Nichiren, Soka Gakkai and Komeito - Religion and Politics in Contemporary Japan - page 58

s participation in politics began in 1955. The year before,
with a membership of 160,000 households, a cultural department was estab-
lished and preparations for entering the political world began. Over 50
members from the cultural department stood in the April 1955 local elections;
53 were elected, which marked Soka Gakkai

Soka Gakkai '

s début on the political scene. In
the House of Councillors (Upper House) election in 1956, three candidates
were elected, and by 1959, a year after Toda died, it had had six candidates
elected. In 1962 nine members and 300 local assembly members were elected
with the establishment of the Political Federation for Clean Government
(K - mei Seiji Renmei), which now had 15 members in the House of Council-
lors. This led to the body being named the Clean Government Association
(K - meikai). In November 1964 K - meikai was renamed K - meit - and became
an independent political party based on Buddhist social ideals. Komeito

'

' s

immediate goal was to enter the House of Representatives.
According to Soka Gakkai, the speci c reasons for becoming involved with

politics were to guarantee freedom of belief and the separation of state and
religion. Given Toda and Makiguchi s experience during the war, these were

obviously important issues. Second, it wanted to bring its own, believed to be
more humanistic, approach to politics, wanting to provide an alternative to
the political choices available. Given that many other religious groups were
also supporting their own candidates or particular politicians, this must have
seemed commonsensical in the context of the social and political situation at
the time. There was also plenty of

'

' ' '

Buddhist raison d être, such as the con-

cept of - butsumy - g - . The concept of - butsumy - g -

is also mentioned in the

Three Great Secret Laws as When the secular law and the Law of the

Buddha are fused and in mutual accord

'

(WND-2, 986). - butsu is the con-
vergence of - h - and bupp - . In Nichiren Buddhism, - h - can be translated as
politics or the rule of the country; bupp - means Buddhist Law. My - g - means
fusion. - butsumy - g - was interpreted in Soka Gakkai to mean that compas-
sion and respect for the equality and dignity of life, as an expression of the
Buddhist Law, should be used as philosophical principles in the world of
politics. 14 Furthermore, electing candidates with a Buddhist (Soka Gakkai)
worldview would bring people with integrity and an ethical stance to the
world of politics. Thus the concept of - butsumy - g - made sense to a Buddhist
following who were encouraged to become concerned with improving not only
their personal circumstances through personal changes in behaviour and think-
ing, but also the wider social conditions within which they found themselves
(cf. Kisala 1994).
Third, Komeito

'

s political involvement arose in the context of the repre-
sentational alignment of Japan

'

' s political parties after 1955. Known as the

' , the LDP was formed by bringing together conservative forces

against left-wing groups that united as the Japanese Socialist Party (JSP,
renamed the Social Democratic Party, or SDP, in 1996). 15 Within this climate
of ideological struggles between the conservative LDP, who re

1955 set-up '

ected the
interests of big business, and the opposition, who represented the interests of