Daisaku Ikeda

Ikeda Daisaku was born in Ōmori, Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, on 2 January 1928. Ikeda had four older brothers, two younger brothers, and a younger sister. His parents later adopted two more children, for a total of 10 children. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the Ikeda family had successfully farmed nori, edible seaweed, in Tokyo Bay. By the turn of the twentieth century, the Ikeda family business was the largest producer of nori in Tokyo. The devastation of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake left the family's enterprise in ruins. Ikeda's eldest brother, Kiichi, died in the Imphal Campaign in Burma in January 1945 during the last stages of World War II. Ikeda suffered from tuberculosis in his younger days, a time dedicated to avid reading of books and poems from Japan and throughout the world.

In August 1947, at the age of 19, Ikeda was invited by an old friend to attend a Buddhist discussion meeting. It was there that he met Josei Toda, the second president of Japan's Soka Gakkai Buddhist organization. Ikeda began practicing Nichiren Buddhism and joined the Soka Gakkai. He regarded Toda as his spiritual mentor and became a charter member of the group's youth division.

Shortly after the end of World War II, in January 1946, Ikeda gained employment with the Shobundo Printing Company in Tokyo. In March 1948, Ikeda graduated from Toyo Trade School and the following month entered the night school extension of Taisei Gakuin (present-day Tokyo Fuji University) where he majored in political science. During this time, he worked as an editor of the children's magazine Shonen Nihon (Boy's Life Japan), which was published by one of Josei Toda's companies.

In 1953, at the age of 25, Ikeda was appointed as one of the Soka Gakkai's youth leaders. The following year, he was appointed as director of the Soka Gakkai's public relations bureau, and later became its chief of staff.

In 1957, a group of Young Men's Division members campaigning for a Soka Gakkai candidate in an Osaka Upper House by-election were arrested for distributing money, cigarettes, and caramels at supporters' residences, in violation of election law, and on July 3 of that year, at the beginning of an event memorialized as the "Osaka Incident,". Ikeda was arrested in Osaka. He was taken into custody in his capacity as Soka Gakkai's Youth Division Chief of Staff for overseeing activities that constituted violations of election law. He spent two weeks in jail and appeared in court forty-eight times before he was cleared of all charges in January 1962.

Ikeda lived in Tokyo with his wife, Kaneko Ikeda (née Kaneko Shiraki), whom he married on 3 May 1952. The couple had three sons, Hiromasa, Shirohisa (died 1984), and Takahiro.

Hiromasa Ikeda is the executive vice-president of the Soka Gakkai International and trustee of the Soka University in Japan.

Takahiro Ikeda is director of the Soka School System, the educational corporation of the Sôka Gakkai.

Daisaku Ikeda died on 15 November 2023, at the age of 95. His death was publicly announced on 18 November.

Religion and politics

In the history of institutional relations between the religious movement Soka Gakkai and the political party Kōmeitō founded in 1964 by Ikeda as an outgrowth from Soka Gakkai, he has faced "unabated criticism against the alleged violation of the separation of religion and state" and been accused of "far-reaching political ambitions." Associate professor of government George Ehrhardt and co-authors write that "Sōka Gakkai's entrance into the political arena [...] permanently transformed the relationship between religion and politics in Japan by dividing those who opposed the creation of a religious political party from those who accepted it."

In 2015, addressing the "party's understudied history," political scientist Steven Reed and his co-authors write that "the image of Kōmeitō as a mere political branch of Sōka Gakkai is clearly mistaken" and that "the separation between party and religious group announced by Ikeda Daisaku in 1970 made a real difference." He also states that "sōka gakkai meetings are used to introduce Kōmeitō candidates and to advertise the party, particularly during the period leading up the election."

About "the changing role of the Komeito in Japanese politics in the 1990s", Daniel Métraux - an academic with a strong link to the SGI - states that: "While it is difficult to determine his exact role, an examination of his daily itinerary would reveal that he would have very little time personally for political management and that most of the aging leader's time is devoted to religious affairs, traveling, and writing. Ikeda may well have influenced the Komeito in a macrosense, but in a microsense he is clearly not involved. The Komeito and its successes have a life of their own; they are certainly not lifeless puppets ready to react to Ikeda's or to the Soka Gakkai's every whim."

A lot of newspapers and scholars have proven though that, despite the formal separation, there are still "strong links" and that the Komeito has remained to some extent the "political arm" of Soka Gakkai.

Reputation

Ikeda has elicited a variety of assessments from scholars and journalists. According to Asian studies professor Daniel Métraux in 1994, Ikeda is "possibly one of the more controversial figures in Japan's modern history".

In 1996, the Los Angeles Times described Ikeda as "the most powerful man in Japan – and certainly one of the most enigmatic", "condemned and praised as a devil and an angel, [...] a despot and a democrat".

In 1984, Polly Toynbee, grand-daughter of British historian Arnold Toynbee, whose conversations with Ikeda were published, was invited by Ikeda to meet him in Japan. Following her visit, she wrote a critical article for The Guardian on meeting the leader. She writes:

"On the long flight to Japan, I read for the first time my grandfather's posthumously, published book, "Choose Life -- A Dialogue".... My grandfather [...] was 85 when the dialogue was recorded, a short time before his final incapacitating stroke (...) My grandfather never met Ikeda on his visits to Japan. His old Japanese friends were clearly less than delighted with Ikeda's grandiose appropriation of his memories. Several days passed before we were to meet our mysterious host, time in which we learned more about Mr Ikeda and his Soka Gakkai movement. One thing above all others was made clear: this was an organisation of immense wealth, power and political influence (...) Asked to hazard a guess at his occupation, few would have selected him as a religious figure. I have met many powerful men—prime ministers, leaders of all kinds—but I have never in my life met anyone who exuded such an aura of absolute power as Mr Ikeda".