Sex case haunts Japan religious leader

Asia Times/June 25, 1996

By Bradley Martin
The leader of eight million Japanese families which adhere to the Soka Gakkai offshoot of
Buddhism likes to be called the most powerful man in the country.
Not so welcome to Daisaku Ikeda and his followers are recurrent charges that power has
corrupted him, as he has bent the doctrines of the faith to craft a personality cult in which his
wish is the command of followers - whether at the ballot box or in the boudoir.
Ikeda has done more than anyone in the post-war era to inject religion into the country's politics.
His organization's get-out-the-vote clout strikes fear into the hearts of opponents - to the extent
he has become the chief bogeyman of the Liberal Democratic Party and its partners in the ruling
coalition.
But the tough-talking, 68-year-old pacifist, a big power behind the scenes in the opposition New
Frontier Party or Shinshin-to, can handle the slings and arrows from fellow politicians. The
attacks that really sting - and get the Soka Gakkai public relations apparatus humming - are
accusations of sexual peccadilloes, perhaps because they appear threatening to what is widely
seen as a more or less open campaign to win him a Nobel Peace Prize.
The latest such charge comes from a former high-ranking follower, Nobuko Nobuhira, who has
filed a civil lawsuit claiming that the "eternal master", as some followers have called him, raped
her brutally not once but three times - in 1973, 1983 and 1991 - while she worked as an unpaid
Soka Gakkai local chief in Hakodate, Hokkaido.
Ikeda was unavailable for comment but Soka Gakkai spokespersons vigorously denied the charge
and noted that Nobuhira, in the 23 years since the first alleged rape, had never brought a
criminal charge. Her civil suit, they argued, was a media stunt by a disaffected ex-member who
had been kicked out, a ploy to avoid a quick resolution of the case and thus prolong the feeding
of scandalous anti-Ikeda tidbits to the tabloid press.
"Without police investigation, the complainant can say anything she wants to in court, including
fabricated 'testimony' and 'evidence'," said a Soka Gakkai spokesman.
The 69-year-old housewife at a press conference on Monday acknowledged that a major purpose
of her suit was to let the public know "what kind of a human being Mr Ikeda really is". Her lawyer
explained that they had filed a civil suit in order to retain control of the case - a criminal case
would be handled by public prosecutors - and to avoid the humiliation of Nobuhira being grilled
and put through graphic crime-scene re-enactments by the police.
Mrs Nobuhira's accounts of the alleged rapes in the legal complaint and at the press conference
were fairly graphic themselves. She told how Ikeda had visited Hakodate in June 1973 and she
had been in charge of all preparations for his visit. She was bending over making up his bedding
on the straw-mat floor when Ikeda attacked her from behind, knocked her face-down on to the
bedding and raped her, she said. Soon after that, she said, he started referring to her when he
saw her as "Nigo-san" (my mistress).
A little over 10 years later, on the same premises, he raped her again. Another eight years
passed before the third alleged attack - again at the Hakodate training center.
Mrs Nobuhira was asked why, after the first and second alleged rapes, she stayed on, not only as
a member of Soka Gakkai but in a position that would involve her deeply in providing hospitality
to Ikeda during his visits.
She replied that she had built the local organization and she was a strong believer in the
Nichiren-sect Buddhist teachings that the lay group Sokka Gakkai espoused. It would have looked
strange if she had stepped down, and she feared she would end up shamed by having to tell her
husband and others what Ikeda had done to her. By the time of the third alleged rape, she said,
she mistakenly assumed she was out of danger on account of her age.
Soka Gakkai and Ikeda often have found themselves in public disputes. Ikeda sued the former
editor of a monthly magazine for libel after the magazine in 1976 printed articles about intimate
affairs he had allegedly had with female Soka Gakkai members. The editor drew a 10-month
prison sentence before the Supreme Court ordered a retrial.
There are other issues as well. Some former members of the group have complained of
campaigns of intimidation to keep members from leaving. A group of those dissidents allied
several years ago with priests of the Nichiren sect who excommunicated the entire membership
of Soka Gakkai.
Soka Gakkai spokespersons described the Nichiren priests as a sybaritic lot who inherited their
temples from their fathers and grandfathers, drove sports cars, dined with geisha and insisted
that priestly intervention - at a price - was necessary for spiritual salvation. Soka Gakkai argues
that laypersons can find their own salvation through home repetition of a chant expressing belief
in the Lotus Sutra.
In a more recent case, Soka Gakkai filed another criminal libel complaint against the editor of the
weekly Gendai magazine and the husband and daughter of a local councilwoman who was found
dead beneath an apartment building under suspicious circumstances. The complaint noted that
the magazine's article suggested that Soka Gakkai had been involved in the death, which the
authorities ruled a suicide. The councilwoman was an anti-Soka Gakkai campaigner.
Subsequently, reports appeared - not denied by Soka Gakkai - saying that the prosecutor who
had decided not to investigate possible homicide in the case was a graduate of the religious
group's Soka University.
Political opponents of the group have sought to use such incidents to press for new legislation to
tighten separation between state and religion, a campaign that gathered steam after an upper
house parliamentary election last year in which the group's support was decisive in victories by
Shinshin-to candidates.
LDP leaders like secretary-general Koichi Kato argue that Ikeda is trying to take over the whole
country through the get-out-the-vote efforts of its brigades of housewife proselytizers.
That is a group that used to include Nobuhira, who as a former member now sides with the
Nichiren priests.
Japan's religious wars rage on.
Postscript: The Nobuhira lawsuit against Ikeda was dismissed by a Japanese court in 1996 and in
2006 that lower court decision was upheld by the Supreme Court.

To see more documents/articles regarding this group/organization/subject click here.

 Look Into Ikeda's Rape Case !!
Quotations from the account, which was written by the victim of Ikeda's rape Mrs.Nobuhira are as
follows ;
It was in 1971 when the Soka Gakkai constructed Onuma Training Center, an expansive facility
covering nearly 2 acres of land inside the boundaries of the Onuma National Park ( in Hokkaido ).
And, since June, 1973, Daisaku Ikeda came there for the summer. Taking care of Ikeda at the main
building of the Onuma Training Center was my responsibility. That was an order from the top
leaders of the Soka Gakkai. The third floor of the main building was Ikeda's private facility, which
had a Japanese cypress bath. No one, not even the top leaders, were allowed to go there. In those
days in 1973, I was the only one allowed to go to the third floor.

A Photo taken at the Onuma Training Center ( The woman

directly on Ikeda's right side is Mrs.Nobuhira. The second over from Ikeda on his left is his
wife, Kaneko. )
The First Rape Case
　 It happened on the 3rd day after Ikeda's arrival in Onuma, in other words, the evening of June
27. As part of my duties, I went up to the 3rd floor at 9:00 p.m. to lay out Ikeda's Futon, just as I had
done on the two previous evenings, never suspecting that I was about to undergo a terrifying and
humiliating experience. On the first and second evenings, Ikeda had not been present, but when I
went up that night, he was in the office next to the bed room, writing something. He wore long
under pants and a crepe shirt. I entered, saying, " Please pardon my intrusion.", and thinking that I
must not disturb him, I began to close the sliding doors between the bedroom and the office.
However, Ikeda said, " Leave them open. " I was slouched over, spreading out the sheets with my
back to Ikeda when he suddenly leaned against me from behind. This happened in the blink of an
eye. While pushing down on me, Ikeda's hands reached for my shoulders and he pulled at both the
collar of my blouse, so it offered not the slightest resistance. The buttons popped off and scattered
about. I tried desperately to flee, but with Ikeda's enormous body crushing me, I was unable to even
move. He violently tore open my skirt. As he panted with harsh breath, Ikeda spit out, " Just one
layer of underwear, I see. " and he shoved his hand into my underwear. Aside from being pushed
down upon with tremendous force, I was so afraid I was unable to speak. Then Ikeda firmly speared
me from behind. I continued to attempt to resist, struggling and writhing, when everything went
pitch black. I lost consciousness lying prostrate. How much time elapsed, I have no idea. Though I
was prostrate when I blacked out, when I regained consciousness feeling cold, I found that I had
been asleep under the blankets facing the ceiling. With a start, I attempted to be flee, but perhaps
because I was petrified with terror, I was unable to stand up. In spite of that, I somehow managed to
get to my feet and, clutching my clothes which had lain scattered about, I started to flee. When I
did,Ikeda firmly pulled on my ancle. and shouted, " Let's stay in bed awhile ! ". With my ancle in
his grasp, I struck my knee against the threshold.When I made another effort to flee, Ikeda again
pulled on my ancle.Crawling, I made it to the door. Ikeda persisted in pursuing me. I hit my head on
the door. My heart was beating frantically. I truly felt that I might be murdered right there. I was
terribly frightened. I finally opened the door, ran down to the second floor and dashed into the
bathroom. Violent nausea overtook me for some time. Then I calmed myself and wiped repeatedly
at the body fluids which smeared my lawer parts. I continued wiping all the more even after my
skin turned red.

→Ikeda's Intence Body Odor

Article taken from: http://www.toride.org/edata/gpower.html

 THE POWER OF SOKA GAKKAI
TIME Magazine

November 20, 1995 Volume 146, No. 21

Return to Contents page

JAPAN

THE POWER OF SOKA GAKKAI

GROWING REVELATIONS ABOUT THE COMPLICATED AND SINISTER NEXUS OF

POLITICS AND RELIGION

EDWARD W. DESMOND/TOKYO REPORTED BY IRENE M. KUNII/TOKYO

On Sept. 1, Akiyo Asaki, 50, a local assemblywoman from Higashi

Murayama, a city on the western outskirts of Tokyo, walked out of her office without explanation
and without taking any identification. According to
police, a few hours later she climbed the external stairs of a nearby office building to the fifth
floor, scaled a 1.2-m-high wall and jumped to her death. Police concluded that Asaki had taken
her own life--until her family protested. "She was not the type to commit suicide," says a close
friend and fellow assembly member, Hozumi Yano. "She was always cheerful, even though she
knew she was up against a powerful organization."

That organization is Soka Gakkai, Japan's most powerful Buddhist sect.

It has at least 8.12 million members; assets estimated to be as high as $100 billion; and a political
offshoot, the Komeito (Clean Government Party), that has long been a force in the Diet and in
regional assemblies throughout the
country. In Asaki's view, Soka Gakkai (Value-creating Society) was becoming a bit too forceful.
She was helping ex-Soka Gakkai members who were being harassed for quitting, and based on
her own investigations,
she had accused Komeito politicians of using their clout to give local government contracts to
Soka Gakkai
members. In recent months she had received anonymous death threats on
the phone.
No one in authority has suggested that Soka Gakkai had a role in
Asaki's death, and the group has categorically denied any connection with the mysterious
incident.
The sect filed a criminal defamation law suit against Shukan Gendai, a national weekly, for
publishing a story in which Asaki's husband and daughter
alleged that Soka Gakkai was responsible for her death. The National
Police Agency has since instructed local law-enforcement officials to investigate the incident
"carefully." And a member of the Liberal Democratic Party has raised the case in a special
committee hearing in
the Lower House of the Diet that began two weeks ago to review the freedoms enjoyed by
religious groups. Other party legislators are
preparing to bring up the Asaki incident in similar Upper House
hearings due to begin later this month.
At issue is not a single unexplained death but growing revelations about
the complicated, sometimes sinister nexus of religion and politics in modern Japan.
The outcome of the debates in the Diet will have a profound effect on religious freedom, as well
as on the volatile world of
politics.

The hearings center on a proposal to revise the 1951 Religious Corporations Law, which grants
broad freedom from official scrutiny and taxation to thousands of officially recognized religious
groups. The Lower House special committee approved the revisions last week and, following
several weeks of debate in the Upper House, the proposed changes are almost certain to be
approved by both chambers next month. Put forward by
Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama's administration, the revisions would
introduce more government oversight.
In the past such a tightening would have sparked an outcry against authoritarianism, but polls
today show that more than 80% of Japanese are ready to put out the watchdog.

In large part, that change of mood is a reaction to Aum Shinrikyo, the

apocalyptic cult whose leader, Shoko Asahara, will soon stand trial for ordering the March 20
sarin-gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.
Almost as shocking as the 11 deaths that day was the realization that
Aum and all other national religious groups face virtually no official scrutiny. As a result, Aum
members allegedly were able to carry out a
string of serious crimes, including the murder of dissident members
and troublesome critics, without attracting much police attention--until the subway attack.

Asahara's lethal, comic-book conspiracy to take over the government

did not come close to success, but it left Japanese wondering what other madness might be
lurking in the wings. No one was reassured to learn
that the police habitually turn a blind eye to the activities of religious groups, in part because they
fear being tarred as "oppressors." Fifty years ago, Japan's secret police locked up anyone who
opposed "state Shinto," the religion of Emperor worship that lost its official status only when
Japan was defeated in World War II.
After the war, Japan righted the wrong by granting almost boundless freedom to religious groups.

As a result, a tiny, extreme group like Aum Shinrikyo prospered, as

did far more powerful, mainstream Buddhist organizations, such as Soka Gakkai. They face no
taxation on activities generously defined as religious and benefit from cut-rate taxes on their
extensive business operations. Not only Soka Gakkai but also other large Buddhist sects cultivate
politicians; many political leaders proudly associate themselves
with Buddhist and Shinto religious organizations.

No group is quite so disciplined, determined or focused on political

power as Soka Gakkai, which is well positioned to wield immense influence over national
affairs. For years its members have constituted a vast
army of volunteer canvassers and fund raisers for Komeito, which until
recently had 52 seats in the powerful 511-member Lower House, as well as a strong position in
many city and prefectural assemblies. Last year Komeito merged with Shinshinto, the main
opposition party.

Shinshinto's chief rival, the L.D.P., like most parties in Japan, has
been badly weakened by the political turmoil of the past two years and is terrified by the prospect
of a showdown with Soka Gakkai, given its
tacit support for Shinshinto. The Liberal Democrats' fears are well
grounded: Shinshinto officials admit that in a July Upper House election, Soka Gakkai was
responsible for about half the party's 12.5 million
votes, the best showing by any political faction.

If Prime Minister Murayama's Liberal Democratic-led coalition loses

out in elections expected over the coming six months, Shinshinto could form the next
government and ex-Komeito members would emerge in many Cabinet posts. Komeito previously
had seats in two short-lived Cabinets without scandal, but some fear that Soka Gakkai would use
Komeito members to shield the sect and its leader, Daisaku Ikeda, from investigation, promote its
militant Buddhist tradition or abuse power in other ways.
Says independent legislator Keigo Ouchi, Health Minister in the 1993-94 coalition Cabinet that
included Komeito: "Their [Komeito politicians'] loyalty is to Ikeda first and the country second.
That is frightening." What also raises suspicions is the sect's strict internal discipline and
followers'
well-documented allegations of violent intimidation tactics against critics and ex-members. Says
Shizuka Kamei, a right-wing Liberal Democratic
legislator, former police official and anti-Soka Gakkai campaigner:
"Japan is finished if Soka Gakkai takes over. State Shinto will look good by comparison."

The sect's spokesmen deny that Soka Gakkai is interested in political power and point out that it
severed formal ties with Komeito in 1970. That contention is not widely accepted in Japan;
nearly all Komeito legislators were Soka Gakkai faithful before the merger with Shinshinto and
presumably still are, although they typically insist they are nothing more than religious men with
a political calling. Asks Masao Akamatsu, a former Komeito member and now a Shinshinto
legislator:
"What's so strange about having a religious group behind a political party? All we do is chant our
prayer."

Not quite. They also look to the leadership of Ikeda, 67, the enigmatic figure who is the sect's
honorary president and unquestioned commander. At a closed meeting of top officials last August
at a Soka Gakkai facility in Karuizawa, a small resort town in the Japan Alps, Ikeda showed his
hand. According to a member who was present, he said, "This time, not the next time, [the
election] is going to be about winning or losing. We cannot hesitate. We must conquer the
country with one stroke."

For some Liberal Democrats, tightening the Religious Corporations Law

is one way to head off the Soka Gakkai challenge to the L.D.P., as well as help prevent another
Aum incident. The new legislation would place nationally based groups under the supervision of
the Ministry of Education, one of the most conservative institutions in the country, and force
them to disclose to tax authorities and their membership all details of their financial transactions.
The aim is to get more leverage over groups,
including Soka Gakkai, whose members sometimes act as though they are
above the law.

Junko Ando, 38, tells a not untypical story. The piano teacher says
she joined Soka Gakkai eight years ago because "I had no religion of my own. I wasn't unhappy,
but I found a lot of fulfillment in the teachings
of Buddha and Nichiren,"a 13th century Japanese monk. She became
disillusioned because of sect officials' emphasis on fund raising, election activities and what she
calls "the Ikeda personality-cult tendency." She
quit and helped more than 30 others leave as well. That move led to
threats and eventually an attack in which a man she recognized as a sect member twisted her arm
and took away a camera she was carrying. Shaken
but unhurt, she jotted down the license plate of his car as it drove
away and complained to the police. But as often happens in cases involving religious groups, the
authorities did not investigate fully, explaining
that there was insufficient evidence to track down the suspect.

Soka Gakkai opposes the religious-law changes, as do most other

religious groups to varying degrees, with the exception of Reiyukai, a major Buddhist group, and
the Association of Shinto Shrines. Most opponents
point to the Liberal Democrats' obvious political motive. "The L.D.P.
has openly stated that the proposed legislation revision is intended to rein in our activities," says
Einosuke Akiya, president of Soka Gakkai.
"This is sinister indeed." Shinshinto's chief, Ichiro Ozawa, is similarly indignant: "It's an
appalling piece of legislation. It's reminiscent of the prewar years."

Critics also point out that the real issue, at least in the case of Aum Shinrikyo, was the failure of
the police, not an excess of religious freedoms. The Roman Catholic bishops' conference issued a
statement warning that the proposed changes "open the way to guidance and direction by
government agencies and make it possible that the 'separation of church and state' may be
denied."

In the eyes of Soka Gakkai members, there is considerable reason to fear state authority. The sect
was founded in 1930 as the lay arm of the Nichiren Shoshu, one of 38 Buddhist organizations
that claim to represent the teachings of Nichiren. Soka Gakkai's founder, Tsunesaburo
Makiguchi, was eager to reform the school system to include Nichiren's teachings, but the very
idea was enough to land him in prison in 1943 for opposing state-ordered Emperor worship.
Makiguchi died behind bars, but his disciple Josei Toda survived imprisonment to lead the group
after the war. Toda believed political influence was the key to protecting Soka Gakkai from
persecution, and the sect began putting up its own candidates for local
elections in 1955.

Two years after Toda's death in 1958, Ikeda, a longtime Soka Gakkai official, assumed the
presidency and accelerated efforts to gain political influence for the sect.
Toshimitsu Ryu, Soka Gokkai's first political strategist and a senior official until he quit the sect
in 1991, helped design a plan in the 1960s aimed at
winning office in Tokyo and then other major cities. In 1965 Komeito
gained 23 seats in the then 120-seat Tokyo assembly, and ever since has been the fulcrum of
power in the fragmented chamber. Says Ryu, a former
Komeito Tokyo assembly member: "They have used their position to gain
influence over city officials and the Tokyo city budget, particularly the police budget."

According to Ryu, it was Ikeda who transformed Soka Gakkai's strategy

of self-protection into a bid for political power. In 1964 Ikeda formed Komeito, and it made its
debut in national politics a year later by winning 25 seats in the Lower House of the Diet. In
1970, after a scandal in which Komeito leaders tried to persuade retailers not to sell a book
critical of Soka Gakkai, Ikeda announced that the sect would stay out of politics and Komeito
would be independent. But Soka Gakkai is still widely thought to be calling the shots behind the
scenes. "It's a lie," says Ryu. "On the surface we pretended that Komeito was separate,
but it was always the political arm of the organization."
To most Soka Gakkai members, the world of politics is far away. They
see the sect as a source of community and spiritual comfort. It teaches a variant of Mahayana
Buddhism developed by Nichiren. He taught that
followers could attain salvation by chanting every day the simple
words, "I take my refuge in the Lotus Sutra." The Lotus Sutra, one of the most widely venerated
scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism, teaches that
there is only one path to enlightenment and it is accessible to
everyone.

Soka Gakkai followers are taught to chant and recite passages from the
Lotus Sutra in front of a small altar that holds the Gohonzon, a copy of a small scroll inscribed
with Chinese characters that symbolizes the Lotus Sutra. They fervently believe their prayers
bring them good fortune in this life as well as the next one. Japan's rapid economic growth
through the end of the 1980s was the best recruiting agent Soka Gakkai could have desired. Says
Masao Okkotsu, a former member who has written extensively on the
organization: "As Japan entered an era of high economic growth, people
moved from rural areas to industrial centers. They were lonely, poor and cut off. Soka Gakkai
offered companionship, easy loans and an ideology to fill the gap." Nichiren taught that chanting
makes Buddhists better people and that that in turn improves society as a whole.

Most members get their news from the daily Seikyo Shimbun (circ. 5.5
million), the sect's official publication, and many send their children to Soka Gakkai--sponsored
schools. The best go on to Tokyo's highly competitive Soka University. Near the group's
nondescript headquarters in Shinanomachi, Tokyo, the sect owns many surrounding buildings,
and security is a major worry.
Members in blue blazers with walkie-talkies stand on street corners for blocks around. Last year,
according to a leaked police report, Aum Shinrikyo allegedly tried to kill Ikeda.

Dedicated members--housewives are the biggest group--immerse themselves in raising money,

making converts and canvassing for political causes. Their persistence is well known:
they call neighbors repeatedly before elections, and then afterward to ask how they voted. Most
members are quite ready to hand over a
significant part of their earnings to the group--anywhere from $100 a
year to tens of thousands of dollars.
"Soka Gakkai followers believe they will be compensated in their own lifetimes," says Yoshiyuki
Wakamatsu, 52, a Tokyo factory worker. "The more you give, the more you receive."
Soka Gakkai's yearly fund drives raise an estimated $2 billion in cash.

At the center of this universe is Ikeda, a balding, stocky man whose appearance at rallies makes
people burst into tears of joy because he is revered as a great teacher who has shown his flock the
way to happiness and fulfillment. Says Chie Sunada, 22: "[Ikeda] teaches us the basics of how
we should live. He is really a great master."

Soka Gakkai's greatest vulnerability is its dark side. Nichiren was deeply intolerant of other
Buddhist sects. He insisted that all Zen followers are devils, and he justified militancy and even
violence to defend his sect and to repress rival organizations. The government under the
Kamakura shogunate exiled him twice for predicting disasters and foreign invasions if the
country's leaders did not stamp out competing sects. Soka Gakkai shares Nichiren's militant
aspect. It is openly hostile to other creeds, and members, especially important ones, run a
frightening gauntlet if they try to
quit.
According to ex-followers, Soka Gakkai spies on its own ranks, trailing and intimidating those
who are unsure of their commitment. Shuichi Sanuki, editor of a biweekly newspaper for the
10,000 members of the Soka Gakkai Victims Association, claims to have overseen, among other
activities, the sect's alleged spying apparatus in Tokyo. He quit, along with many other
disenchanted members, in 1991 when the Nichiren Shoshu, which provided the sect's priesthood,
grew angry over Ikeda's attempts to take over the religious wing and excommunicated him.
Sanuki says he received death threats over the phone, and members of the Soka Gakkai
Housewives' Association even contacted his wife and urged her to divorce him. Says he: "I know
what the group does to people whom it regards as its enemies. It's not safe for anyone who dares
to criticize it."
For its part, Soka Gakkai resolutely denies any involvement in such
harassment.

So do Komeito legislators, who claim to stand against corruption and pacifism. Yet the party had
long-standing back-room ties with the most corrupt faction in the l.d.p., the group formed around
the late
Kakuei Tanaka. Though Liberal Democrats denounce Soka Gakkai today, the sect has been
helpful in the past, most notably supporting the l.d.p. on the passage of a controversial 1992 law
that permitted Japan to send
troops overseas on U.N. peacekeeping missions for the first time. In return, admitted the late
Foreign Minister Michio Watanabe in a 1993 magazine interview, the l.d.p.
government quashed a tax case aimed atthe sect.

Last year 64 Komeito members of the Upper and Lower houses of the Diet merged with Ozawa's
Shinshinto in a move to improve their chances in the next national elections. Ozawa could not
resist the temptation to win the backing of Soka Gakkai's grass-roots activists. Shinshinto denies
that it receives any funds from Soka Gakkai and insists that Shinshinto is in the driver's seat.
Says Hajime Funada, a Shinshinto legislator who
is not a member of Soka Gakkai: "As long as they have no more than 50%
of political power, it's all right.
But we do need to take care to keep their influence in check."

The debate about Soka Gakkai's intentions leads back to Ikeda, whose favorite phrase when
exhorting his senior followers is Tenka o toru (conquer the country). In his rare public interviews,
Ikeda presents himself as a moderate who has been miscast by the press. "I am an ordinary and
serious man," he told the BBC in an interview this year. "The mass media, with the exception of
the bbc, make up this image of me as a dictator and so forth. This troubles me very much."

Whatever his political ambitions, Ikeda enjoys the limelight on his own terms. Like many
wealthy, would-be world figures, he seeks chances to meet international celebrities such as
Margaret Thatcher or, just this year, Nelson Mandela, in order to enhance his stature among the
followers. He has also built up a pricey art collection for Soka Gakkai, including two Renoirs,
sometimes buying numerous paintings at a time from a single gallery and having aides pay for
the works with suitcases of cash that they carry on trips.

To his followers he is irresistible, the pinnacle of the organization that means so much to them.
But on the rare occasion when he appears in public, like at a 1993 meeting of Soka Gakkai
International in California, Ikeda comes off as surprisingly voluble and erratic. On that occasion,
he repeatedly pounded the table with both hands and mocked President Bill Clinton. Former
close associates like Ryu insist that Ikeda is not very religious.
Whatever Ikeda's strengths or failings, the spotlight is on Soka Gakkai, and the sect is determined
to prove it is a benign if not benevolent force in society. President Akiya has declared the sect
will drop its antagonistic views toward other groups. Says former Komeito member Akamatsu: "I
can understand why the l.d.p. is saying that Ikeda is intent on seizing political power. In the past,
Komeito wanted to spread the Nichiren prayer for the good of the people. But those days are
over."
In the view of the Liberal Democrats, however, Soka Gakkai's past leaves too many questions
unanswered. Says Koichi Kato, L.D.P.
secretary-general: "If Shinshinto wins the next election, it will be thanks to the Soka Gakkai
engine. So, of course, Soka Gakkai can exert influence over the government. I don't think that
will be a good thing."
In the end, the voters can decide for themselves.

--Reported by Irene M. Kunii/Tokyo

Copyright © 1995 Time Inc. All rights reserved.

Article taken from: http://www.toride.org/edata/gpower.html

 This page contains information The Rick A. Ross Institute has
gathered about Soka Gakkai.

Visit the Soka Gakkai Official Web Site

(Link takes you outside the Rick A. Ross Institute web site)
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revolution'
Has Orlando Bloom become the
latest celebrity "cult" casualty?
Sensei's World
University considers selling property in
Santa Monica Mountains
Komeito torn between LDP, Soka Gakkai
"Cult" or Buddhism?
Smaller coalition parties strengthen Koizumi's grip in
Japan
Soka University Under Fire
Shakeup, sit-in at Soka U.
New college try
A New-View University
Buddhist Group Opens University
New Komeito, Soka Gakkai to be tougher on Mori
Who's Got The Power In Japan?
Felonies and Favors: A Friend of the Attorney
General Gathers Information from the Justice
Department
Lawmakers feud on Buddhist ties Coalition members
mixed over Soka Gakkai
Japanese Voters Wary Of Party Tied to Sect
A Sect's Political Rise Creates Uneasiness in Japan
Buddhist U.
Soka Gakkai Member, Shinichi Kuzuha, Arrested for
Attempted Arson
Soka Gakkai warms to coalition plan
Wire-Tapping Devices Found in Hotel Room
Japan's rush hour of the gods
A Buddhist Leader Is Accused Of Rape
Sex case haunts Japan religious leader
Woman accuses Japan Buddhist leader of rape
Soka Gakkai head Ikeda allegedly raped follower
Soka Gakkai sending warning signals to religious
world calling for strong resistance against proposal for
separation of church and state
Japan's Crusader or Corrupter?
Japan fears another religious sect
Following the Leader
Soka Gakkai tried to censor the foreign media but
failed to stop broadcast of BBC's The Chanting Millions
Japan's Religious Sect Bent On Worldly Power
The Chanting Millions
Cults of the '90s add materialistic spin
New Cults Flourish In a Changed Japan
Daisku Ikeda speaks
Daisaku Ikeda -- statesman, billionaire, god
Religious battle taking shape in foothills of Mt. Fuji
Various Soka Groups Appear Linked Sects: Despite
claims of independence, records and other sources
reveal close ties among the religious and school
organizations.
More Names Disclosed In Japan Broker Scandal
Powerful Politician Linked To Tokyo's Stock Scandal
Singapore body denies its members started
commotion
Buddhism American style
Japan Finds Latest Scandal in a Dump
Funny money stories uncovered in Japan
The Value of a Grandfather Figure
A booming economy has spawned a militant new
religion with 10 million adherents bent on dominating
the world

The Rick A. Ross Institute

email: info@rickross.com URL: http://www.rickross.com

Copyright © 2001-2008 Rick Ross.

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