Sōka Gakkai and Politics in Japan

Abstract

Sōka Gakkai, the largest of the so-called New Religions (shinshūkyō) in Japan, was founded in the 1930s by the educator Makiguchi Tsunesaburō1 and started its political involvement during the 1950s under its second president Toda Jōsei. Sōka Gakkai was not unique among new religions in being actively involved in politics after the Second World War; several other religious groups supported their candidates or joined political committees. However, Sōka Gakkai was the only religion in postwar Japan to found an independent political party that has established itself as an enduring presence in the Japanese electoral system. Indeed its political involvement culminated in the formation of the Kōmeitō (Clean Government Party), in 1964, renamed Shin Kōmeitō in 1998. This article surveys three issues concerning Sōka Gakkai’s political activities: the involvement of religious groups in political activities in the postwar period, the foundation of Kōmeitō and the group’s interpretation of Nichiren Buddhism regarding the relationship between religion and the state.