Daisaku Ikeda, the longtime leader of the lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai, one of the largest religious groups in Japan, and founder of the Komeito Party, the junior coalition partner of the country’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, died of old age at his home in Tokyo on Wednesday. said the group. He was 95.
The file photo, taken in May 2008 at a Tokyo hotel, shows the leader of the lay Buddhist group Soka Gakkai, Daisaku Ikeda. (Kyodo)
Ikeda became the third president of Soka Gakkai in 1960, which is said to have over 8.27 million households. The group represents a strong voter base for Komeito.
Ikeda founded Komeito’s predecessor party in 1961 and founded Komeito in 1964. In the wake of a controversy over the separation of politics and religion, he focused on the activities of Soka Gakkai, but remained influential in politics.
Ikeda took over as honorary president of the group in 1979, four years after founding Soka Gakkai International, which has 2.8 million members in over 190 countries and territories.
Ikeda adhered to the “humanistic philosophy” of Nichiren Buddhism and engaged in dialogue with world leaders and intellectuals, including the late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, on measures to build global peace, it said on the Soka Gakkai website.
Ikeda was born in Tokyo in 1928 to a family of seaweed manufacturers. His life experience during World War II drove him to work for peace, the website says.
“I cannot contain my deep sadness,” current Soka Gakkai president Minoru Harada said in a video posted online.
“Ikeda left a great mark on history through his efforts to promote peace, culture and education in Japan and abroad,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.