who were dedicated to others in this world, or those who showed their profound sincerity through the practices of taise 体施, busse 物施, and hosse 法施 (i.e. voluntary work, material donation, and religious education). The highest realm comprises those who were not only active in religious practices but also materially rich, or those who spent their own wealth for the benefit of society through their true religious faith and who make effective use of their status and honour as a means to save others.

Many of the dead, according to Fukami, are not allowed to ascend to heaven and normally are sent to chūyū reikai, the realm for those who hardly ever did astonishingly good or dreadfully bad deeds; therefore, dead persons in chūyū reikai, are regarded as ordinary ones in the spiritual world. Hell comprises those who did a large number of bad deeds in this world and consists of numerous realms, each of which corresponds to the type of bad deed that the dead person has done in this world. If a dead person in hell completely mended his/her ways, the person could move out of it.

According to Fukami (1987), materially rich persons are much more likely than materially poor ones to be spiritually rich as well. Fukami (1986b) attributes one’s material benefits in this world chiefly to one’s luck, rather than to one’s efforts to make money. Moreover, one’s luck reflects the quality of one’s karma caused originally by one’s soul training in the previous world. Therefore, people in this world should train their souls to improve the quality of their karma that will influence their life in the next world. For these reasons, Fukami encourages his followers to train their souls as senten no shugyō (anterior practice) through a variety of daily activities in the real world.

Consequently Fukami regards seeking material success in this world as a sort of soul-training that leads to potential improvement in the quality of one’s karma. Therefore, Fukami, who is also the president of several companies and a business consultant, emphasises the importance of acquiring wealth as a spiritual act. This kind of idea is similar to that of Ōkawa Ryūhō, the founder of Kōfuku no Kagaku, who places an emphasis on acquiring wealth in this world as a method of soul-training, and who maintains that those achieving great material success in this world are more likely to be sent to heaven in the next world.

Moreover, according to World Mate, Fukami is a philanthropist, who has made large donations to charity while leading a very frugal life. In World Mate, Fukami provides a role model for its members, who, therefore, are expected to work hard to make money, and to spend much time and money doing activities for others.

RITUALS/PRACTICES

World Mate places a primary emphasis on worshipping deities through the practice of shinji 神事, or Shinto-style rituals. It has regularly organized gatherings for shinji either on mountains linked to specific deities or in places near well-known Shinto shrines. Normally thousands of followers attend these gatherings and pray earnestly for deities to forestall terrible crises that, Fukami Tōshū claims, people all over the world, and the Japanese in particular, are facing.

World Mate’s major shinji are: Setsubun shinji 節分神事 (in February) held at the calendric beginning of spring, Golden Week shingyō ゴールデンウィーク神業 (in May) held during the holiday period of early May, O-Bon shingyō お盆神業 (in August) held during the holiday period of mid-August associated with festivals for the dead, Fuji Hakone shingyō 富士箱根神業 (in October) held in a place near the Hakone Shrine close to Mount Fuji, and Ise shingyō 伊勢神業 (in December), World Mate’s largest shinji held from the end of December to the beginning of January in the vicinity of Ise, the location of Japan’s most prominent Shinto shrines.

In these shinji gatherings, Fukami repeatedly requires participants to pray together so that he can receive divine messages from the deity of the mountain or the shrine. Praying is regarded as a highly important practice in World Mate. Its new members are encouraged to attend a seminar called shinpō gotokue nyūmon-hen 神法悟得会入門編, where they are expected to learn the basic method of praying to deities that Fukami has developed. Participants in the seminar are asked to keep secret about the methods taught and not relay them to outsiders.

While many members of World Mate may have learned how to pray to deities, participation in shinji gatherings tends to be chiefly limited to those active followers who give voluntary service to, or make frequent visits to, a local branch office of the movement. In World Mate, it is fairly difficult for ordinary members to develop contacts with other members without joining its local activities; therefore ordinary members appear to be reluctant to participate in such gatherings that normally last until late at night in places far from urban areas. During the practice of shinji, Fukami often maintains that the collective power of its participants’ prayer is not strong enough to receive divine messages, suggesting that a larger number of members should take part in the shinji. In such cases, Fukami tends not to perform magical rituals until or unless thousands of members come to pray together.

By contrast, monthly seminars held in Tokyo are popular among the followers in general. They are broadcast by satellite to World Mate’s local branch offices so that members can attend them throughout Japan. In these monthly seminars, Fukami not only gives a lecture, frequently giving a vocal performance as a singer as well, but also practises magical arts aimed at improving the luck of the attendants. These are something that, Fukami claims, only he is able to do. These magical arts include, for example, dai-kyūrei 大救霊 (a special version of kyūrei, the art of saving evil spirits from suffering torment in hell or from being unable to achieve jōbutsu 成仏 [settling themselves in the spiritual world] and then of changing the evil spirits to good ones) and kettō tenkan 血統転換 (the art of improving one’s bloodline, which aims to modify one’s “spiritual genes,” or one’s ancestors’ karma).

These monthly seminars appear to be occasions of great fun, especially for those ordinary followers who just want to improve their own luck through Fukami’s magical practices. They are also occasions aimed at recruiting and introducing new members to World Mate. Active followers are also expected to take care of such new, ordinary and potential members and to view their role in so doing during the monthly seminars as a form of soul-training, rather than as a form of enjoyment.

In addition to the shinji gatherings and seminars that World Mate organizes, iyasaka no gi 弥栄の儀 is conducted in its local branch offices almost on a daily basis. Iyasaka no gi is a Shinto-style ritual where the participants display their gratitude to deities in front of a Shinto altar and pray for the prosperity of the world, of Japan, and of World Mate members. Moreover, a small festival called shinshin-sai 振神祭 is held once a month in its local offices. While the aim of shinshin-sai is to worship the supreme deity Su, branch members organizing the festival, formally open to the public, tend to, like the monthly seminars mentioned above, emphasise entertaining potential, new, and/or less active members by performing magical practices, which, however, are believed to be much less effective than those done by Fukami himself, and by doing fortune-telling, and holding naorai 直会 , a Shinto-based feast where they consume offerings of food and sake (Japanese rice wine) that have been placed before the deities.

While Fukami performs a variety of magical arts that, he claims, enable one to cut off one’s bad karma and improve one’s luck, active followers of World Mate believe that unless they also cultivate their soul by dedicating themselves to the service of others, his magical arts would not be very effective for their luck. In addition, they tend to make efforts to get internal qualifications in World Mate that, Fukami claims, enable them to perform some magical rites, rather than receiving them from other higher-ranking members. Moreover, they are encouraged to do voluntary work for activities of World Mate as a way of self-cultivation, especially for those of its local branch to which they belong. In addition to their daily work in the wider society outside World Mate, they tend to assist, a few times a week, in the activities of their local branch offices of World Mate, which usually are open in the evening on weekdays, and do voluntary work for various activities of World Mate on weekends. They are encouraged to devote tireless efforts to do these daily activities, and to see any of these activities as being part of shingyō or divine practices, which Fukami claims not only train their souls but also impress deities favourably.

Fukami has published a large number of books, just as have Ōkawa Ryūhō of Kōfuku no Kagaku and many other founders of NRMs, but he, unlike Ōkawa, does not frequently tell his followers to read them. Fukami has often pointed out that, although it may be fun reading books and visiting shrines, anyone can do that without much effort and therefore that deities would not be pleased with such easy practices (Fukami 2002). Instead, he has repeatedly encouraged his followers to do what others are reluctant to do, which would result in polishing their soul. According to Fukami, he learned this idea from Sekai Kyūseikyō and, as a method of polishing his soul, he cleaned the toilet of a local church every morning on his way to high school ( Ōhara 1992). World Mate followers, therefore, are encouraged to work diligently behind the scenes at a local branch office of, and various event sites of, the movement.

ORGANIZATION/LEADERSHIP

The shrine Sumera- ōkami On-yashiro 皇大神御社 serves as the central headquarters of World Mate and is based in Shizuoka Prefecture. The movement also has fifteen Eria Honbu エリア本部 (area or local headquarters) that are located mainly in large cities in Japan, as well as some 190 local branch offices scattered throughout Japan. These branch offices are operated by its local members largely on a voluntary basis, while Eria Honbu or local headquarters are managed by World Mate’s staff members. It appears, therefore, that these local headquarters play a crucial role in making local branch leaders understand, and carry out, World Mate’s policies.

The number of World Mate’s members, according to its website, is some 72,000 (in July 2011), but according to Aonuma (2015), Hasegawa (2015), and Ōhira (2016), is some 75,000. No reliable information about the number of staff members is available, for it seems that formally some of the full-time staff members are either employees or board members of the companies run by Fukami Tōshū.

While World Mate’s organization is hierarchical, with Fukami at its apex, it is not highly centralised. In contrast to other large NRMs of Japan, World Mate does not take direct control over the operation of the branches through the dispatch of its full-time staff members. In this sense its branches have a high degree of autonomy.

However, shibu-chō 支部長, or local branch leaders, selected from among the branch members, are required to have appropriate administrative skills to enable them to operate their branches properly. They make efforts to motivate their branch members to do voluntary work for World Mate, participate in shinji gatherings, be engaged in missionary work, and so on. Otherwise, inactive branches could be forced to close or to be merged into one of the nearest branches.

World Mate members do not have any obligations to belong to a particular local branch. In fact, some of them may never have visited a branch office. However, those who want to be deeply committed to World Mate are encouraged to visit a local branch office and join Enzeru-kai エンゼル会 (Angel Society) there. The Angel Society, formally independent of World Mate, comprises the movement’s active followers who belong to a particular local branch and who are expected to do voluntary work for activities of World Mate, especially for those of their local branch. No information about the number of Angel members is available. Inferring from the number of participants in World Mate’s major shinji gatherings, most of whom appear to be Angel members, they are very roughly estimated at 20,000.

Although World Mate’s membership categories can be divided into sei-kai’in 正会員 or full membership and jun-kai’in 準会員 or associate membership, this division seems less important among the active followers than the difference between full membership, including membership of the Angel Society, and any other form of membership. This is clearly because Angels are given “ rights,” rather than “duties,” to do voluntary work for World Mate as a form of shingyō (divine practice) and because they can readily attend shinji gatherings as a genuine member of a particular local branch. Ordinary followers who do not belong to any local branches would find it lonely and uncomfortable to spend hours in the field participating in shinji gatherings. Angel membership is also essential to being elected as a high-ranking member, such as shibu-chō and eria-komitti (a committee member of a local headquarters).

Moreover Angel members are normally encouraged to strive to be shi 師 or internal “masters,” such as kyūrei-shi 救霊師, kuzuryū-shi 九頭龍師, and yakuju-shi 薬寿師. Especially kyūrei-shi are seen as high-ranking masters, for Fukami regards them as his jiki-deshi 直弟子 or immediate disciples. Kyūrei-shi candidates not only are expected to participate in seminars especially for them and learn a lot about how to practise the art of kyūrei there but also are required to train themselves because kyūrei-shi are supposed to often perform the secret art of kyūrei (saving spirits) for about two hours without intermission. The number of kuzuryū-shi was some 4,000 in 2003, although no information about the numbers of kyūrei-shi and yakuju-shi is currently available.

Despite such Angel membership privileges, there are also many who do not join the Angel Society. This seems to be both/either because Angel members tend to spend much time and money (largely, donations in formal terms, including expenditures to various events and services offered by World Mate) being committed to various activities of World Mate and/or because they need to get on with other Angel members of the same local branch. Moreover, even ordinary members who do not join the Angel Society can enjoy a variety of services provided by World Mate, although they might have little interest in shingyō that Fukami sees as being essential to his followers

Besides World Mate, Fukami is involved with and has established a number of other organizations, such as business corporations, including Tachibana Publishing and Misuzu Corporation, and non-profit organizations, including Worldwide Support for Development (WSD), International Shinto Foundation (ISF), International Foundation for Arts and Culture (IFAC), and Tokyo Art Foundation (TAF). World Mate claims to have no or little relation to the operations of these organizations but the extent to which they can be seen as entirely separate from Fukami’s activities with World Mate is unclear. For some members, his involvement in other organizations and the prominence he appears to have achieved through them (for example, with the WSD and the ISF) serve as a sign of his charismatic status and importance, and enhance their interest in his movement. At the same time, his association with organizations, such as ISF that he has helped to establish, has led to concerns about the status of ISF and concerns being raised by some scholars about the links between ISF, Fukami, and World Mate (Antoni 2001).

ISSUES/CHALLENGES

Since the 1990s, it has been repeatedly pointed out by critics and journalists that it is unclear whether World Mate has financial relationships with commercial companies that are operated by Fukami Tōshū or by its senior officials. It seems that this issue was originally caused by the fact that World Mate’s previous name (Cosmo Core, subsequently Cosmo Mate) was the same as that of the company Nihon Shichōkaku-sha. For example, on November 5, 1991, the newspaper Nikkei Ryūtsū Shimbun referred to Cosmo Mate as a “company” that Fukami organized as a membership society. Moreover, according to World Mate (Handa 2006), a former leading member of the movement and his supporters leaked false information about the tax evasion of the company Cosmo Mate to tax authorities in 2003.

Eventually, the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau twice audited the company Cosmo Mate (in December 1993 and in March 1994) on suspicion of failing to report taxable revenues from the activities of the religious group Cosmo Mate. As a result of this audit, the Ogikubo tax office in Tokyo imposed a penalty of some three-billion yen on allegedly undeclared income in May 1996. The company (Nihon Shichōkaku-sha) denied any financial link with the religious group (World Mate) and filed a suit against the director of the Ogikubo tax office and finally obtained a reversal of this tax penalty in May 2006 at the Tokyo High Court.

Despite this, some journalists and lawyers have remained suspicious of the financial transactions that World Mate conducts. It has been reported that World Mate’s annual revenues are some ten-billion yen (Aonuma 2015; Hasegawa 2015) or twelve-billion yen ( Ōhira 2016) and that companies in which Fukami is a major stockholder generate some four-billion yen in total annual sales (Hasegawa 2015) or seven-billion yen ( Ōhira 2016). Meanwhile, Fukami has established, and/or has taken executive positions in, a number of non-profit organizations (NPOs). Fukami, as a director or board member of such organizations, has made large donations to scholarly organizations and activities, cultural and art activities, charities, and influential politicians, and he has organized a variety of public events, concerts, conferences, and exhibitions. It could be inferred from this that a huge amount of money has been spent to carry out all of these things. However, little reliable information has been available about the extent to which World Mate and the companies operated by Fukami or by his followers financially support his activities that are claimed by Fukami and his supporters to be unrelated to World Mate.

While Fukami has shown strong interest in a variety of art activities, his deep involvement with Japanese traditional Noh plays has caused a problem for World Mate. Tachibana Publishing, run by Fukami, published the bimonthly magazine Shin Nōgaku Jānaru 新・能楽ジャーナル (New Journal of Noh ) from 2000 to 2012. This Noh review journal was originally issued as Nōgaku Jānaru (Journal of Noh ) by the small publisher Dengei Kikaku from 1994 to 1999, after which it was published by Tachibana. In 2001, the Noh critic Ōkouchi Toshiteru discussed the background to the change from Dengei to Tachibana in the magazine psiko. In his article he said that Tachibana was closely connected to a jakyō 邪教 (“false religion”). Because he called it jakyō, a term that had been widely used pejoratively against a number of NRMs in Japan in earlier times, World Mate sued him for libel.

In February 2003, the Tokyo District Court ruled against World Mate. In its decision the court ruled that the term jakyō could be used to describe either an unrighteous religion or an unethical religion, and that it was not totally incorrect to describe World Mate in such terms, as a jakyō. In October of that year, World Mate and Ōkouchi finally reached a settlement at the Tokyo High Court. However, the lower court’s decision had effectively labelled World Mate as a “false religion,” a point emphasised by Kitō Masaki, who had been Ōkouchi’s defence counsel. He has referred to the court decision as the jakyō hanketsu 邪教判決 (“false religion” decision) on the website mentioned earlier (see the section on Founder/Group History) that was launched in 2002 by journalists and lawyers. Kitō was one of the lawyers involved in setting up this website.

While many NRMs have faced problems related to scandals and mass media attacks, including allegations of being “false religions” and little more than money-making enterprises, World Mate has perhaps faced more of these problems and attacks than most other NRMs. This is in particular not only because of Fukami’s business activities, which he claims are separate from his religious ones, but also because court judgements such as the one that legitimated the use of the term jakyō in connection with World Mate have made it a particular target for critics. Such issues have affected World Mate’s standing and posed a threat to its membership levels as well as to its capacity for recruiting members.

The rapid spread of the Internet since the late-1990s has increased World Mate’s visibility within cyberspace and created new problems for the movement. It has faced numerous attacks online from a large number of self-described, existing and former followers who, benefitting from the anonymity that the Internet provides, argue for and against World Mate and Fukami on the Internet.

A number of people who claim to be ex-members of World Mate have complained online that World Mate and Fukami have cheated them. Cyberspace attacks have constantly tried to project negative images of World Mate followers as being under the influence of “mind control.” World Mate’s response to such attacks has been to claim that it is suffering a lot of groundless calumnies on the Internet. In August 2002, for instance, immediately after Kitō Masaki and other lawyers had established the aforementioned website that was critical of the movement, World Mate distributed to its members a booklet entitled Hontō no Kamisama wa konna Tokoro ni Oriteiru ! 本当の神様はこんなところに降りている！ (True Deity is coming down here!), which focused on the past scandals and troubles that World Mate and Fukami had faced. In this booklet, Fukami stated that the rapid expansion of the Internet had largely changed the circumstances surrounding World Mate, and had enabled groundless rumours and calumnies about the movement to spread like wildfire in cyberspace. He further said that, in order to protect members from such inaccurate rumours and calumnies, World Mate had no choice but to have recourse to the law. In fact, World Mate has sued several ex-members and journalists for libel. As a result, it has also gained a reputation for being a litigious movement.

In the eyes of some, Fukami has gradually developed an interest in politics. World Mate’s political aims, notably that of establishing the World Federal Government in Japan by 2020 (and as an initial step the formation of an Asian Federal Government in Japan by the year 2010), aroused concern in some circles, especially given that these aims seemed to have a highly nationalist dimension to them that, for some, was redolent of pre-war Japanese policies. However, as was noted earlier, World Mate has subsequently retreated from this position, although it continues to express a politicised nationalism that arouses disquiet in some circles.

Since the late-2000s World Mate and some of the companies operated or established by Fukami have made sizable donations to political parties and influential politicians, including, as was mentioned earlier, Shimomura Hakubun. In 2010, World Mate donated thirty-million yen to the People’s New Party (Kokumin Shintō), whose representative was Kamei Shizuka, a well-known politician who had served as Minister for Financial Services from September 2009 to June 2010. Eventually, the movement became the fifth largest donor (and the largest among religious organizations) to political parties and Diet members in 2010. At that time Kamei was also an advisor to B. C. Consulting, a company run by Fukami.

The politician to whom World Mate has made the largest donation appears to be Ozawa Ichirō, the co-founder and representative of the People’s Life Party (Seikatsu no Tō). Ozawa is one of Japan’s most influential and well-known politicians, and his annual income was the largest among party leaders for three consecutive years from 2012 to 2014. World Mate appears to have been a major source of funding for his political activities during that time. Like Kamei, Ozawa received advisory fees from B. C. Consulting (according to Mainichi Shimbun July 2, 2012, Evening edition), while World Mate made large donations to his political organization and the People’s Life Party.

Fukami has emphasised not only making political donations but also holding extravagant conferences that invite world-renowned political figures. For example, the Global Opinion Leaders Summit, hosted by the Worldwide Support for Development (WSD), whose chairman was Fukami, was held three times in 2013 and 2014. Tony Blair (invited twice), Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, John Howard (former Australian Prime Minister), Fidel Valdez Ramos ( former Philippine President ), and more than a dozen other well-known figures were invited to this international conference, while Fukami served as its moderator.

Moreover, influential Japanese politicians have been frequently invited to the events organized by his NPOs that are apparently unrelated to politics, such as art exhibitions hosted by the Tokyo Art Foundation. Notable board members of this incorporated foundation have included such well-known political figures as Kamei, Ozawa, Hatoyama Yukio (former Prime Minister), and his younger brother Hatoyama Kunio (who was also an advisor of B. C. Consulting and who passed away in 2016), all of whom used to be Diet members of the Liberal Democratic Party. Thus Fukami has placed strong emphasis on developing his influence among rather conservative politicians. Such links and financial donations to conservative politicians, along with the movement’s perceived associations with nationalism, continue to be viewed with suspicion by those who are hostile to the movement, and add to its problematic public image.

Many members of World Mate appear to be concerned about who might be a potential successor to Fukami, for he remains unmarried and has no children. In 2010, a daughter of Tsugamura Shigerō, who had initially been a formal representative of World Mate, was married to Fukami’s younger brother. Some expect her to succeed Fukami as the leader of World Mate while others claim that World Mate would not survive without the charismatic leadership of Fukami. It appears that Fukami himself has not yet made an official statement about his successor. This issue will remain a key challenge for the movement in the long term.

IMAGES

Image #1: Photograph of Fukami Tōshū, founder of World Mate.

Image #2: Photograph of Toshu Fukami’s popular book, Lucky Fortune. 

Image #3: Photograph the shrine Sumera-ōkami On-yashir in Shizuoka Prefecture that serves as the central headquarters of World Mate.

REFERENCES**

** Note: Some of the information in this profile derives from my field research conducted mainly from 2001 to 2003 and from my PhD thesis: Kawakami, Tsuneo. 2008. “ Stories of Conversion and Commitment in Japanese New Religious Movements: The Cases of Tōhōno Hikari, World Mate, and Kōfuku no Kagaku.” Lancaster University, U.K.

Antoni, Klaus. 2001. “Review: Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami.” Journal of Japanese Studies 27:405–09.

Aonuma, Yōichirō. 2015. “Shinkō shūkyō Wārudo Meito to kyōso Fukami Tōshū.” G2 18:184-209.

Fukami, Toshu. 1987. Make Your Own Luck. Tokyo: Tachibana. English edition: 1997.

Fukami, Tōshū. 2002. Shinbutsu no Kotoga Wakaru Hon. Tokyo: Tachibana.

Fukami, Toshu. 1986a. Divine Powers. Tokyo: Tachibana. English edition: 1998.

Fukami, Toshu. 1986b. Lucky Fortune . Tokyo: Tachibana. English edition: 1998.

Fukami Toshu. 1986c. Divine World. Tokyo: Tachibana. English edition: 1997.

Fukami, Tōshū. n.d. “Anime Songu to Nandemo Bōdāresu Ni Natta Ikisatsu” Accessed from http://www.worldmate.or.jp/about/column.html on 26 August 2016.

Handa, Haruhisa. 2006. “Oshirase.” Accessed from http://www.worldmate.or.jp/faq/answer13.html on 26 August 2016.

Hasegawa, Manabu. 2015. “Shimbun Kōkoku de Yatara Menitsuku Nazo No Otoko: Fukami Tōshū.” Shūkan Gendai 57:162-66.

Isozaki, Shirō. 1991. Fukami Seizan. Tokyo: Keibunsha.

Kisala, Robert A. 1994. “Contemporary Karma: Interpretations of Karma in Tenrikyō and Risshō Kōseikai.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 21:73-91.

Ōhara, Kazuhiro. 1992. Naze Hito wa Kami wo Motomerunoka. Tokyo: Sh ō densha.

Ōhira, Makoto. 2016. “Utatte Odoru Kyōso No Kareina Kane to Jinmyaku.” AERA 29:24-25.

Yonemoto, Kazuhiro. 1993. “Rein ō sha Fukami Seizan no Sugao Wa‘aruku Y ō chien’?” Takarajima 30:34-50.

Author:
Tsuneo Kawakami

Post Date:
14 September 2016

SEICHŌ NO IE ( 生長の家)

SEICHŌ NO IE TIMELINE

1893  Taniguchi Masaharu was born.

1920  Taniguchi Masaharu married Emori Teruko.

1922  Taniguchi left Ōmoto after its suppression in 1921.

1923  Taniguchi’s only child Emiko was born shortly after the major earthquake in Tokyo.

1929-1933  Taniguchi received twenty nine divine revelations.

1930 (March)  The first issue of magazine Seichō no Ie was published. This is the official date of Seichō no Ie’s foundation.

1936  The Women’s Association was founded.

1945 (August)  The Pacific War and the nationalistic era ended, followed by a new constitution (1946) and a new law governing religious organisations (1951).

1948  The Youth and Young Adults Association was founded.

1954  A hierarchical structure of the branches was established.

1954  Headquarters were moved to a new location in central Tōkyō and the temple complex in Uji (near Kyoto) was opened.

1963  Taniguchi’s visit prompted proselytisation in Brazil.

1977  The temple complex in Nagasaki was completed.

1985  Taniguchi Masaharu died.

2002  The first fathers’ study groups were founded.

2006  The Sundial Movement was initiated.

2008 (October)  Taniguchi Seichō died

2009 (March)  Taniguchi Masanobu was inaugurated as third president.

2013  Headquartes were scheduled to move to Yamanashi prefecture.

FOUNDER/GROUP HISTORY

On November 22, 1893 Taniguchi Masaharu ( 谷口雅春 , originally written 谷口正治 ) was born in a hamlet in today’s city of Kōbe. He was adopted by his aunt who had the financial means of sending him to school. He graduated from Waseda High School as the best student in the literature program and enrolled in the English Literature Department of the prestigious Waseda University. After a dramatic love affair, he had to discontinue his academic career and take on various poorly paying jobs. He contracted a venereal disease and, searching for a cure, became interested in traditional and spiritual healing as well as in hypnotism and other spiritual practices that were quite fashionable at that time (Biographies of Taniguchi can be found in Seimei no jissō volumes 19 and 20 and Ono 1995).

In September, 1919, he took up residence with the new religion Ōmoto near Kyoto where he helped edit Ōmoto’s magazine and newspaper and became an important member of the staff. In November, 1920, he married Emori Teruko ( 江守輝子 , 1896-1988). Taniguchi left Ōmoto in 1922 because he was disappointed with its failed prophecy of world renewal and had begun to doubt the existence of a judging and punitive creator god and also because of Ōmoto’s suppression by the nationalistic authorities the year before (Lins 1976:74-112).

The next few years were tumultuous. Because of his wife’s illness, Taniguchi tried various forms of faith healing. He assisted a former colleague from Ōmoto with editing a spiritualist magazine. He completed his first novel, pay for which he would have needed desperately, just before the 1923 earthquake entirely destroyed Tokyo. His only daughter, Emiko ( 恵美子), was born in autumn of 1923. His family moved to the Osaka area where at last he found work as a translator for an oil company in 1924. Because the job paid so well and he found it so suddenly, Taniguchi was convinced that it had materialized after he had pictured it during meditation.

Taniguchi continued writing and translating spiritualist and New Thought texts, saving money to eventually publish his own magazine. During and through meditation he started hearing voices, writing religious poems and healing illnesses . On December 13, 1929, Taniguchi heard a loud voice within himself telling him to get up, not to wait until the conditions seemed right, but to start now because the material world did not exist and he was part of divine reality and already perfect now. Taniguchi immediately took up his pen and started his magazine Seichō no Ie , official publication of whose first issue in March, 1930 is now regarded as the date of foundation of the new religion Seichō no Ie. Between November, 1929 and September, 1933 Taniguchi received twenty nine divine revelations informing him about the nature of the divine and of human beings, thus laying the foundations of some of Seichō no Ie’s key practices and doctrines (Seichō no Ie Honbu 1980:246-78).

In the following years Seichō no Ie , whose names literally means “House of Growth”, gradually developed into a religious organization with branches in various communities, suborganizations, a system of lecturers, and an increasing number of publications and public lectures by Taniguchi. In 1940, Seichō no Ie was officially established as a religious organisation, and in 1952 it was registered as a Religious Corporation according to post-war legislation. In the years between 1945 and 1983, Seich ō no Ie was actively involved in conservative national politics, supporting among other issues a strong position of the emperor. Taniguchi Masaharu died in 1985 and was succeeded by his son-in-law Taniguchi Seichō. He dedicated his life to the promulgation of Seichō no Ie in Japan and abroad giving lectures, writing books and travelling to overseas branches He established “world peace” as a major issue in Seichō no Ie (Seichō no Ie online b) . Current head is Taniguchi Seichō’s son Taniguchi Masanobu who is currently shifting Seichō no Ie’s practical emphasis to environmental issues.

Seichō no Ie sees itself as “Humanity Enlightenment Movement,” a theme that was first proclaimed in March, 1930 and has been reaffirmed and put in concrete forms continuously since then. Taniguchi explained that he could no longer silently watch human misery, but like the fire of a candle had to lead humankind to salvation ( Seichō no Ie 1/1:3f.). The motto communicates that members should be conscious that humans are children of god, should live accordingly, feel grateful and responsible for their environment, bear Seichō no Ie’s mission in mind and, last but not least, spread the message to as many other people as possible (Taniguchi S. et al. 1979:73, 80-94).

In anticipation of the twenty first century, the “International Peace by Faith Movement” was added to the Human Enlightenment Movement as Seichō no Ie’s general guideline in 1993. It aims at enhancing Seichō no Ie’s international activities, arguing that information technology seemed to be making the world smaller. Consequently, internationally coordinated actions against environmental problems and local natural disasters had become increasingly desirable and possible (Taniguchi Masanobu 1993). Concrete measures towards world peace also include a prayer for world peace and imagining a peaceful world during meditation (the doctrinal explanation for this is given below.

Since 2000, Seichō no Ie’s publications and activities have shifted their focus to environmental protection and the sparing use of natural resources. Initially, this translated into popular campaigns of using one’s own (cotton) bags and plastic chopsticks rather than plastic bags and wooden one-way chopsticks. In a second step, meat-free communal meals were introduced, and members were assisted in equipping their homes with solar panels. In 2011, Seichō no Ie became a founding member of the Religious and Scholarly Eco-Initiative (e.g. Religious and Scholarly Eco-Initiative online ) (Personal Communication, March, 2009 and February, 2013).

DOCTRINES/BELIEFS

Seichō no Ie belongs to what Shimazono (1992:74-75) called the “intellectual thought type” of new religions, that is, religions founded by widely read, well-educated men with a logically written, abstract yet easy-to-understand doctrine. Taniguchi Masaharu had enjoyed literature and read widely on topics, including Freud, Western theology and philosophies as well as on traditional and scientific schools of medicine (all of which eventually contributed to the formation of Seichō no Ie’s doctrine).

Witnessing a snake trying to devour a frog and torn between sympathy for both the hungry snake and the frog Taniguchi realized that a loving and perfect creator god could not have created an imperfect world in which some creatures had to kill others for their living. Instead, he turned to a more Buddhist worldview based on the belief in the non-existence of material things including human bodies, and in the existence of their True Image ( 実相 , jissō ) only. Seichō no Ie’s main object of worship is, thus, not a specific deity but absolute divine reality, the Great Universe itself, which is represented by the calligraphy of the word “ jissō ” (= True Image). The world as we see it does not exist. It is but a reflection of its True Image as it is perceived through the lens of our human minds. The True Image is taught to be perfect, harmonious, beautiful and complete. However, because the human mind is polluted through vices or crimes, reality can only be perceived as imperfect, full of cruelties and illnesses.

Human beings are taught to be children of this supreme god who is identical with the Great Universe. “Man is a child of God” ( 人間・神の子 , ningen, kami no ko ) is Seichô no Ie’s central creed. Human beings are, therefore, really perfect and harmonious but they are not usually able to perceive themselves that way. These doctrines, that humans are really perfect children of god and that this world only exists in our imagination, coupled with the New Thought philosophy that a positive perception positively affects this world, led Taniguchi to emphasise that by imagining positive things, humans can manipulate their perception of the world and thereby improve it. Imagining things strongly and sincerely enough, for instance that humans are perfect and powerful and illness does not exist, is, therefore, believed to make these things come true. Consequently, Seichō no Ie places great emphasis on a positive attitude towards life, the most important element of which is gratitude. Members are taught to feel grateful for every aspect of their lives, positive and negative alike. Numerous testimonials narrate how feelings of gratitude saved members from otherwise unbearable situations (Fieldwork Observations).

One essential element of a positive, grateful attitude is Seichō no Ie’s Neo-Confucianism-influenced emphasis on filial piety. Filial piety ought to be expressed in everyday tokens of respect for and compliance with one’s parents (and for female members particularly their in-laws) as well as in regular rituals of veneration of the deceased. Seichō no Ie’s doctrine also includes Christian elements, such as the belief in an absolute life-giving force, the Great Universe, of which humans are believed to be children. In his writings, Taniguchi frequently referred to the Bible, especially the power of the spoken word for the creation of the visible world as described in Moses 1,1 and John 1,1 (e.g. Taniguchi 1974 [1923]:303f.). Taniguchi explained that all religions have the same core and only differ in details and appearance due to local developments. Hence it was quite logical that his doctrine included elements from various traditions ( Seimei no jissō volume 6).

Seichō no Ie’s most important publication and key doctrinal text is Taniguchi Masaharu’s 40-volume Seimei no jissō 『生命の實相,
rendered in English as Truth of Life , written in 1932. Seimei no jissō has been translated fully into Portuguese ( A Verdade da Vida ), but only partially into English and even less into other languages. Taniguchi’s second series of books is his eleven-volume Shinri ( 『真理』 , The Truth ) which is an introduction to the doctrine expounded in Seimei no jissō and was first published between 1954 and 1958. Kanro no hōu 『甘露の法雨』 , officially translated into English as Nectarean Shower of Holy Doctrines , is the most important of Seichō no Ie’s four holy sutras. It has been translated into several languages and has recently been published in Braille. Kanro no hōu was divinely revealed to Taniguchi Masaharu by the Bodhisattva Kannon on December 1, 1930. Carrying, reading or copying the sutra are said to evoke miracles, such as unexpected recovery from illnesses and protection during accidents.

Apart from these key doctrinal texts Taniguchi Masaharu, as well as his successors and their wives, published innumerable books and articles explaining various parts of doctrine and practice and their realization in everyday life. All of these books are used in lectures, seminars and study groups, and many members own a large collection of them, thereby contributing to Seichō no Ie economically. Seichō no Ie publishes a monthly newspaper and three magazines, which are often displayed openly in shops or stations to attract new readers. Additionally, it hosts a network of loosely related websites (Seichō no Ie online a; Kienle and Staemmler 2003), Taniguchi Masanobu’s private weblog (Taniguchi Masanobu online ), and approximately thirty minutes of radio broadcasting very early on Sunday mornings on various regional radio stations.

RITUALS

Seich ō no Ie m embers are encouraged to read passages of Taniguchi’s scriptures and sutras, practice meditation, and do something good every day. They are also strongly encouraged to tell others of Seichō no Ie’s doctrine and lead them to its way of life. Apart from this general ideal, however, Seichō no Ie offers a large number of private and communal rituals and activities in which members (and potential members) are encouraged to participate.

Based on the doctrines that the world exits the way we perceive it and that positive thoughts and words have creative power, Seichō no Ie emphasizes the necessity of transforming one’s attitude to be harmonious, grateful and cheerful. This is done by small everyday habits, such as using “ arigatō gozaimasu ” (thank you) as a greeting and expressing gratitude for blessings yet to be received in prayers (Fieldwork Observations). Also based on these doctrines are the “practice of laughter,” during which members engage in happy thoughts until they laugh loudly, and the sundial movement initiated in 2006 in which members are encouraged to record – in a diary or online – a happy moment for every day, much like a sundial only marking hours of sunshine (Taniguchi J. 2008 and Seichō no Ie online c).

An essentially important ritual is shinsōkan 神想観 , a form of meditation (Taniguchi 1996 [1970]; Seimei no jissō volume 8; Taniguchi S. 1991; Staemmler 2009:305-08). Shinsōkan is defined as a religious practice through which the formless, ubiquitous and truly divine reality ( shin ) can be thought about ( sō ) and visualised ( kan ) directly and without employing the eyes or the brain. Shinsōkan is regarded as one of the main techniques for becoming aware of the fact that what humans perceive as reality is not reality at all and that humans are children of god, perfect because god is perfect, and with the same supernatural powers as god. Becoming fully aware of this through shinsōkan is said to free divine supernatural powers in anyone.

Shinsōkan may be performed either on one’s own or as a group exercise and ideally twice a day every day for about thirty minutes in bright rooms to further bright and happy thoughts. There are no restrictions on the age from which children may begin to practise shinsōkan , and there are no regulations about appropriate clothing or time of day. Shinsōkan begins with a short song of praise to the all-pervading life-giving god with whom unity is to be established. This is followed by a quarter of an hour of silent meditation. A variant of shinsōkan is the inori-ai shinsōkan during which people perform shinsōkan for the sake of other, unhappy or ill people. It is believed that the positive atmosphere created by a group of people performing shinsōkan will contribute towards alleviating or eliminating the sufferer’s problems. Similarly, shinsōkan is performed as a communal ritual to further world peace.

Seichō no Ie’s religious practice includes various ceremonies (private and communal, daily and annually) of reverence for ancestors which are quite common in the Japanese religious repertory. In Seichō no Ie their primary aim is not to ask for ancestors’ assistance or protection. Rather it is to express one’s gratitude towards one’s ancestors and to please them with a bright, grateful heart, positive words and the delightful smell of incense, which contributes towards one’s salvation. Most prominent is the annual ancestor ceremony in August at the main ancestral shrine in Uji. For this occasion paper strips bearing names, dates of birth and death of members’ ancestors are collected to be ritually read and finally burnt in a large purificatory fire (Fieldwork Observations). In 1977, rites for stillborn and aborted babies were separated from those for ancestors because of unborn babies’ distinct spiritual status. The suffering and respite felt by the souls of unborn babies finds its expression, it is thought, through disorderly siblings or other family problems and needs to be alleviated through special rituals as tokens of parental love and repentance ( Seichō no Ie Uji Bekkaku Honzan 1997: preface).

As in most other new religions, seasonal festivals of various scale and frequency may also be found in Seichō no Ie. Some ceremonies, such as annual celebrations in memory of Taniguchi’s revelations and monthly memorial days for Taniguchi, Taniguchi Seichō and Teruko (as well as larger annual festivals) are only or primarily performed in Nagasaki (see Shūkyō Hōjin Seichō no Ie Sōhonzan online b). Others, such as ancestor veneration, and especially the annual Ancestral Memorial Festival in August, take place in Uji (see Seichō no Ie Uji Bekkaku Honzan online b ). Other events, such as ceremonies at the beginning of every month , are celebrated in all the facilities.

Seichō no Ie runs several kinds of training events. Apart from local, private study groups there are large scale public lecture meetings by Taniguchi Masanobu and his wife as well as “spiritual training seminars” ( 錬成会 , reinseikai ). Renseikai take place on a regular basis and instruct new members (or refresh older members) in Seichō no Ie’s doctrine and key rituals. They last for three to ten days and include overnight stays and communal (and recently meat-free) meals. Lectures during renseikai are given by appointed lecturers and are interspersed with testimonials, performance of various rituals as well as communal singing and morning and evening worship. Another important element are small, informal sessions for discussion and personal exchange. The number of participants range from three or four to fifty or sixty depending on time and location. There are various kinds of renseikai depending on target groups (teenagers, women, experienced members and so on) and foci (such as general introductions and seasonal). Venues are the main and regional headquarters as well as two rensei centres conveniently located within easy reach of Tokyo (Fieldwork Observations; Shūkyō Hōjin Seichō no Ie Sōhonzan online c).

ORGANIZATION/LEADERSHIP

When Taniguchi Masaharu died in 1985 he was succeeded by his son-in-law Taniguchi Seichō ( 谷口清超 , 1919-2008, born as Arachi Kiyosuke 荒地清介 ), who had been the first head of Seichō no Ie’s youth assocciation. Simultaneously Taniguchi Seichō’s wife, Emiko, succeeeded her mother as president of the women’s association (both associations are described below). When Taniguchi Seichō’s health began to fail in 2005, his second son, Taniguchi Masanobu ( 谷口雅宣 , born 1951), gradually succeeded him and became officially inaugurated as Seichō no Ie’s third president on March 1, 2009, four months after his father’s death. Simultaneously, the presidency of the women’s organisation was passed from Taniguchi Emiko to Taniguchi Masanobu’s wife, Junko ( 谷口純子 , born 1952).

According to its official English-language website, as of December, 2010 Seichō no Ie had 651,119 members within and 1,032,108 members outside of Japan ( Seichō no Ie online d ). Seichō no Ie is, thus not only one of the largest new religions in Japan, together with Sōka Gakkai it is also the largest Japanese new religion outside of Japan. Missionary activities in Brazil began in the mid-1950s when members immigrating to Brazil transmitted their faith to fellow Japanese immigrants. After Taniguchi’s visit to Brazil in 1963, however, missionary efforts turned to non-Japanese as well. Recently, Seichō no Ie’s membership in Brazil (the Brazilian headquarters are Seichō no Ie’s missionary headquarters for all of Latin America) has been estimated at around half a million members, eighty to ninety per cent of whom have no Japanese ancestry ( Carpenter and Roof 1995; Maeyama 1992; Shimazono 1991 ). Although missions to Hawai’i and other parts of the United States began before the Pacific War, membership figures do not compare to those in Brazil and most members are of Japanese descent. There are Seichō no Ie branches in several European countries, such as Germany, France, Great Britain and Portugal. However, they have only a few members, many of whom are Japanese students or employees or of Brazilian origin (Clarke 2000:290-93).

Seichō no Ie’s International Headquarters is its doctrinal and administrative center. It is scheduled to move from central Tokyo into an “office in the forest,” that is, a zero energy building in the mountains of Yamanashi prefecture, in autumn of 2013 (Taniguchi M. and J. 2010 and Seichō no Ie online e ). The main temple in Nagasaki primarily serves ceremonial functions and contains the main shrine dedicated to Sumiyoshi Daijin, a Shintō deity said to “protect the state and purify the universe” ( Shūkyō Hōjin Seichō no Ie Sōhonzan online d) . The third religious center is the Additional Main Temple in Uji, near Kyoto, which focuses on the veneration of members’ ancestors and the care for stillborn or aborted babies. Hence it includes the main ancestral shrine (Fieldwork Observations; and Seichō no Ie Uji Bekkaku Honzan online a) . Additionally, Seichō no Ie has 129 hierarchically structured regional and local branches in Japan ( Seich<o no Ie online d ). It runs its own publishing company, Nihon Kyōbunsha, and a young women’s boarding school ( Seichō no Ie Yōshin Joshi Gakuen), whose educational focus lies on Seichō no Ie’s scriptures, on housewifely skills such as childcare and nutrition, on artistic courses such as music and traditional Japanese arts, and on basic office skills ( Seichō no Ie Yōshin Joshi Gakuen online ).

A key function in Seichō no Ie’s internal, horizontal structure, however, is fulfilled by its three suborganisations, membership in one of which implies full membership in Seichō no Ie as opposed to mere reading membership. Headquarters of these organisations are in the International Headquarters in Tokyo, activities are conducted nationwide in local branches. All of these groups are official yet small and informal study groups. Members meet regularly to read current issues of monthly magazines or listen to lectures on Taniguchi’s doctrine, to exchange news and talk about current and often very private problems.

The largest of these suborganisations is Shirohatokai, the women’s association. It was founded in February, 1936 and derives its name (White Dove Association) from the fact that doves are associated with purity, friendliness and peace (attributes women, too, ought to have). Shirohatokai’s aim is to teach women how to make their families paradises and to establish enlightenment of love and peace (Seicho-no-Ie online f). The “ Brotherhood Association” (Sōaikai) is intended for middle-aged men (Seicho-no-Ie online g) aiming to assist them in coping with problems of work, family and health. It also aims at spreading Taniguchi’s message into male-dominated areas of society. Parallel to the long-standing mothers’ study groups within Shirohatokai, the Sōaikai successfully took up recent social trends and in 2002 established fathers’ study groups to assist and instruct men in their parental duties (Personal Communication). The “ Youth and Young Adult Association” (Seinenkai), finally, was founded in 1948. It addresses young men and women between junior high school and their late thirties, that is, those in education and early working years. In addition to regular study groups, members may participate in special weekend courses or training seminars and, as in other new religions, in other (for instance environmental, fund-raising or, recently, disaster relief) activities on a local level (Seichō no Ie online h).

ISSUES/CHALLENGES

Seichō no Ie is more overtly patriotic than many new religions. The 1890, the Imperial Rescript on Education, whose importance for Japan’s nationalistic period is well documented (e.g. Antoni 1991:44-47), is included in Seichō no Ie members’ “indispensable” collection of texts (cf. subtitle of Taniguchi S. et al. 1979). In addition, a recent edition of the youth group’s magazine answers questions about the emperor, the national flag and anthem, with emphasis on nationalistic auto-stereotypes of Japan as a peace-loving country and its unique imperial lineage uninterrupted since times immemorial ( Risō sekai 2009/2: 12-16).

Seichō no Ie’s Confucian-influenced ideal female role is readily discernible in the policies of its girls’s school, countless testimonials and, above all, Taniguchi’s own writings (see e.g. Seimei no jissō volume 29; Taniguchi 1954-1958 volume 5). Rather than equality between men and women or superiority of men over women, Taniguchi teaches that men and women are fundamentally different and that women, like men, should strive to fully develop their innate potential. As Seichō no Ie regards the family, especially husband and wife, as society’s basic unit, peace and harmony (which are prerequisites for a peaceful, prosperous society), it encourages women to be loving housewives and caring mothers who “obey their husbands without hesitation” (Taniguchi Masaharu 1991:135) because husbands are head of the family endowed with fatherly, that is divine, wisdom (Taniguchi 1954-1958 I: 63-67).

As in many other new religions, testimonials describing people’s release from illness, misery or strife through belief in a new religion’s doctrine or the performance of its rituals are commonplace in Seichō no Ie. Frequently new, often female, members report their change of attitude from anger, disappointment and frustration towards gratitude, forgiveness, optimism and endurance (and in effect often to a large degree towards a denial of the member’s true needs) (Fieldwork Observations).

Parallel to these aspects which my own political and moderately feminstic point of view might induce me to regard as more problematic than others, however, it must be noted that Seichō no Ie has recently taken up environmental issues with more seriousness than most Japanese people and organisations. This is based on the founder’s doctrine to “be grateful for everything in the world” ( Passage from Taniguchi’s founding issue of Seichō no Ie quoted in Taniguchi M. and J. (2010:229) ) includes all natural phenomena and resources. Additionally, the current leader is convinced that religious practice is not only a matter of performing rituals but should reflect on one’s everyday behaviour and activities (Taniguchi Masanobu 2009: 290-94), that, secondly, changing circumstances required changes in religious practice, and that, thirdly, living in harmony means not only harmony with humans but also with nature.

Seichō no Ie is therefore a fascinating example of an organisation that draws on various religious traditions and is simultaneously very conservative and very progressive. As the environmental focus is a relatively new development within Seichō no Ie, its development during the next decade or so is bound to remain fascinating.

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Author:
Birgit Staemmler

Post Date:
8/1/2013

SŌKA GAKKAI TIMELINE

1871 (6 th day of the 6 th month):  Makiguchi Tsunesaburō, founder of Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai (Value Creation Education Study Association), was born Watanabe Chōshichi in a town now called Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. He was adopted at the age of six into the Makiguchi family and moved to Otaru, Hokkaidō at the age of thirteen.

1889:  Makiguchi entered Hokkaidō Normal School (predecessor to Hokkaido University of Education) in Sapporo. Upon graduation, he began teaching at the Normal School’s attached elementary school.

1893:  Makiguchi changed his given name to Tsunesaburō.

1900 (February 11):  Toda Jōsei, second president of Sōka Gakkai (Value Creation Study Association), was born Toda Jin’ichi in Ishikawa Prefecture. He moved with his family to Ishikari, Hokkaido two years later.

1901 (April):  Makiguchi moved with his wife and children from Sapporo to Tokyo.

1903 (October 15):  Makiguchi published his first major book, Geography of Human Life, (Jinsei chirigaku ).

1910:  Makiguchi joined the Kyōdokai (Home Town Association).

1917:   Toda obtained an elementary school teaching license and began teaching at Mayachi Elementary School in Yūbari, Hokkaido.

1920:  Toda visited Makiguchi upon moving to Tokyo. Makiguchi helped Toda obtain a position teaching elementary school in the imperial capital, and the two began a lifelong mentor-disciple relationship.

1922 (December):  Toda quit teaching at Mikasa Elementary School and left the profession thereafter.

1923:  Toda founded a private academy called Jishū Gakkan that was dedicated to preparing elementary school students for secondary school entrance examinations; the academy’s pedagogy was based on Makiguchi’s theories of pragmatic instruction. Toda changed his given name to Jōgai (“outside the fortress”).

1928 (January 2):  Ikeda Daisaku (originally Taisaku) was born in what is now the Ōmori neighborhood of Ōta Ward, Tokyo.

1928 (June):  Makiguchi was convinced by fellow elementary school educator Mitani Sōkei to dedicate himself to Nichiren Shōshū Buddhism. Toda later followed his mentor’s example.

1930 (November 18):  Makiguchi published Volume One of Sōka kyōikugaku taikei ( System of Value-Creating Educational Study ); Toda oversaw the publication of this text and suggested the term sōka, or “value creation,” as a title for Makiguchi’s educational theories. This publication date has subsequently been memorialized as Sōka Gakkai’s founding moment.

1932:  Makiguchi retired from schoolteaching.

1935:  Makiguchi and Toda began publishing the magazine Shinkyō (New Teachings), which bore the byline “educational revolution, religious revolution” (kyōiku kakumei / shūkyō kakumei ).

1937 (January 27):  The inaugural formal meeting of Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai was convened at a Tokyo restaurant .

1940:  The Japanese government enacted the Religious Corporations Law and Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai came under increased scrutiny by the Special Higher Police. Despite this, Makiguchi and other Gakkai leaders dedicated the next several years to organizing hundreds of study meetings and engaging enthusiastically in shakubuku, the form of proselytization promoted within Nichiren Shōshū tradition. After Gakkai adherents took up shakubuku in earnest, the organization grew to more than five thousand registered members by 1943.

1940 (October 20):  Makiguchi was appointed Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai’s first president, and Toda its general director.

1941 (June 20):  Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai launched a new periodical titled Kachi sōzō (Value Creation).

1942 (May 10):  The Japanese government ended Kachi sōzō ‘s publication at its ninth issue.

1943 (July 6):  Makiguchi, Toda, and nineteen other Gakkai leaders were arrested in multiple locations during a coordinated police raid. They were charged with violating the Peace Preservation Law and detained thereafter at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo. Makiguchi and Toda were the only two leaders who refused to recant their convictions.

1944 (November 18):  Makiguchi Tsunesaburō died of malnutrition at the hospital ward in Sugamo Prison.

1944 (November 18):  Toda, after months of intense study of the Lotus Sūtra and chanting the Lotus ‘s title namu-myōhō-renge-kyō (the daimoku) millions of times, experienced a vision in which he joined the innumerable Bodhisattvas of the Earth (jiyu no bosatsu).

1945 (July 3):  Toda was released on parole, only a few weeks before Japan surrendered to Allied forces on August 15. He changed his given name from Jōgai to Jōsei (“holy fortress”) and set about reconvening the Gakkai.

1946 (March):  Toda changed the name of the organization from Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai to Sōka Gakkai (Value Creation Study Association). The newly reformed group met on the second floor of Toda’s publishing and distance education company Nihon Shōgakkan.

1946 (May 1):  Toda was appointed general director of Sōka Gakkai.

1947 (August 14):  Ikeda accompanied a friend to a Sōka Gakkai study meeting; he joined the group ten days later.

1949 (January 3):  Ikeda began working at Nihon Shōgakkan.

1950 (November 12):  Toda resigned as Sōka Gakkai’s general director.

1951 (April 4):  The first edition of the Seikyō shinbun (Holy Teaching Newspaper), the periodical that would become Sōka Gakkai’s primary media outlet, was published.

1951 (May 3):  Toda accepted appointment as second president of Sōka Gakkai at a gathering of approximately 1,500 members.

1951 (May):  The launch of the Great March of Shakubuku (shakubuku daikōshin) that saw Sōka Gakkai surge from relative obscurity into Japan’s largest new religious movement.

1951 (November 18):  The first edition of the Shakubuku Doctrine Manual (Shakubuku kyōten) was published, a book which, for the next nineteen years, supplied Gakkai members with explanations of Nichiren Buddhist concepts and arguments to employ against “false sects” in the course of proselytizing.

1952 (April 27):  The “Tanuki Festival,” an incident in which a group of Young Men’s Division members on a pilgrimage to the Nichiren Shōshū head temple Taisekiji seized a Shōshū priest named Ogasawara Jimon.

1952 (April 28):  The first edition of the New Edition of the Complete Works of the Great Sage Nichiren ( Shinpen Nichiren Daishōnin gosho zenshū) was published. Known as the Gosho zenshū or simply the Gosho, a single-volume collection of Nichiren’s writings that continues to serve as the organization’s primary source for its Buddhist practice. It was published on a date that commemorated Nichiren’s first chanting of namu-myōhō-renge-kyō (the daimoku) seven hundred years earlier.

1953 (January 2):  Ikeda was appointed Young Men’s Division leader.

1953 (November 25):  Ikeda changed his given name to Daisaku.

1953:  Sōka Gakkai began holding written and oral “appointment examinations” (nin’yō shiken) to test youth leaders on Nichiren Buddhist doctrinal knowledge.

1954 (October 31):  Toda reviewed ten thousand Young Men’s and Young Women’s Division members at Taisekiji from atop a white horse.

1954 (November 7):  The Youth Division held its first sports competition on the grounds of Nihon University in Tokyo; this event served as the model for Sōka Gakkai’s subsequent mass performances.

1954 (22 November):  Sōka Gakkai established a Culture Division (Bunkabu), a sub-organization dedicated primarily to selecting candidates to run in elections and to mobilizing members to gather votes.

1954 (December 13):  Ikeda was appointed Sōka Gakkai’s Public Relations Director.

955 (March 11):  In an event known as the “Otaru Debate” (Otaru montō), members of Sōka Gakkai’s Study Department challenged priests from the Minobu sect of Nichiren Buddhism to a doctrinal debate.

1955 (April 3):  Members of Sōka Gakkai’s Culture Division won election in city councils in Tokyo wards and in other municipalities; this marked the first time Sōka Gakkai ran its own candidates for office.

1955:  By the end of this year, Sōka Gakkai claimed 300,000 member households.

1956 (8 July):  Sōka Gakkai ran six independent candidates for election to the House of Councilors (Upper House); three were elected.

1956 (August 1):  Toda issued an essay titled “On the Harmonious Union of Government and Buddhism “ (Ōbutsu myōgō ron) in the Gakkai study magazine Daibyaku renge (Great White Lotus).

1957 (June):  Gakkai members clashed with affiliates of Tanrō, a coal miner’s union in Yūbari, Hokkaidō, in conflicts over electioneering and collective bargaining.

1957 (July 3):  The beginning of an event memorialized as the “Osaka Incident” took place. Ikeda Daisaku was arrested in Osaka in his capacity as Sōka Gakkai’s Youth Division Chief of Staff for overseeing activities that constituted violations of elections law.

1957 (September 8):  Toda issued “Declaration for the Banning of the Hydrogen Bomb,” calling for the death penalty as punishment for evil people who use this weapon.

1957 (December):  Sōka Gakkai surpassed Toda Jōsei’s stated goal of 750,000 convert households.

1958 (April 2):  Toda Jōsei died of liver disease. By the time of Toda’s death, Sōka Gakkai claimed in excess of one million adherent households.

1958 (June 30):  Ikeda was appointed head of Sōka Gakkai’s newly organized bureaucratic hierarchy, occupying the post of General Manager.

1958 (September 23):  70,000 Gakkai adherents gathered at Tokyo’s Gaien National Stadium to watch 3,000 fellow members perform in the organization’s fifth sporting competition.

1959 (June 30):  Ikeda was appointed head of Sōka Gakkai’s board of directors.

1960 (May 3):  Ikeda Daisaku was appointed third president of Sōka Gakkai.

1960 (October 2):  Ikeda departed with fellow Gakkai leaders on a visit to the United States, Canada, and Brazil, officially inaugurating the spread of Sōka Gakkai into a global enterprise. This grip was followed by trips to Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, India, and other places over the following years.

1961 (November 27):  Sōka Gakkai formed the Clean Government League (Kōmei Seiji Renmei), which successfully ran nine candidates for the House of Councilors in January, 1962.

1962 (April 2):  The first edition of Kōmei shinbun was published; this newspaper became the primary media outlet for political operations.

1963 (October 18):  Sōka Gakkai’s Min-on Concert Association was founded; it sponsored thousands of artistic performances in ensuing years.

1964 (May 3):  Ikeda abolished political subdivisions within Sōka Gakkai and declared that henceforth the group was to be a purely religious organization. Sōka Gakkai now claimed in excess of 3.8 million member households.

1964 (November 8):  One hundred thousand Gakkai members participated in a Culture Festival ( bunkasai ) at National Stadium in Sendagaya, Tokyo. Sōka Gakkai staged numerous other massive Culture Festivals in subsequent years.

1964 (November 17):  Ikeda announced the dissolution of Kōmei Seiji Renmei and the founding of the “Clean Government Party” (Kōmeitō).

1965 (January):  Seikyō shinbun began carrying serial installments of The Human Revolution ( Ningen kakumei ), the novelized version of Sōka Gakkai’s history and Ikeda Daisaku’s biography that members came to regard as an essential text.

1965 (October):  Between October 9 and 12, eight million members in Japan contributed more than 35.5 billion yen to the construction of the Shōhondō, a massive new hall to be constructed at Taisekiji to house the daigohonzon , the calligraphic mandala that serves as Sōka Gakkai’s and Nichiren Shōshū’s primary object of worship.

1967 (January 29):  Twenty-five Kōmeitō candidates were elected to the House of Representatives (Lower House).

1968 (April 1):  Junior and Senior High Schools (Sōka Gakuen) were founded in Tokyo, marking the start of Sōka Gakkai’s private accredited school system.

1969 (October 19):  Sōka Gakkai launched the New Student Alliance (Shin Gakusei Undō) as its answer to the Student Movement protesting the renewal of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. 70,000 members of the Gakkai’s Student Division gathered in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park.

1969 (November):  Events that came to be known as the genron shuppan bōgai mondai , or “problem over obstructing freedom of expression and the press” surrounding attempts by Kōmeitō and allies to forestall publication of the book I Denounce Sōka Gakkai.

1969 (December 28):  Forty-seven Kōmeitō candidates were elected to the Lower House, and Kōmeitō received just over 10 percent of the popular vote. It was now the third largest party in the Japanese Diet.

1970 (January):  Sōka Gakkai claimed 7.55 million member households.

1970 (May 3):  In the wake of the I Denounce Sōka Gakkai scandal, Ikeda Daisaku announced the official separation of Sōka Gakkai and Kōmeitō and a new Gakkai policy of seikyō bunri , or “separation of politics and religion.”

1971 (April 2):  Sōka University opened in Hachiōji, western Tokyo.

1971 (June 15):  Takeiri Yoshikatsu, head of Kōmeitō, accompanied Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei to the People’s Republic of China as part of a mission that ushered in normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan.

1972 (May 5):  Ikeda met for the first time with British historian Arnold J. Toynbee in the first of hundreds of dialogues with prominent figures. The “dialogue” format became a central feature of Gakkai media and propagation efforts after this point.

1972 (October):  Sōka Gakkai and Nichiren Shōshū celebrated the opening of the Shōhondō, a massive modern hall at Taisekiji that could accommodate more than six thousand worshippers.

1973 (May 3):  Fuji Art Museum opened in Shizuoka; moved later to Hachiōji, next to Sōka University, and was renamed Tokyo Fuji Art Museum.

1974 (December 5):  Ikeda met with Premier Zhou Enlai in Beijing.

1975 (January 26):  Soka Gakkai International (SGI) was founded at a World Peace Conference in Guam, and Ikeda Daisaku was declared SGI president.

1976 (March):  The tabloid Gekkan pen (Monthy Pen) began publishing a series of articles alleging liaisons between Ikeda and six women, including top Women’s Division leaders. Sōka Gakkai sued for defamation and the Tokyo District Court ruled in its favor.

1977 (October):  Sōka Gakkai opened Toda Memorial Park, its first gravesite outside a Nichiren Shōshū temple and the first of thirteen massive mortuary facilities the group has built in Japan. Competition for Gakkai member graves began to escalate between Sōka Gakkai and Nichiren Shōshū.

1977:  The first major conflict between Ikeda Daisaku and the Nichiren Shōshū priesthood took place.

1978 (June 30):  Sōka Gakkai issued a statement in the Seikyō shinbun reaffirming Nichiren Shōshū priestly lineage claims.

1978 (November 7):  Ikeda led two thousand Gakkai administrators to Taisekiji on an “apology pilgrimage” (owabi tōzan).

1979:  The Youth Division established a Peace Conference, and the Married Women’s Division and other subgroups soon followed with similar initiatives. World peace, in place within Sōka Gakkai since the early 1960s as a guiding theme, became a central organizational concern from this era onward.

1979 (April 24):  Ikeda resigned as third president of Sōka Gakkai. He took the position Honorary President and retained his post as president of SGI. He maintained a low profile for approximately one year. Hōjō Hiroshi was inaugurated as Sōka Gakkai’s fourth president.

1981 (April):  Sōka Gakkai registered as an NGO (non-governmental organization) with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

1981 (July 18):  Akiya Einosuke was appointed fifth Sōka Gakkai president.

1983 (January 25):  Ikeda issued his first annual “Peace Proposal.”`

1984 (January 2):  Ikeda was reappointed as Nichiren Shōshū’s chief lay representative by the Shōshū’s Chief Abbot Abe Nikken.

1984 (September 29 and 30):  The World Youth Culture Festival was held at Osaka’s Kōshien Stadium.

1990 (December):  The second major conflict between Ikeda Daisaku and the Nichiren Shōshū priesthood took place. Acrimony between the Shōshū priesthood and the Sōka Gakkai leadership erupted in a series of missives between the two camps.

1991:  Conflict between the priesthood and Sōka Gakkai leaders escalated.

1991 (November 28):  In a final move, the priesthood issued a “Notice of Excommunication of Sōka Gakkai and Nichiren Shōshū.” Henceforth, parishioners who wished to enter sect temples, including the head temple Taisekiji, were required to pledge that they were unaffiliated with Sōka Gakkai. Gakkai members were henceforth barred from pilgrimages to their principal object of worship.

1992 (August 11):  Nichiren Shōshū issued a specific edict excommunicating Ikeda Daisaku.

1993 (October 2):  Sōka Gakkai began conferring objects of worship ( gohonzon ) replicas made from a transcription of the daigohonzon mandala inscribed by the Shōshū Chief Abbot Nichikan in 1720. Gakkai members were instructed to turn in their old gohonzon and receive new ones directly from Sōka Gakkai.

1995 (January):  In response to the January 17 Hanshin Awaji Earthquake that devastated the city of Kobe and the surrounding region, Sōka Gakkai opened ten Culture Centers to refugees, mobilized thousands of member volunteers, and gathered over 230 million yen in relief funds.

1998 (May):  Nichiren Shōshū destroyed the Shōhondō at Taisekiji.

1999 (October 5):  Kōmeitō, now New Kōmeitō after decades of political transformations, entered into coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Kōmeitō remained allied with the LDP in government until 2009, and the LDP-Kōmeitō coalition was reelected to government in December, 2012.

2001 (May 3):  Soka University of America opened in Aliso Viejo, California.

2002 (April):  Sōka Gakkai issued new institutional regulations.

2006 (November 9):  Harada Minoru was appointed sixth Sōka Gakkai president.

2011 (March):  In the wake of the March 11 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters that devastated northeastern Japan, Sōka Gakkai housed in excess of 5,000 refugees in Culture Centers across the region, gathered hundreds of millions of yen in emergency aid, and mobilized thousands of volunteers from across Japan to take part in both short- and long-term rescue and relief initiatives.

2013 (November 18):  Sōka Gakkai officially opened its new General Headquarters at Shinanomachi, Tokyo. The organization now claims 8.27 million member households, and Soka Gakkai International claims in excess of 1.5 million members in 192 countries outside Japan.

2023 (November 15):  Ikeda Daisaku died.

FOUNDER/GROUP HISTORY

Sōka Gakkai can be described as Japan’s most successful new religious movement. The group claims 8.27 million adherent households in Japan, and more than 1.5 million members in 192 other countries under its overseas umbrella organization Soka Gakkai International, or SGI. These numbers are inflated, but statistical surveys conducted over the past few decades indicate that between roughly two and three percent of the Japanese population self-identifies as belonging to Sōka Gakkai (McLaughlin 2009; Roemer 2009). This makes the organization the largest active religious group in the country. No temple-based Buddhist group, Shintō organization, or other new religious group matches Sōka Gakkai’s ability to mobilize adherents for the sake of proselytizing, electioneering, and other activities.

Sōka Gakkai’s history distinguishes it from many Japanese new religious movements. First, as its name Sōka Gakkai, or “Value Creation Study Association” suggests, the group did not begin as a religion, but was founded as an educational reform association. Second, Sōka Gakkai in effect had three separate foundings, one each under its first three presidents: Makiguchi Tsunesaburō (1871-1944), Toda Jōsei (1900-1944), and Ikeda Daisaku (1928-2023). Each of these founders oversaw a new era of institutional changes.

Sōka Gakkai claims its founding moment as November 18, 1930, when its first president Makiguchi Tsunesaburō published the firstvolume of his collected essays, System of Value-Creating Educational Study ( Sōka kyōikugaku taikei ), marking the start of the Value Creation Education Study Association (Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai), Sōka Gakkai’s predecessor. Makiguchi was born in 1871 in what is now Niigata Prefecture in northeastern Japan, but he moved to the northern island of Hokkaido at the age of thirteen, where he was raised and eventually educated as an elementary school teacher. In 1901, he moved with his wife and children from the Hokkaido city of Sapporo to Tokyo, where he embarked on a career teaching at a series of Tokyo elementary schools. He also collaborated with intellectuals concerned with educational reform as he published books and essays. From 1910, Makiguchi joined the Kyōdokai, or Home Town Association, a research group engaged in ethnology and surveys of local culture in rural areas; the group included the famed folklorist Yanagita Kunio (1875-1962) and internationally renowned educator Nitobe Inazō (1862-1933). Thanks to scholarly engagements in these circles and through his own research, Makiguchi’s ideas were influenced by educational and philosophical trends, including neo-Kantian thought and pragmatism, which moved from Europe and the United States into Japan around the turn of the twentieth century.

On November 18, 1930, Makiguchi published Volume One of System of Value-Creating Educational Study ( Sōka kyōikugaku taikei ). When Makiguchi compiled his essays on educational reform in this volume, he was beginning of process of summarizing a lifetime of scholarship, and his interests after this moved in the direction of religion. In 1928, Makiguchi converted to Nichiren Shōshū Buddhism. Nichiren Shōshū, or “Nichiren True Sect,” follows the teachings of Nichiren (1222-1282), a medieval Buddhist reformer. Trained primarily in the Tendai tradition, Nichiren broke away from established temples to preach that only faith in the Lotus Sūtra , held to be the historical Buddha Śākyamuni’s final teaching, and the practice of chanting the title of the Lotus in the seven-syllable formula namu-myōhō-renge-kyō were effective means of achieving salvation in the degraded Latter Days of the Buddha’s Dharma ( mappō ) (see below).

In 1932, Makiguchi retired from schoolteaching, and he turned thereafter toward concentrated study and practice of Nichiren Shōshū Buddhism. Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai began to meet formally from 1937, and by the 1940s Makiguchi and the organization he established, which claimed approximately five thousand members at its peak, were firmly committed to defending Nichiren Buddhist principles. From 1941, Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai launched a periodical titled Value Creation (Kachi sōzō). This short-lived magazine featured several articles by Makiguchi in which he directly challenged the Japanese government’s religious policies. The Japanese government ended Kachi sōzō ‘s publication at its ninth issue; Makiguchi remonstrated the government for its decision in a short article titled “An Address on the Discontinuation of Publication.”

On June 27, 1943, Makiguchi and other Gakkai leaders were summoned by the Nichiren Shōshū priesthood to the sect’s headquarters at the temple Taisekiji. They were urged to abide by the dictates of the Religious Corporations Law and Japan’s wartime State Shintō injunctions by instructing Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai adherents to enshrine talismans ( kamifuda ) from the Grand Shrine at Ise, despite the fact that the practice constituted a violation of Nichiren Buddhism. Makiguchi refused to do so. On July 6, Makiguchi, his disciple Toda, and nineteen other Gakkai leaders were arrested on charges of violating the Peace Preservation Law. They were charged with violating the Peace Preservation Law and imprisoned thereafter at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo. Makiguchi died of malnutrition on November 18, 1944.

Makiguchi’s disciple Toda Jōsei was, like his mentor, born in northern Japan, raised in poverty in the northern island of Hokkaidō, and made his way to the imperial capital to pursue his fortunes in teaching. Even after he left the teaching profession in late 1922, Toda remained beholden to his mentor Makiguchi, and he attributed his subsequent success in business to Makiguchi’s teachings. Toda alone demonstrated absolute commitment to Makiguchi by refusing to bow to the Japanese state’s pressure to recant his Nichiren Shōshū beliefs. While in prison, Toda experienced a vision in which he joined the innumerable Bodhisattvas of the Earth ( jiyu no bosatsu ) at Vulture Peak where the Buddha Śākyamuni delivers the Lotus Sūtra . He interpreted this revelation as an awakening to the sacred task of continuing his master Makiguchi’s mission to propagate Nichiren Shōshū Buddhism.

After his release from prison in July, 1945, weeks before the end of the Second World War, Toda devoted himself to resuming Makiguchi’s religious mission. He is responsible for transforming the group from a small collective into a religious mass movement. In 1946, he dropped “education” (kyōiku) from the title, changing the group’s name to Sōka Gakkai. The reformed group met initially on the second floor of Toda’s publishing and distance education company Nihon Shōgakkan. On May 1, 1946, Toda was appointed general director of Sōka Gakkai. As he continued launching business ventures, he began holding regular Gakkai study meetings (called zadankai , or “study roundtables”) and organizing a growing number of new converts under the group’s developing administrative leadership. Japan’s tumultuous economy created trouble for Toda’s businesses, and on November 12, 1950, Toda resigned as Sōka Gakkai’s general director, citing his business failures as proof of retribution for failing to commit fully to rebuilding his mentor Makiguchi’s organization. The group, which had experienced slow but steady growth to this point, began to organize for the purpose of radical expansion.

On May 3, 1951, Toda accepted appointment as second president of Sōka Gakkai. At his inauguration, Toda challenged the Gakkai’s adherents to convert seven hundred and fifty thousand families to Sōka Gakkai before his death: “If this goal is not realized while I am alive,” he declared, “do not hold a funeral for me. Simply dump my remains in the bay at Shinagawa.” The group soon developed a widely publicized reputation for aggressive proselytizing and harsh condemnation of rival religions. These tactics met with success: from 1951, Sōka Gakkai grew from a few thousand members to claim over one million adherent households by the end of the decade. The majority of the people who joined the group in the immediate postwar years were some of the millions who were flooding Japan’s cities seeking material security, social infrastructure, and spiritual certainty. Toda relied upon the organization’s structure as a study association (gakkai) to school converts in Nichiren Buddhist doctrine and attract disenfranchised people to Sōka Gakkai’s legitimizing framework of standardized education. He also relied upon the group’s original emphasis on pragmatic thought to emphasize practical benefits. Toda likened Nichiren’s main object of worship to a “happiness-producing machine” that provides its user endless possibilities, and he organized converts into efficient cadres that relentlessly employed persuasive tactics to combat “false sects” (rival religions) in their conversion efforts. Converts enjoyed a renewed sense of self-worth as they were given the task of not only mastering command of Nichiren Buddhist doctrine but also of teaching it to others. Members combined their study of Nichiren and the Lotus with discussions of value, ethics, and pragmatic evaluation that Toda derived from Makiguchi as well as the canon of modern philosophy and world literature.

Sōka Gakkai’s hard-sell approach brought it a rush of new converts, but its aggressive approach also earned the group a negative public image, particularly in the wake of several scandals. One of the most notorious events came to be known as the “Ogasawara Incident” or “Tanuki (Racoon Dog) Festival.” On April 27, 1952, during rituals marking the seven hundredth anniversary of Nichiren’s first chanting of namu-myōhō-renge-kyō, a group of Young Men’s Division members on a pilgrimage to the Nichiren Shōshū head temple Taisekiji seized a Shōshū priest named Ogasawara Jimon. Ogasawara had promoted a controversial plan during the wartime era (one opposed by Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai and the Shōshū leadership) to amalgamate all Nichiren sects into one nation-promoting denomination. He was accused by Toda and the Gakkai youth members of alerting wartime authorities to Makiguchi’s refusal to follow State Shintō protocol, and was blamed for the arrest of the Gakkai leaders and the resulting death of Makiguchi. The Gakkai youth stripped Ogasawara of his robes, paraded him around the Taisekiji grounds, hung a placard from his neck bearing the phrase “tanuki monk” (associating him with the tanuki, an animal that appears in Japanese folk tradition as a shape-changing trickster), and brought him to Makiguchi’s grave, where he was forced to sign a prepared written apology. Reports of this incident in the popular press created a negative public image for Sōka Gakkai, an image that came to permanently define public opinion about the organization in Japan.

Sōka Gakkai’s reputation for aggressive behavior was amplified after another controversial event known as the “Otaru Debate,” when members of Sōka Gakkai’s Study Department challenged priests from the Minobu Sect of Nichiren Buddhism to a doctrinal debate. The event was held in a hall in the city of Otaru (Hokkaido) that was packed with Gakkai members, who jeered at the priests and accused them of heterodox worship and financial corruption. The priests withdrew, and Sōka Gakkai declared themselves the debate’s winners. Publications critical of Sōka Gakkai by the Nichiren sect and other religious organizations began to emerge in large numbers from around this time.

Despite growing controversy about its tactics, Sōka Gakkai continued unflagging growth. From 1953, Sōka Gakkai began holding written and oral “appointment examinations” (nin’yō shiken) to test youth leaders on Nichiren Buddhist doctrinal knowledge. The Gakkai’s administration across Japan expanded rapidly from around this time. With administrative expansion came expansion outside lay Buddhist practices. On May 9, 1954, the Gakkai’s Young Men’s Division leader Ikeda Daisaku (1928-2023) founded the Gungakutai (Military Band Corps), predecessor of the present-day Music Corps (Ongakutai), establishing an interest in the arts that the organization would deepen in later years. The Gungakutai played its first concert in the rain at Taisekiji on October 31, 1954, when Toda reviewed ten thousand mustered Young Men’s and Young Women’s Division members while he rode a white horse, an act viewed by critics outside the group as emulating the wartime Japanese emperor.

The Gakkai’s most notable growth beyond its lay Buddhist focus was expansion into electoral politics. From November 1954, Sōka Gakkai established a Culture Division (Bunkabu), a sub-organization dedicated primarily to selecting candidates to run in elections and to mobilizing members to gather votes. On April 3, 1955, members of Sōka Gakkai’s Culture Division won election in city councils in Tokyo wards and in other municipalities; this marked the first time Sōka Gakkai ran its own candidates for office. On August 1, 1956, Toda issued an essay titled “On the Harmonious Union of Government and Buddhism” (Ōbutsu myōgō ron) in the Gakkai study magazine Great White Lotus (Daibyaku renge), in which he stated that “the only purpose of our going into politics is the erection of the national ordination platform (kokuritsu kaidan).” Expressions of alarm regarding Sōka Gakkai’s forays into national-level politics became a media staple in Japan from around this time.

Sōka Gakkai’s initial forays into politics met with conflict. On April 23, 1957, a group of Young Men’s Division members campaigning for a Gakkai candidate in an Osaka Upper House by-election were arrested for distributing money, cigarettes, and caramels at supporters’ residences, in violation of elections law, and on July 3 of that year, at the beginning of an event memorialized as the “Osaka Incident,” Ikeda Daisaku was arrested in Osaka. He was taken into custody in his capacity as Sōka Gakkai’s Youth Division Chief of Staff for overseeing activities that constituted violations of elections law. He spent two weeks in jail and appeared in court forty-eight times before he was cleared of all charges in January 1962. Sōka Gakkai characterized this incident as Ikeda’s triumph over corrupt tyranny, and the trial of the young leader galvanized Sōka Gakkai members to greater efforts in proselytizing and electioneering.

By the time Toda Jōsei died in April 1958, Sōka Gakkai claimed in excess of one million adherent households, and its size and political clout compelled displays of respect, even from its rivals. An estimated 250,000 Gakkai members lined Tokyo streets to view Toda’s hearse passing to his official funeral on April 20, 1957, where Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke and Minister of Education Matsunaga Tō offered incense to the deceased leader.

After Toda’s disciple Ikeda Daisaku took the post of third Sōka Gakkai president in May, 1960, he set about expanding the group from a Japan-focused lay Buddhist organization into an international enterprise with a broad mandate in religion, politics, and culture. Under Ikeda’s leadership, Sōka Gakkai established official branches in Asia, Europe, North America, Brazil, and other parts of the globe. Under Ikeda, Sōka Gakkai founded its own accredited private school system, sub-organizations committed to supporting the arts, and other education- and culture-focused initiatives.

Sōka Gakkai continued radical growth in Japan under Ikeda’s leadership throughout the 1960s, powered by the organization’s mobilization in electoral politics through its party Kōmeitō (founded 1964) and a related focus on the goal of building a “national ordination platform” (kokuritsu kaidan). This platform, a special temple facility for ordinations, was to be erected by government decree to mark the completion of kōsen rufu , interpreted by Sōka Gakkai by this time to mean the conversion of one third of the population of Japan. From late 1965, the Gakkai membership focused on the project of constructing the Shōhondō, a massivefacility at the Nichiren Shōshū head temple Taisekiji to house the daigohonzon , the calligraphic mandala inscribed by Nichiren in 1279 that serves Sōka Gakkai and Nichiren Shōshū as their primary object of worship. The Shōhondō was referred to until the end of the decade by Shōshū and Gakkai leaders as a virtual realization of the “true ordination platform” (the honmon no kaidan), marking the completed task of converting the populace.

Growth stalled at the end of the 1960s, at a point when Sōka Gakkai and Kōmeitō were compelled to officially separate. This official split followed a scandal that began in November, 1969 over events that came to be known as the “problem over obstructing freedom of expression and the press” (genron shuppan bōgai mondai ). Fujiwara Hirotatsu (1921-1999), a Meiji University professor, published a book titled I Denounce Sōka Gakkai ( Sōka gakkai o kiru ). He claimed that attempts were made by prominent Kōmeitō politicians and Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Tanaka Kakuei (1918-1993, later Prime Minister) to block publication. Press coverage of this scandal encouraged sales of Sōka gakkai o kiru and a flood of negative press for Sōka Gakkai.

In the wake of the I Denounce Sōka Gakkai scandal, Ikeda Daisaku announced the official separation of Sōka Gakkai and Kōmeitō and a new Gakkai policy of “separation of politics and religion” (seikyō bunri ). The official separation of the religion and the political party served as a watershed moment for both organizations: Sōka Gakkai’s membership only grew by small amounts after this, and Kōmeitō suffered electoral losses throughout the following decade. Even after the official separation, devout Gakkai adherents have continued to regard electioneering on behalf of Kōmeitō candidates as part of their regular faith activities.

From the early 1970s, Sōka Gakkai moved away from its mission of aggressive expansion in favor of cultivating the generation of children born to first generation converts in discipleship under Ikeda Daisaku. On October 12, 1972, during ceremonies marking the opening of the completed Shōhondō at Taisekiji, Ikeda delivered a speech announcing the start of Sōka Gakkai’s “Phase Two,” describing a turn away from aggressive expansion toward envisioning the Gakkai as an international movement promoting peace through friendship and cultural exchange.

Sōka Gakkai’s official announcement of an inward turn did not deter critiques from outside the group. From March 1976, the tabloid Monthy Pen (Gekkan pen) began publishing a series of articles alleging liaisons between Ikeda and six women, including top Women’s Division leaders. Sōka Gakkai sued for defamation, and the Tokyo District Court ruled in its favor; Gekkan pen was forced to issue a published apology, and its publisher Kumabe Taizō served one year on probation. A recurring pattern of tabloid accusation followed by Gakkai lawsuit became an entrenched feature from this point, causing further damage to Sōka Gakkai’s public image, and the “women problem” (josei mondai) remained an angle of attack that journalists have continued to employ against Ikeda to the present.

From 1977, Ikeda began to clash openly with the Nichiren Shōshū priesthood. At several points during this year Ikeda delivered speeches and published essays in which he challenged the authority of the Nichiren Shōshū priesthood. In one of these, an essay titled “Lecture on the Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life” (Shōji ichidaiji ketsumyakushō kōgi) that Sōka Gakkai reprinted in millions of pamphlets, Ikeda contended that Shōshū priestly claims to an exclusive lineage going back to the founder Nichiren were not superior to links Gakkai members forge to the Dharma by chanting namu-myōhō-renge-kyō. Extensive negotiations between the two organizations led to Sōka Gakkai reaffirming Nichiren Shōshū priestly lineage claims, and in 1979 Ikeda was compelled to step down from the post of third Gakkai president to take the position of Honorary President.

Distance between Sōka Gakkai and Nichiren Shōshū continued to widen throughout the 1980s, and by the middle of that decade the Shōshū priesthood found itself the uncomfortable elderly companion of a dynamic international organization led by a public intellectual who was more likely to speak of the Enlightenment of European philosophy than the enlightenment promised by Nichiren Buddhist doctrine. These years saw Sōka Gakkai grow increasingly internationally focused; concerned with world peace, culture, and education; centered on Ikeda’s authority; and distant from its Nichiren Shōshū parent organization.

In 1990, the second major conflict between Ikeda Daisaku and the Nichiren Shōshū priesthood erupted. Open acrimony between the Shōshū priesthood and the Sōka Gakkai leadership escalated through a series of missives between the two camps. The priesthood complained about speeches made by Ikeda in which he criticized Abe Nikken. Sōka Gakkai responded with lists of their own concerns about the treatment of their members by the priesthood. From early 1991, Sōka Gakkai began publishing articles in the Seikyō shinbun that were openly critical of Abe Nikken, and the organization began promoting funerals conducted by Gakkai leaders without Nichiren Shōshū priests. Tensions between the two leaderships reached a breaking point by the end of November, 1991 when Nichiren Shōshū excommunicated Sōka Gakkai; in one day, the sect expelled more than ninety-five percent of its parishioners.

Prevented from engaging directly with its principal object of worship enshrined at the Shōshū head temple, Sōka Gakkai after 1991 confirmed its identity as an organization committed entirely to Ikeda. In April, 2002, Sōka Gakkai issued new institutional regulations stipulating that Makiguchi, Toda, and Ikeda are to be known as the sandai kaichō (three generations of presidents), the “eternal mentors” ( eien no shidōsha ) who founded the movement; that the organization upholds the principle of shitei funi (the “indivisible bond of mentor and disciple”); and that the post of Sōka Gakkai president is purely administrative. Sōka Gakkai definitively curtailed the possibility of extending charismatic leadership past Ikeda Daisaku.

In recent years, Gakkai members have mostly come to learn about Nichiren Buddhism in the context of Ikeda’s writings, and dedicated adherents structure their lives around a busy calendar of large and small Gakkai events that serve as rededications of their discipleship under the Honorary President.

DOCTRINES/BELIEFS

Sōka Gakkai is commonly characterized as a lay movement within Nichiren Shōshū Buddhist tradition. However, as the history outlined above indicates, it is much more than a Buddhist organization and is instead best understood as heir to twin legacies: (1) a tradition of self-cultivation through the practice of Nichiren Shōshū Buddhism, and (2) intellectual currents that flourished in late nineteenth to early twentieth century Japan valorizing education, pedagogy, and humanism, inspired by modern Euro-American philosophy and traditions that fall under the general rubric of “culture.” These two legacies shape the commitments, expressive idioms, and combination of doctrines and practices Sōka Gakkai members uphold.

Members maintain traditional Buddhist practices in keeping with Nichiren Shōshū tradition. These include:

• Chanting. Members intone morning and evening prayers in front of their home altars in a chanting performance called gongyō, literally “to exert oneself in practice.” The twice-daily chant includes Chapter Two, “Expedient Means” (Hōben), and sections of Chapter Sixteen, “Life Span” (Juryō), of the Lotus Sūtra. The sūtra sections are followed by repeated incantations of the title of the Lotus, called the daimoku, which consists of the seven syllables namu-myōhō-renge-kyō, and by silent prayers.

• Reverence for the daigohonzon . This is the “great object of worship,” a calligraphic mandala said to have been inscribed by Nichiren on the twelfth day of the tenth month of 1279 for the sake of all humanity. Membership in Sōka Gakkai is confirmed by the reception of a gohonzon , a replica of the daigohonzon . Sōka Gakkai’s lack of access to the daigohonzon after November 1991 and the group’s practice since then of manufacturing gohonzon based on a replica produced in 1720 contribute to ongoing heated doctrinal controversies between the Gakkai and rival Nichiren groups, particularly Nichiren Shōshū and the Shōshū-based lay organization Fuji Taisekiji Kenshōkai.

• Conversion activities known as shakubuku. Shakubuku can be translated as “break and subdue [attachment to inferior teachings].” It was promoted by Nichiren as the only practice appropriate for countries, such as Japan, that slander the dharma. Recent decades have seen Sōka Gakkai, especially its international wing SGI, encourage a move away from shakubuku in favor of shōju , the proselytizing method promoted in the Nichiren tradition of gentle suasion through reasoned argument. However, ordinary members in Japan rarely speak of converting others to Sōka Gakkai in anything other than terms of shakubuku , although interpretations of that term have mostly shifted from hard-sell tactics in the early postwar decades to less intense methods in recent years.

•  The mission of kōsen rufu , which calls for the spread of the Lotus in the time of mappō, the latter day of the Buddha’s Dharma. The term, which can be translated as “widely declare and spread [the truth of the Lotus Sūtra ],” is employed within Sōka Gakkai as a means of describing any activities that promote the growth of the institution.

•  Belief that the present age is the latter days of the Buddha’s Dharma (mappō). The three stages of history in East Asian Buddhist tradition are the age of shōbō , or “true Dharma”; the age of zōhō , or “semblance Dharma”; and the final age of mappō , understood to have begun in the year 1052. Sōka Gakkai members uphold Nichiren’s belief that the only means of salvation in mappō is to embrace the Lotus Sūtra and reject all other teachings as false (Stone 1999:383-84).

•  Reverence for Nichiren and his writings. Followers in the Nichiren Shōshū tradition, including members of Sōka Gakkai, regardNichiren as the earthly avatar of the eternal or original Buddha. As such, his writings are considered by Gakkai followers to bear scriptural authority surpassing even that of the sūtra s of the Buddha Śākyamuni.

•  Though focus on this matter has diminished considerably within Sōka Gakkai since 1970, the group was greatly concerned with realizing the final of Nichiren’s Three Great Secret Dharmas (sandai hihō). These are (1) the honmon no daimoku , the title of the Lotus , namu-myōhō-renge-kyō ; (2) the honmon no honzon, or true object of worship, the calligraphic mandala with the daimoku inscribed at its center that Nichiren devised for his followers; and (3) the honmon no kaidan, or “true ordination platform,” a site for the ordination of clerics that would become the spiritual center for all people, marking the achievement of kōsen rufu , or the conversion of all people to exclusive worship of the Lotus . The first two of the Three Great Secret Dharmas were achieved by Nichiren himself, and the third remained a lofty and remote goal for Nichiren’s followers for centuries, that is, until Sōka Gakkai began to attract millions of converts in the years after the Second World War. Toda Jōsei moved Sōka Gakkai into electoral politics in the 1950s for the sake of realizing the third of the Three Great Secret Dharmas: securing state support for the construction of the honmon no kaidan, known in the modern era as the kokuritsu kaidan, or “national ordination platform,” was required, according to Nichiren Buddhist decree. Sōka Gakkai abandoned the kokuritsu kaidan objective after it separated officially from its political party Kōmeitō in 1970.

Though Nichiren Buddhism forms the core of Sōka Gakkai’s identity as a lay organization, the group’s founding as an educational reform movement concerned with pedagogy and culture guides the ethos and activities of members. In particular, members today define themselves as Gakkai adherents in terms of discipleship under Honorary President Ikeda Daisaku. They conceive of their practice as operating within an affective one-to-one relationship with Ikeda, and though they rarely meet with him directly, they constantly encourage one another to forge an “indivisible bond of mentor and disciple” (shitei funi) by formulating all of their personal objectives and accomplishments as dedications to the Honorary President.

Members are cultivated in reverence for Ikeda through constant immersion in Gakkai media. Maximally dedicated Gakkai members can receive most or even all of their information through the organization. Information is obtained through meetings and satellite broadcasts they attend at Culture Centers and through the daily newspaper Seikyō shinbun , the study magazine Daibyaku renge , videos produced by the production company Shinano Kikaku, and thousands of books, magazines, CDs, websites, and other sources. Today, members are most likely to encounter Nichiren’s writings and the Lotus Sūtra through transcribed speeches and essays by Ikeda. Culture Centers are decorated with Ikeda’s photographs and images of the historical figures he finds most inspiring; typically, apart from altars that enshrine the gohonzon , there is nothing traditionally “Buddhist” or even Japanese to be seen in a Gakkai building. Ikeda extols Napoleon, Ludwig van Beethoven, Martin Luther King Jr., the Mahātmā Gandhi, and other historical greats known for having realized their transcendent visions in the face of adversity. Members are inspired to model their own lives on the examples of these heroic figures, and constant immersion in Gakkai media encourages them to conflate the biographies of triumphant historical personages with that of Ikeda. Reverence for Ikeda is also cultivated by reading books authored by him, particularly The Human Revolution (Ningen kakumei) and its sequel The New Human Revolution (Shin ningen kakumei), serial novelized histories of Sōka Gakkai and its founding presidents that members regard as possessing de facto scriptural authority.

RITUALS/PRACTICES

In addition to twice-daily recitation of sections of the Lotus Sūtra and repetitions of namu-myōhō-renge-kyō , Gakkai members engage in numerous other activities that make up ritual life in the group. These include:

• Study meetings: Local Gakkai members meet at member homes not for Buddhist study per se but at zadankai , monthly “discussion meetings” or “study roundtables.” Members otherwise gather at Culture Centers for larger meetings and to attend broadcasts that include speeches by Honorary President Ikeda. Members will also attend many other meetings convened for the Gakkai sub-organizations to which they belong, such as the Married Women’s Division or the Young Men’s Division, and vocational groups such as the Doctor’s Division, the Educator’s Division, the Artist’s Division, or others.

• Gathering subscriptions for Gakkai publications: Sōka Gakkai members regularly solicit friends, relatives, acquaintances, and each other to sign up to receive periodicals such as the newspaper Seikyō shinbun . The group calls the practice of soliciting for its newspaper “newspaper enlightenment” (shinbun keimō) or using the European (not the Buddhist) term for “enlightenment” ( keimō ) to celebrate the awakening of new readers.

• Political campaigns: A major component of devoted members’ practice is electioneering on behalf of candidates for Kōmeitō or, on occasion, for its coalition partner the Liberal Democratic Party. Sōka Gakkai maintains Japan’s most powerful grassroots-level electioneering network, powered primarily by its Married Women’s Division, who gather votes for candidates in every election, from local town councils to races for seats in the National Diet. Though Sōka Gakkai and Kōmeitō are formally separate, most committed members regard campaigning for Kōmeitō as part of their faith-driven activities.

• Visits to important Gakkai sites: Since 1991, when they were barred from pilgrimages to the daigohonzon at the Nichiren Shōshū head temple Taisekiji in Shizuoka Prefecture, members have taken to carrying out pilgrimages to places associated with the person of Ikeda Daisaku. These include the Sōka Gakkai administrative headquarters at Shinanomachi in central Tokyo, the tree-lined campus of Sōka University in Hachiōji, and the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. Particularly committed adherents will make annual visits on significant dates in Ikeda’s biography, such as his birthday on January 2, and his date of conversion to Sōka Gakkai on August 24. These annual observances have come to replace the nenchū gyōji, or the “cycle of annual practices” maintained by the Gakkai’s temple-based Buddhist parent Nichiren Shōshū.

• Cultural engagement: From the late 1950s, Gakkai members began to perform at mass events held in sports arenas, and from the 1960s into the early 2000s Culture Festivals (bunkasai) featuring thousands of ordinary members engaged in cast-of-thousands musical spectaculars were organized with some regularity. The last two decades has seen a decline in these mass events in favor of members attending exhibitions at Culture Centers, visiting the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, and patronizing performances sponsored by the Min-on Concert Association. Young members also perform (primarily) Western classical music in orchestras, concert bands, and other ensembles administered by the Young Men’s Division Music Corps (Ongakutai) and the Young Women’s Division Fife-and-Drum Corps (Kotekitai).

• Ritual reception of a gohonzon : In contrast to earlier eras, when converts were urged to convert to Sōka Gakkai immediately, aspiring members are now encouraged to practice gongyō for six months before they receive their own gohonzon replica in a ceremony called gojukai, to “take the precepts,” or uphold exclusive reverence for the gohonzon .

•  Funerals and memorials: Since 1991, members have been encouraged to have “friend funerals”( yūjinsō ) conducted by Gakkai administrators from the Liturgy Division (Gitenbu) who perform gongyō for the deceased and carry out other funerary duties formerly performed by Nichiren Shōshū priests.

Regardless of the nature of the Gakkai meeting, the beginnings and endings of small and large gatherings in the presence of an enshrined gohonzon are routinely marked by reciting the daimoku sanshō : three invocations of namu-myōhō-renge-kyō.

ORGANIZATION/LEADERSHIP

Sōka Gakkai maintains an elaborate bureaucratic administration that resembles that of a modern national government and its civilservice. Honorary President Ikeda floats above a massive pyramidal structure topped by a president (currently sixth president Harada Minoru) who oversees more than five hundred vice-presidents, a board of regents, and many other paid administrators who in turn oversee the activities of the Gakkai’s many subdivisions. Members are grouped by age, marital status, gender, location, occupation, and many other demographic considerations. The primary sub-organizations are the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Divisions, the Married Women’s Division, and the Men’s Division. Children under the age of eighteen belong to the Future Division. Members across Japan belong to a vertical administrative hierarchy based in households (setai) that are organized into blocks (burokku), districts (chiku), chapters (shibu), regional headquarters (honbu), wards (ku or ken), and prefectures (ken), which are in turn administered by thirteen national districts; almost all of the administrative work ensuring the daily operation of these subdivisions is carried out by volunteer administrators. One active member may hold multiple volunteer administrative posts at different levels of the organization, from the block on upward, and each of these positions will entail numerous responsibilities. The most active members at the local level belong to the Married Women’s Division, and though the majority of regular attendees at meetings are women, membership in Sōka Gakkai’s administration, with the exception of the Future, Young Women’s, and Married Women’s Divisions, is restricted to men.

In addition to a modern rationalized bureaucracy overseen by a presidency, Sōka Gakkai maintains other administrative features that mirror the appurtenances of a nation-state. These include:

•  A Sōka Gakkai flag: A red, yellow, and blue tri-color modeled on European national flags that frequently features a lotus flower drawn at the center. Gakkai territory is instantly recognizable in Japan when the flag hangs over a building, a member’s home, or a business run by an adherent.

•  Anthems: Gakkai members learn Sōka Gakkai songs and sing them at meetings. The songs serve as rallying cries that bind members to the group’s institutional memory, and almost all of these are military marches written for optimal performance by singing in unison over brass band accompaniment.

•A Sōka Gakkai economy: The organization maintains a thriving internal economy based primarily on zaimu (literally “finances”), or monetary donations from members. Sōka Gakkai depends financially on the flow of billions of yen and material goods provided as gifts by members to the institution.

•A media empire: Members receive news about the group’s activities, doctrinal teachings, guidance from Ikeda, and other forms of information from the visual, audio, literary, and other forms of media issued by the organization. They are also bonded to Sōka Gakkai media through quotidian practices such as delivering newspapers, soliciting new subscriptions, and filling their shelves, screens, and stereos with Gakkai texts, images, and sounds.

•Schools: Since 1968, the group has built a respected private secular educational system from preschool up to Sōka University, and in recent years has added educational institutions overseas. Graduates from Sōka Gakkai educational institutions maintain lifelong ties, and in recent decades the organization has staffed the ranks of its paid administrative staff with graduates from its own schools.

•Sōka Gakkai territory: The organization maintains thousands of Culture Centers and other facilities across Japan that are patrolled by trained special cadres, usually the Gajōkai (Fortress Protection) and Sōkahan (Value Creation Team) sub-groups of the Young Men’s Division.

No matter their level of commitment to the group’s administration or the extent to which they devote themselves to life within the nation-like structure of the group, Gakkai members perceive themselves to be in an affective direct relationship with Ikeda Daisaku, a relationship that can at times circumvent Sōka Gakkai’s massive bureaucracy.

ISSUES/CHALLENGES

As a vast, expansionist organization that came to dominate Japan’s religious landscape and make its presence felt in politics, education, publishing, and many other spheres, Sōka Gakkai has provoked many conflicts. Numbering among these are:

•  A reputation for aggressive proselytizing. Though the terms of shakubuku have changed considerably, from its interpretation under Toda as aggressive conversion of all to encouraging dialogue between friends today, Sōka Gakkai retains a reputation for intolerance of other faiths and requiring its members to proselytize.

•  Conflict with other religious organizations. Sōka Gakkai exploded to millions of exclusive adherents over a few short decades by converting followers of other religions. It was able to do this in part because of arguments it leveled against “false teachings” and what it regarded as heterodox forms of worship. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this approach led almost all other religious groups in Japan (including Buddhist organizations, Shintō-based groups, Christian denominations, and New Religions) to target Sōka Gakkai as their primary rival.

The most acute religious conflict Sōka Gakkai faces today is with Nichiren Shōshū. The years following the 1991 split have seen published accusations and hundreds of lawsuits define the relationship between the two organizations. Both groups have sought to purge themselves of each other’s influence; Nichiren Shōshū demolished the Shōhondō in 1998, and Sōka Gakkai denies the religious legitimacy of the Shōshū abbot. Sōka Gakkai’s Shōshū-connected rivals, including the lay group Fuji Taisekiji Kenshōkai, focus in particular on what they regard as the sacrilege of Gakkai members’ reverence for replicas made from the 1720 Nichikan transcription of the daigohonzon .

•  Political engagement. The Sōka Gakkai activity that attracts the majority of public opposition is its continuing support of Kōmeitō. Critics accuse Sōka Gakkai of violating Article 20 of the 1947 Japanese Constitution, which bars religious organizations from receiving privileges from the state or exercising political authority. During the 1950s and 60s, when Sōka Gakkai was pushing for the construction of the ordination platform by government decree, critics also accused the group of violating Article 89, which prevents the government from expending funds for the benefit of religious enterprises. Dropping the objective of constructing the ordination platform has made it easier for Sōka Gakkai to defend its position that supporting Kōmeitō does not violate the Constitution. Sōka Gakkai argues that it and its affiliated political party are officially separate organizations and reminds critics that the 1947 Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

•  Reverence for Honorary President Ikeda. Outside observers note that Sōka Gakkai has transformed from an organization led by Ikeda to a group dedicated to Ikeda. The Gakkai’s Nichiren Buddhist practice is now framed as a means of refining the indivisible bond of mentor and disciple (shitei funi) encouraged within all its adherents. Critics employ the singular reverence Gakkai members maintain for their Honorary President as evidence that the group has moved away from its Nichiren Buddhist origins.

Sōka Gakkai faces a looming challenge occasioned by its singular focus on Ikeda Daisaku: when the Honorary President passes away, there will be no clear successor, and the organization’s bureaucrats may face difficulties exercising authority in the absence of a charismatic living leader.

As a result of these and other conflicts (see the timeline and founder/group history above), Sōka Gakkai has earned the most prominent and longest lasting negative public reputation of any religious group in contemporary Japan. Gakkai members live ordinary lives in mainstream Japanese society, yet many experience stigma in their schools, workplaces, and personal lives due to prevailing negative associations with their faith.

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Stone, Jacqueline I. 2003. “Nichiren’s Activist Heirs: Sōka Gakkai, Risshō Kōseikai, Nipponzan Myōhōji.” Pp. 63-94. In Action Dharma: New Studies in Engaged Buddhism, edited by Christopher Queen, Charles Prebish and Damien Keown. London: RoutledgeCurzon.

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Yamazaki Masatomo. 2001. “Gekkan Pen” jiken: Umoreteita shinjitsu. Tokyo: Daisan Shokan.

Publication Date:
1 December 2013

TENSHINSEIKYŌ

TENSHINSEIKYŌ TIMELINE

1882:  Shimada Heikichi, the older brother of the founder Shimada Seiichi, was born in Ōgoe Village, Saitama.

1892:  Tenshin Ōmikami first appeared to Shimada Heikichi, predicting the birth of his younger brother Shimada Seiichi, who became the founder known as Shodai-sama.

1892:  Heikichi began performing miracles, such as curing blindness and “spirit writing” by channeling Tenshin Ōmikami. This became known as the First Advent of God.

1896:  Heikichi announced that Tenshin Ōmikami would return to heaven, and, shortly after, Heikichi declared that he could no longer perform miracles.

1896 (February 11):  The founder, Seiichi Shimada, was born.

1909-1920:  Seiichi moved to Tokyo and established himself as a grain trader.

1923 (February):  Seiichi married Ei, who was twenty-one at the time.

1932:  Due to declining business, Seiichi was forced to sell his house and the family fell into poverty. He took work as a millet broker.

1935 (January):  Seiichi considered suicide, beseeched God for help.

1935 (January 18):  A fellow trader, Satō Yasutaka, became possessed by Tenshin Ōmikami and told Seiichi: “I am your guardian god.” He gave Seiichi precise advice on the soybean market, which turns out to be accurate. This became known as the Second Advent of God.

1935 (February 11):  Seiichi held the first prayer meeting for Tenshin Ōmikami in his home in Saga-chō, and begian holding monthly prayer meetings.

1935 (Summer):  Seiichi and a fellow believer went on a pilgrimage from Mt. Kurama in Kyoto to Mt. Akiha and Mt. Kuno in Shizuoka. He began receiving mysterious abilities, such as reading in the dark.

1937 (November 29):  Shimada Heikichi passed away.

1937:  The first congregation, the Tokyo congregation, was founded (unofficially), and was known as Tenshin Kai.

1945 (March 10):  Seiichi’s home burned down in a Tokyo firebombing. Seiichi evacuated to Saitama with family.

1947-1949:  Saitama was flooded by Typhoon Kathleen on September 15, 1947. Seiichi’s house is miraculously left untouched. Seiichi began construction on a new home in Bunkyo Ward (near present-day headquarters) in1948; work was, completed in September 1949. The house included altar room for rituals.

1949:  Seiichi resumed monthly prayer meetings in October at his home altar. Believers began visiting and staying with him at his home. The religion becomes known as “Kagomachi no Tenshin-sama,” named after the location of his home in Kagomachi, Bunkyō Ward.

1949 (April):  Seiichi married his second wife, Kyoko (who was unaware of his religious beliefs).

1950 (July):  Seiichi grew increasingly ill. He was diagnosed with cancer of the stomach/intestines and acute appendicitis. He underwent emergency surgery and recovered miraculously.

1950 (December 25):  Seiichi miraculously cured two people suffering from mental illness. News of the miracle spread and more and more believers began visiting his home.

1951 (January 11):  Seiichi made a covenant with Tenshin Ōmikami to serve as a religious leader.

1952:  Seiichi registered Tenshin Ōmikami Kyō as a religious organization.

1960:  Tenshin Ōmikami Kyō’s Head Temple was completed in Tokyo.

1961:  Seiichi received divine instruction on healing technique using “divine water” (go-shinsui).

1967:  Tenshin Ōmikami Kyō’s affiliated clinic, Yamatoura Clinic (later renamed Tenshin Clinic), opened in Kagomachi, Tokyo.

1975 (September):  Restoration was completed on the “Ōgoe Holy Site” of Seiichi’s birthplace.

1976 (April 11):  Seiichi’s eldest son, Shimada Haruyuki, succeeded him as head of the religion.

1976 (May 8):  The twenty-fifth Anniversary Celebration was held at the Nippon Budohkan.

1985 (May 3):  Shimada Seiichi passed away at age eighty-nine.

1990:  The organization name was changed to Tenshinseikyō.

 2001 (April 11):  Shimada Kōichirō became Third Master.

2001 (May 12):  The fiftieth Anniversary Celebration was held at Tokyo International Forum.

2006 (February 11):  The new Main Temple (Honbu Seidō) was completed in Tokyo.

2009 (April):  The official group website was launched.

FOUNDER/GROUP HISTORY

While officially registered as a religious organization in 1952, Tenshinseikyō traces its origin to an event known as the “First Advent of God” during 1895-1896, when their deity, known as the Supreme Ruler Tenshin Ōmikami (天心大御神), appeared to Shimada Heikichi (島田平吉), the older brother of the founder Shimada Seiichi (島田晴一). [Image at right] In January of 1895 Shimada received a message from Tenshin Ōmikami announcing that a younger brother would be born the following year, and he was to be named Seiichi. He also received a schoolbag and shoes of high quality, which he said were gifts from the deity to be used by Seiichi when he was born. Throughout the year prior to Seiichi’s birth, Heikichi did miracle working in the name of Tenshin Ōmikami. Then in 1896, the official founder of the religion, Shimada Seiichi, was born. He is referred to as “Shodai-sama” (初代様, First Master) by followers.

For much of his early adult life Seiichi was not involved in religious activities and showed little interest in religion, but rather was a shrewd-minded and ambitious businessman. Seiichi did not graduate elementary school (a fact that is often stressed by followers), and in 1910 he became an apprentice at a fellow villager’s family’s millet business in Tokyo. He earned a reputation for being trustworthy and reliable, and he also gained recognition for his accurate market predictions. He began playing the market and participating in the drinking, gambling and cavorting of the Tokyo nightlife in the early 1910s.

From 1916-1917 he served in Section 3 of the Fifth Troop of the Azabu Third Infantry Regiment in the Imperial Army. In his memoirs he proudly notes that he was chosen to present his regiment to Crown Prince Hirohito (future Showa Emperor) at the Azabu barracks. After seven months of service he was discharged for being “unfit for military service,” which he claims was the first time that “Article 57” of the Army code was invoked to allow such discharge, though the reasons and circumstances are unclear.

After military discharge, Seiichi opened his own shop, Shimada Shōten, in 1918, which dealt in rice and bran imports, and by 1919 he became a wholesaler for a major rice trading company, Kyōsei Milled Rice. Seiichi eventually opened a branch in Yamagata Prefecture, which later became another important religious community for the future Tenshinseikyō. Also in 1919, he was investigated by police in connection with illegal business dealings conducted by Kyōsei Milled Rice, and in connection with the murder of a fellow rice-broker by a business partner. He was later cleared of involvement in both cases.

Seiichi’s business boomed until the stock market crash of March 1920, and he was further affected by the Great Kanto Earthquake on September 1, 1923. Seiichi lost all of his merchandise and property, and his business was wiped out. After briefly returning to his hometown of Ōgoe with his wife, he returned to Tokyo and used his connections to sell udon noodles from a mobile cart and began a business in buying and selling flour, soy beans, and other goods. During this time Seiichi also contracted typhoid and became severely ill. Meanwhile, his first two children, daughter Atsuko (also called Mitsuko) and daughter Shigeko were born in 1925 and 1928, respectively, and his first son, Haruyuki, was born in 1933.

By the early 1930s, Seiichi was in deeply in debt. On January 15, 1935 he contemplated suicide by jumping from Eitai Bridge in Tokyo. However, he worried about leaving his wife and family behind, and he remembered the stories of miracles surrounding his birth that his parents and brother had told him when he was younger. Desperate, he beseeched Tenshin Ōmikami to give him guidance. Three days later, on January 18, Seiichi ran into his business partner, Satō Yasutaka, who suddenly became “possessed” by a spirit claiming to be Seiichi’s “guardian deity” (保護神, hogo-gami). Through Satō, the deity (later identified by Seiichi as Tenshin Ōmikami) berated Seiichi for poor market choices and gave him practical advice on upcoming business transactions. Following the “possession,” Satō had no memory of the incident. Ultimately, Tenshin Ōmikami’s advice proved accurate and Seiichi made a large profit, and this incident became known as the Second Advent of God (the First Advent being Tenshin Ōmikami’s appearance to Shimada Heikichi).

From then on, Seiichi began to receive messages from Tenshin Ōmikami through Sato, who became a temporary channel for communicating with Tenshin Ōmikami. The divine messages included personal admonitions to be faithful and pious as well as accurate market advice, and Seiichi’s business began to turn around. Seiichi began monthly religious gatherings in his home in mid-1935 and also pursued ascetic training at Mt. Kurama in Kyoto, and Mt. Akiha and Mt. Kuno in Shizuoka to deepen his understanding of this religious experience. He also began receiving mysterious powers such as the ability to read in the dark.

In 1936 Seiichi built a second home in his hometown of Ōgoe, Saitama, which later became an important religious site for his future organization. This same year, on December 3, 1936, his mother passed away. Meanwhile, the first congregation of the new religious organization was unofficially founded in Tokyo in 1937, and was known as Tenshin Kai. The first temple was constructed with contributions from eight members, under the guise of a Buddhist-style altar in Seiichi’s house (as religious organizations were heavily restricted during this period). They also began “prayer-counting sessions,” in which members would fall into a trance and make forecasts for the futures market. In 1938, Seiichi also pursued ascetic training in Mount Kobugahara in Tochigi Prefecture. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s the group was not a registered religious organization, and so amidst the increasing wartime surveillance of citizens his followers continued to meet in secret, until evacuations and wartime pressures forced the members to disperse across Japan by 1944.

Alongside his religious pursuits, from the 1930s to the end of World War II, Seiichi was involved in numerous business activities and gained friends and followers in various government ministries and businesses. He was briefly arrested for violations of the Price Control Act in June, 1940, of which he was later absolved. In the summer of 142, Seiichi became involved in establishing the Japan Fabric Control Union; this was disbanded by government order in February 1943 (or 1944?), but was reestablished two months later. He became an executive director for a textiles union, where he worked with major corporations like Kanebo.

In the late 1930s Seiichi and his wife had two more sons, Hiromitsu and Saburō, but his family also suffered a number of losses. His father died on January 10, 1938, and in January 26, 1941, Seiichi lost his wife to typhus. Soon after, his children evacuated to their country home in Ōgoe, Saitama, to seek shelter during the war.

After the end of World War II (around 1946-1947) Seiichi and his family moved back to Fukagawa, Eitai-chō, in Tokyo. Seiichi remarried, and he built a new home in Kagomachi, Bunkyō Ward in 1939, where he resumed his monthly religious meetings this same year. As his previous contacts and members of the Tokyo congregation returned to Tokyo in the early postwar, the religion began to spread through Tokyo, particularly through his business partners, and later through his other business connections in Saitama and Yamagata. Meanwhile, in December 1949 his third daughter Atsuko married Shindō Akira, who later became a head priest for the religion.

During the early postwar period of Seiichi’s Tokyo congregation, the group was informally known as “Kagomachi no Tenshin-sama.” However, by 1951 the growing congregation attracted the attention of police who began surveillance of the organization. In response, Seiichi officially registered the religion as Tenshin Ōmikamikyō in 1952. From the 1960s to the 1970s the religion continued to grow and its activities expanded. In 1960, the Tokyo temple (Image at right) was completed, mostly through donations from members. Following this, in 1961 Seiichi received divine instruction from Tenshin Ōmikami in how to perform a healing method involving injections of “divine water” (go-shinsui) to cure a range of illnesses. In 1967, their healing facility, Yamatoura Clinic, officially opened; it was later renamed Tenshin Clinic.

Seiichi and his religion briefly attracted media attention in the 1970s, including an appearance by Seiichi on a nationwide morning television show on NET TV (presently TV Asahi) on January 7, 1975. The group also began foraying into audiovisual production, including producing a video on the origin of the organization in 1977. Organizationally, in 1976 Seiichi’s eldest son Shimada Haruyuki (島田晴行) succeeded him as the “Second Master” (第二世教主, Dai ni-sei kyōshu or 第二教主様, Dai ni kyōshu-sama). In 1985, Seiichi passed away, and around 1990 the organization changed its name from Tenshin Ōmikamikyō to Tenshinseikyō.

Through the 1980s and 1990s the religion continued to gain members in Tokyo, Saitama, and Yamagata, and their facilities in Tokyo’s Bunkyō Ward were also expanded. Beginning in 1990 they began holding introductory seminars as well as major ceremonies at the convention venue Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture. In 2001, Haruyuki was succeeded by his eldest son Shimada Kōichirō (島田幸一郎), who became the “Third Master” (第三世教主, Dai san-sei kyōshu or 第三教主様, Dai san kyōshu-sama). In 2006, they completed a new temple in Hon-Komagome, Bunkyō Ward, Tokyo.

DOCTRINES/BELIEFS

Members of Tenshinseikyō revere the deity Tenshin Ōmikami, who is seen as the “Living God” who is the “same god of the Bible and all major religions.” The common name used to refer to Tenshin Ōmikami [Image at right] among members is the Japanese generic term for god, kami-sama (神様). Members note they are monotheistic, worship only Tenshin Ōmikami, and do not worship any other gods or intermediaries. Moreover, they do not see their leaders or the founder as being divine, but rather as messengers of Tenshin Ōmikami. They note that Tenshin Ōmikami has descended to Earth through human forms on three occasions, first as Moses, second as Jesus, and third as Heikichi and Seiichi (which is seen as one instance). Tenshinseiky ō is thus seen as being part of the same lineage of all world religions, though it does not posit any particular genealogical progression in terms of religious teachings or revelations. Some members also note that while they believe that Tenshinseikyō is the “right” (tadashii) religion for them, other religions may be “right” for other people, and that ultimately all religions have the same roots. Thus, members generally do not express feelings of competition or animosity with other religious groups or beliefs.

Tenshinseikyō places emphasis on three main beliefs:

● The existence of miracles ( kiseki ) performed by Tenshin Ōmikami;

● “Karmic Legacy”( 因縁, inen), which consists of in , one’s own karma, and en , the karma which comes from others, including one’s ancestors. Together, these two forms of karma shape each individual’s fate (shukumei), and they also connect individuals with their ancestors as well as with other individuals whom they meet during their lifetime. This combination of one’s personal karma and the karma of others is called one’s “karmic legacy”;

● The practice of ancestor veneration (senzo no shiawase wo kami-sama ni inoru, literally “praying to god for your ancestor’s happiness”) is seen as necessary to purify the bad karma (悪因, akuin) of one’s ancestors and thereby positively shape one’s fate and the karma (inen) of one’s descendants. According to their English handbook, “Bad karma inherited from ancestors needs to be removed by God, and only then can you pray for your wishes to be fulfilled. The correct way to pray is to first pray for your ancestors’ bad karma to be removed, to then pray for your own salvation and to finally pray for your descendants’ prosperity.”

Principle teachings include the “Teachings of God” (御心, Mi-gokoro), a collection of phrases passed down from Tenshin Ōmikami to the founder Shimada Seiichi over the course of his religious life and compiled before his death. The teachings consist of forty-seven short phrases that emphasize the virtues of positive thinking, sincerity, hard work, perseverance, self-reflection, gratitude, and forgiveness. Each day of the month is assigned a particular teaching for that day, to be addressed in the daily ritual meetings and reflected on by members, and the teachings are rotated each month. Based on the founder’s experiences as a businessman, many teachings address how to attain success and prosperity, including proper business ethics for dealing with customers, employees, and coworkers. Additional doctrinal texts include the prayers found in their prayer book, Tenshinseikyō Norito, and the book “The Origins” (由来, yurai), [Image at right] a text which documents the life of the founder.

There is no eschatology nor explicit doctrine regarding the spiritual realm or afterlife. After individuals die, their spirits continue to exist in a spiritual realm and their karmic legacy has influence over the living.

RITUALS/PRACTICES

Principal rituals consist of worship services held at the regional temples and main headquarters throughout the week, and members are free to attend as many or as few as they wish, with most members attending only on Sundays. The services are offered eight times per day on average to meet the members’ diverse scheduling needs. More-or-less mandatory monthly ceremonies are held on the eleventh of each month, and annual ceremonies celebrating events in the founder’s life and the establishment of the organization are also celebrated.

Typical daily ritual services last for ten to fifteen minutes and are held at their regional temples and headquarters. Before entering the temples, members wash their hands in a basin at the entrance. Once in the hall, members sit on pews that are designed and arranged in a manner similar to a Christian church. The services are officiated by two priests on a raised stage who present offerings to two altars, one in Buddhist design and the other in Shinto design, which represent the members’ ancestors and the deity Tenshin Ōmikami, respectively. Services begin with reading two prayers from a book of prayers which is arranged in the form of a sutra-style fold-out pamphlet. Members clap twice at the beginning and end of each prayer, very loudly and in unison. Following the service, members are free to socialize in the hall.

Consultations are another important element of Tenshinseikyō activities. Priests serve as counsellors and offer advice and ritual services for members. Dedicated consultation rooms in their temples are used for this purpose, and are available by appointment for a fee. In addition to consultations, Tenshinseikyō runs two Tenshin Clinics, one located next to the Tokyo headquarters [Image at right] and one in Nagasaki, which administer a kind of “divine water,” called go-shinsui 御神水), via injection. It is said to possess healing powers, and is available for use by both members and non-members for a fee (members receive a considerable discount).

The injection was a formula revealed to Shimada Seiichi at the request of a medical doctor who was a member of Tenshinseikyō and was vexed by his inability to cure his own wife (see Watanabe and Igeta 1991). The formula originally consisted of boiling water dedicated before the altar to Tenshin Ōmikami, with chondroitin sulfate added. The formula seems to have changed over the years, and according to Watanabe and Igeta (1991), writing in the late 1980s:

At present, the method of preparing goshinsui is for water to be offered before the deity, then placed in bottles which are sealed, and then once again dedicated with prayers before the deity. Together with water, patent medicines and drugs are likewise dedicated before the deity, and it is said that if the deity is asked to breathe its breath into the medicine, the drugs will become a “divine tonic.” Since goshinsui and divine tonics are different from the medicines produced by human beings, they are said to be capable of curing any disease without producing harmful side effects. At the same time, however, it is apparent from numerous experiential tales and sermons by religious leaders that the water will have no effect if the believers do not possess firm faith. ”

The divine water is administered by being injected into the patient with a hypodermic syringe. This is carried out by a licensed physician at their Tokyo Tenshin Clinic and in their Nagasaki Tenshin Clinic. While embracing the use of divine water injections, the physicians are licensed in internal medicine, and they also offer referrals to other hospitals in serious cases such as cancer or terminal illnesses. Patients thus often combine treatments from both the Tenshin Clinics and other (mainstream) medical institutions. The injections are said to cure a wide variety of ailments from physical to mental illnesses. This practice briefly caused controversy in the mid-1960s when the Department of Health investigated their administration of injections without a license. They subsequently applied for and received a license for the Yamatoura Clinic (now Tenshin Clinic) as a result of this incident (see Watanabe and Igeta 1991).

LEADERSHIP/ORGANIZATION

Tenshinseikyō leadership has followed primogeniture in succession, and is currently led by the third leader, Shimada Kōichirō, who is known as the Third Master and is the eldest son of the second leader, Shimada Haruyuki, known as the Second Master. Shimada Haruyuki, in turn, was the eldest son of the founder, Shimada Seiichi, who is referred to as the First Master.

The organization consists of lay members and full-time clergy. While the elder brother of Shimada Seiichi was the first to encounter the revered deity Tenshin Ōmikami and served as a vessel for automatic writing and miracle working for the deity, he is not revered as a founder of the organization.

Organizational structure consists of the current Third Master as the head of the organization operating out of the headquarters in Tokyo, and full-time clergy called Priests (kyōshi) who run the day-to-day rituals and offer consultation for members. At the Tokyo main temple there are at least four priests who alternate officiating the daily services, and priests-in-training serve as assistants. Training for the priesthood requires becoming a full-time employee of the organization and completing several years of training with senior priests. Priests are often second or third-generation members. The priests live in private residences, and there is no cloistered housing. The organization also has other full-time staff who manage the properties, publishing, finances, and audiovisual productions.

Membership is based on individuals paying a membership fee and purchasing the main sacred texts, and thus it is not hereditary. Joining requires the recommendation of a current member. The organization discourages open proselytizing and does not participate in door-to-door or public proselytizing activities. Rather, they encourage word-of-mouth proselytizing among relatives, friends, and coworkers. They also do not permit unaccompanied guests to enter the premises of their temples; instead, interested visitors must make arrangements with staff beforehand or be accompanied by a member. Membership estimates are vague. Watanabe and Igeta (1991) put the number around 40,000, while in 2009 some members suggested that the number was perhaps around 10,000 or fewer nationwide, including around 100 priests, though this is also unclear. In addition to their main temple (honbu seidō) in Tokyo and the holy site of the founder’s family home in Saitama , they currently have three “churches” (kyōkai ) in Shizuoka, Osaka, and Nagasaki, six “worship halls” (reihaidō) in Yamagata, Sendai, Mie, Kagawa, Oita, and Hakodate.

ISSUES/CHALLENGES

Tenshinseikyō is not well known, and there is little reportage about the organization or its activities. Little research has been done on the organization, and thus far it has not gained much attention from the media or scholars (see the few exceptions of Inoue et al 1996; Watanabe and Igeta 1991). Their most visible public activity to date was the construction of their Tokyo headquarters, which seems to have been met with no resistance or negative reception by local residents. However, there is moderate chatter regarding aggressive proselytizing and expensive membership fees on Japanese-language anti-cult websites, such as on anonymous bulletin board systems (BBS) such as 2ch. Most comments refer to family members who the anonymous BBS contributors feel are paying too much money to the organization; other complaints decry overly zealous proselytizing methods among some members.

The organization’s use of “divine water” (go-shinsui) to cure illnesses briefly caused interest in the group by non-members seeking its cures in the mid-1960s. According to Watanabe and Igeta (1991), the Department of Health issued a warning to the group when they began administering injections to non-members who came to the Tokyo temple for treatment. In response to the Department of Health investigation, the group legally established the Tenshin Clinic. Its divine water was reported to have been tested by scientists at The University of Tokyo (most likely at the request of the Department of Health), only to find that it was merely water; this was taken by members as a sign of the miraculous nature of the water which defies scientific reasoning.

As a relatively small organization that has grown primarily by word-of-mouth, it has expanded only gradually, but some members express worry about the organization becoming too large and losing its close-knit characte. Leaders encourage proselytization through word-of-mouth by asking members to bring friends, coworkers, and family members to meetings. However, some members, particularly younger members who view the organization more like a personal “household religion” (i.e., a religion that is their families’ private tradition), seem somewhat conflicted about having the community grow much larger. As the current number of members is rather small in each district, members expressed a feeling of comfort in knowing everyone in their community and in knowing each other’s extended families due to the multi-generational character of the community. Furthermore, as they generally believe that all religions are aspects of the same ultimate truth and emanate from the same ultimate deity, there is little palpable fervor in terms of gaining new members and promoting the righteousness of their own religion among others, at least among the general membership. As of the early 2010s, they also expressed no plans for overseas expansion and do not actively proselytize among non-Japanese in Japan. Their future growth pattern and plans remain to be seen.

IMAGES

Image #1: A photograph of the iconic bronze door in the Tokyo headquarters. The door resembles the “Stations of the Cross” in that each panel tells one part of the history of Tenshinseikyo. This panel shows the first appearance of Tenshin Ōmikami (天心大御神).

Image #2: A photograph of the main columns in front of the entrance to the main hall of worship at the headquarters in Tokyo.

Image #3: A photograph of an artistic casting of the sun, the symbol of Tenshin Ōmikami (天心大御神) at their headquarters in Tokyo.

Image #4: A photograph of the cover of the sacred text in its English translation.

Image #5: A photograph of the front of the Tenshin Clinic, which is across the street from the Tokyo headquarters.

REFERENCES*

* This profile is based primarily on the author’s fieldwork in the group along with personal communications with its members, and in part also on the author’s PhD dissertation “Private Religion and Public Morality: Understanding Cultural Secularism in Contemporary Japan” (Yale University, Department of Anthropology, 2013).

Inoue, Nobutaka. Komoto Mitsugi, Tsushima Michihito, Nakamaki Hirochika, and Nishiyama Shigeru. 1996. Shin-sh ūkyō Kyōdan / Jinbutsu Jiten (The Encyclopedia of New Religious Organizations and Major Figures). Tokyo: Kobundo.

Tenshinseikyō Official Website. 2010. Accessed from http://www.tenshin-seikyo.or.jp/en/ on 20 May 2016.

Watanabe, Masako and Igeta Midori. 1991[1989]. “Healing in the New Religions: Charisma and `Holy Water’.” Contemporary Papers on Japanese Religion 2. Tokyo: Institute for Japanese Culture and Classics, Kokugakuin University.

Author:
Isaac Gagné

Post Date:
24 May 2016