Death of Daisaku Ikeda, Honorary President of the Soka Gakkai: “Succession Problem” and the “Collapse of the Kishida Administration” Coming Soon
Daisaku Ikeda, who built a huge organization and controlled the religious and political worlds in the Showa and Heisei eras, died on November 15 at the age of 95.
The FRIDAY reporter has a photograph in her possession. It was taken at Taiseki-ji Temple, the head temple of Nichiren Shoshu in Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture. This huge temple, founded about 700 years ago, was a “holy place” for the Soka Gakkai until it was excommunicated by Nichiren Shoshu in 1991. In 1968, a summer seminar was held at Taiseki-ji Temple with 457 members of the Soka Gakkai Women’s Club. Surrounded by a throng of female leaders, a well-dressed man sitting on a chair with his legs spread was Daisaku Ikeda, honorary president of the Soka Gakkai, who passed away on November 15 this year at the age of 95.
The Women’s Club, which had nearly 5 million members in its heyday, was the most important to ″Sensei″ and to the Gakkai. Since the formation of the Komeito in 1964, the women’s club had been a thorough “vote-collecting machine” in the election campaign. Women’s club members scattered all over the country called out to non-Komei members, sometimes even going door-to-door to encourage them to vote. To reward them for their efforts, Sensei would gather the women’s leaders and hold seminars and training sessions. She personally approached the academic members who had achieved results and exchanged words with them directly. Seeing this, the members of the women’s section became even more involved in the campaign, saying, ‘Someday I too will receive a word from the teacher at ……. As a result, Komeito grew into a major political party, receiving 8.98 million votes in 2005, its peak year.
Although Ikeda had a great influence on the political world, his last years were shrouded in mystery. Until his death, Ikeda had not made any public appearances for more than 10 years.
In June 2010, Mr. Ikeda abruptly abstained from the executive board meeting at the head office, and handed over all business to the current president, Minoru Harada (82). Since then, he had maintained his centripetal force by having his eldest son and chief vice president Hiromasa (70) read messages to the society’s members on his behalf. The executives must have been well aware that many Gakkai members would lose heart with Ikeda’s disappearance,” said journalist Naoki Yamada.
