Foundation , the first President of the Sōka Gakkai In 1928, educators Tsunesaburō Makiguchi and
Jōsei Toda both converted to Nichiren Buddhism. The Soka Gakkai officially traces its foundation to November 1930, when Makiguchi and Toda published the first volume of Makiguchi's magnum opus on educational reform,
Sōka Kyōikugaku Taikei (創価教育学体系,
The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy). The first general meeting of the organization, then under the name
Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai (, "Value Creating Educational Society"), took place in 1937. The membership eventually came to change from teachers interested in educational reform to people from all walks of life, drawn by the religious elements of Makiguchi's beliefs in
Nichiren Buddhism. The group had a focus on proselytization growing from an attendance of 60 people at its first meeting to about 300 at its next meeting in 1940.
Repression during the war In 1942, a monthly magazine published by Makiguchi called
Kachi Sōzō (, "Creating values") was shut down by the government, after only nine issues. Makiguchi, Toda, and 19 other leaders of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai were arrested on July 6, 1943, on charges of breaking the Peace Preservation Law and
lèse-majesté: for "denying the Emperor's divinity" and "slandering" the
Ise Grand Shrine. The details of Makiguchi's indictment and subsequent interrogation were covered in July, August, and October 1943 classified monthly bulletins of the Special Higher Police. With its leadership decimated, the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai disbanded. During interrogation, Makiguchi had insisted that "The emperor is an ordinary man ... the emperor makes mistakes like anyone else". The treatment in prison was harsh, and within a year, all but Makiguchi, Toda, and one other director had recanted and been released.
The reconstruction of the organization Toda officially re-established the organization, now under the shortened moniker
Sōka Gakkai ("Value-creation society"), integrated his prison awakenings into the doctrine of the Soka Gakkai, began locating members who had dispersed during the war, started a series of lectures on the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren's letters, undertook business ventures (largely unsuccessful) to provide a stream of revenue for the organization, provided personal encouragement to many members, launched a monthly study magazine , and the newspaper
Seikyo Shimbun, launched propagation efforts, and involved the active participation of youth including
Daisaku Ikeda who was to become his right-hand man and successor. Noah Brannen, a Christian missionary writing in 1969, describes the Soka Gakkai's study program at this point as "the most amazing program of indoctrination Japan has ever seen". New members attended local study lectures, subscribed to weekly and monthly periodicals, studied Toda's commentaries on the Lotus Sutra, took annual study examinations, and were awarded titles for their achievements such as Associate Lecturer, Lecturer, Associate Teacher, or Teacher.
"The Great Propagation Drive" The drive began with the 1951 inauguration speech of Josei Toda when he assumed the presidency of the organization. Before 1,500 assembled members, Toda resolved to convert 750,000 families before his death. The accuracy of this figure was never confirmed by outside sources. There are several competing narratives that attempt to explain how the Soka Gakkai was able to achieve this rapid growth. One narrative portrays a drive powered by the "seemingly unlimited enthusiasm" of its members A third narrative tracks criticisms of the Soka Gakkai in the popular press and by other Buddhist sects. This narrative implies that the propagation efforts succeeded through intimidating and coercive actions committed by Soka Gakkai members such as the practice then of destroying the
household Shinto altars of new members. There were reports of isolated incidents of violence conducted by Soka Gakkai members but also incidents directed toward them. Under Ikeda's leadership, the organization expanded rapidly, both inside and outside Japan during the 1960s. Soka Gakkai's own narratives argue that within the first 16 months of Ikeda's presidency the organization grew from 1.3 million to 2.1 million members. By 1967 it grew to 6.2 million families according to its own reporting. By 1968, the daily
Seikyo Shimbun newspaper is supposed to have attained a circulation of 3,580,000. Today, the Soka Gakkai claims it has a circulation of 5.5 million copies, but the number is controversial and impossible to verify since Seikyo Shinbun does not belong the
Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association nor the
日本ABC協会 who are officially in charge of the circulation numbers of Japanese newspapers.
International growth In October 1960, five months after his inauguration, Ikeda and a small group of staff members visited the United States, Canada (Toronto), and Brazil. In the United States he visited Honolulu, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, New York, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles, meeting with members, the vast majority Japanese war brides, at discussion and guidance meetings, setting up local organizations, and appointing leaders to take responsibility. Ikeda also expanded the scope and pattern of the Gakkai's activities. In 1961 he created an arm of the organization, the Culture Bureau, to accommodate nonreligious activities. It had departments for the study and discussion of Economics, Politics, Education, Speech, and, later in the year, the Arts. Ikeda and his team visited countries in Europe and Southeast Asia in 1961 and the Near and Middle East in 1962. By 1967 Ikeda had completed 13 trips abroad to strengthen the overseas organizations. The Gakkai's first overseas mission, called Nichiren Shoshu of America (NSA), grew rapidly and claimed some 200,000 American adherents by 1970. Ikeda founded Soka Junior and Senior High Schools in 1968 and Soka University in 1971. Soka Gakkai International (SGI) was formally founded in 1975, on
Guam.
Founding of the Komeito In 1961, Soka Gakkai formed the Komei Political League. Seven of its candidates were elected to the House of Councillors. In 1964 the
Komeito (Clean Government Party) was formed by Ikeda. Over the course of several elections it became the third largest political party, typically amassing 10–15% of the popular vote. The New Komeito Party was founded in 1998 and has been allied with the
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 1999. In 2014, the New Komeito was renamed Komeito again. Komeito generally supports the policy agenda of the LDP, including the reinterpretation of the pacifist
Article 9 of the
Constitution of Japan, proposed in 2014 by LDP Prime Minister
Shinzō Abe to allow "collective defense" and to fight in foreign conflicts.
1969: Crisis and transformation In response to criticism, Ikeda made major shifts to the Gakkai's message. He committed the organization to the rights of free speech and freedom of religion, admitting it had been intolerant and overly sensitive in the past. In the 1970s Ikeda helped transition the Soka Gakkai from an internally focused organization centered on its own membership growth to one adopting a focus on a motto of "Peace, Culture, and Education". On October 12, 1972, at the official opening of the
Shohondo at Taiseki-ji Ikeda announced the start of the Soka Gakkai's "Phase Two" which would shift direction from aggressive expansion to a movement for international peace through friendship and exchange.
Scandals in the 1990s Nichiren Shōshū excommunicated the Soka Gakkai and the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) on 28 November 1991 due to doctrinal conflicts and the reputation of the Soka Gakkai, at that time entangled in political and financial scandals. In 1991, the Soka Gakkai had to pay $4.5 million in back taxes on 2.4 billion yen (US$1.7 million) of undeclared income. ==Former relations with the Nichiren Shoshu sect==