Nichiren, Soka Gakkai and Komeito - Religion and Politics in Contemporary Japan - page 50

' . Being vocal, socially and politically, based on a particular reli-

gious orientation stands as conspicuously suspect against a majority view that such
behaviour is

un-Japanese '

' un-Japanese ' , and clearly, Soka Gakkai has been driven by a

di erent view of life that does not always resonate with other, more dominant

views in society. The di erence started early on.

Soka Gakkai and the meaning of Three Great Secret Laws
The concept of the Three Great Secret Laws is central to Nichiren Sh - sh - ,whose
doctrines Soka Gakkai followed. This text is also central to the controversy of
Soka Gakkai s

interpretation of Nichiren Buddhism as a movement for inner and social
transformation is based on ideas of

' s début on the political scene. As indicated above, Ikeda '

rst
two Soka Gakkai presidents, Makiguchi Tsunesaburo and Toda Josei. From
the early 1930s through World War II, imperial Japan used State Shinto as
the spiritual backbone to foster societal support for Japan

' value-creation ' that go back to the

' s imperial expan-

sion. Makiguchi s focus had become increasingly religious after he joined

Nichiren Sh - sh - , but contrary to other groups that claimed to be following
Nichiren, including increasingly Nichiren Sh - sh - , at least outwardly, Maki-
guchi did not accept Japan

'

(seisen). Under his
leadership, leaders of Soka Ky - iku Gakkai refused to comply with govern-
ment demand of Shinto worship to support such a war. The organisation was
forced to disperse, as Makiguchi and Toda along with other leaders were
imprisoned in July 1943, charged with lèse-majesté against the emperor and
his ancestral gods under the notorious Peace Preservation Law of 1925
(revised in 1941). Makiguchi and Toda

' s aggression as a ' holy war '

s refusal to the government-imposed
injunction of praying to the Shinto talisman (kamifuda) for Japan

'

s victory in
war was based on seeing such an ideology as the wrong foundation for society
in light of their reading of Nichiren Buddhism. Miyata (2000: 8

'

- 9) states that,

'… the militarists used the authority of the emperor as grounds for war, and

state-imposed worship at shrines and the Ise Shrine amulet [kaimifuda]

enhanced that authority . For refusing to venerate the amulet, Makiguchi was

deemed a threat to the authority of the emperor and, by extension, a hin-
drance to the conduct of war. During his interrogations by the Special Higher
Police, Makiguchi repudiated the myth of the emperor

'

s divine origins by
declaring the emperor an ordinary man who makes mistakes, denying the
sacredness of the war cause. Makiguchi writes,

'

' Sacri cing our own and

others precious lives must be strictly repudiated. It is on this point that the

question of compulsory worship at Shinto shrines must be re-examined with
pressing urgency

'

(Makiguchi 1941: 1).
This stance attacked the root cause of war based on a very di

'

erent reading
of Nichiren to the nationalist groups at the time. Makiguchi and Toda

s
opposition to state authority gave the Soka Gakkai movement in post-war
Japan its characteristics as a movement for the empowerment of the people.
Nineteen other leaders of Soka Gakkai were arrested together with Makiguchi

'