2 Sides to Soka Issue

The 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor can serve as a step toward building a world filled with more understanding and harmony. It may help the American public to know that there were some in Japan 50 years ago who not only opposed the war against the United States, but even one who gave his life for his beliefs, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi.

Makiguchi, who founded the Buddhist lay persons’ organization now known as the Soka Gakkai (value-creation society), opposed the war and the Japanese military government’s attempts to unite all religions behind the war effort.

In 1943, Makiguchi rejected the government’s demand to show allegiance to the traditional Shinto religion. As a result, Makiguchi was arrested on July 6, 1943, with a number of his followers and died in prison of malnutrition on Nov. 18, 1944, at the age of 73.

Fortunately for the world, that Japanese government didn’t survive, but at least one of Makiguchi’s followers did, Josei Toda.

He rebuilt the Soka Gakkai, which is now known also as Soka Gakkai International (SGI) and has 10 million members in Japan, as well as about 1.25 million in 115 countries worldwide, including several hundred thousand in the United States.

In recognition of the significance of Pearl Harbor, current SGI President Daisaku Ikeda, the first top Soka Gakkai leader to travel outside of Japan, made Hawaii the initial stop on his first worldwide tour on behalf of the SGI in 1960. On a later trip (Jan. 15, 1981), he visited the USS Arizona Memorial and offered prayers for the deceased servicemen.

Hopefully, we can all use the anniversary of such a tragic event to make a new determination to work together for the cause of world peace.

AL ALBERGATE. Albergate is director of public relations for Soka Gakkai International of the United States.