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From “Education Beyond Utility” to Utility for Legitimacy: Contemporary Opposition to Article 9 Revision in the Context of the Sōka Gakkai's Historical Development by Brian Henry Elkevizth Department of Religion Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Richard Jaffe, Supervisor ___________________________ Barbara Ambros ___________________________ Hwansoo Kim Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Religion in the Graduate School of Duke University 2012 ABSTRACT From “Education Beyond Utility” to Utility for Legitimacy: Contemporary Opposition to Article 9 Revision in the Context of the Sōka Gakkai's Historical Development by Brian Henry Elkevizth Department of Religion Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Richard Jaffe, Supervisor ___________________________ Barbara Ambros ___________________________ Hwansoo Kim An abstract of a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Religion in the Graduate School of Duke University 2012 Copyright by Brian Henry Elkevizth 2012 Abstract This study examines the contemporary debate over proposals to revise the Japanese “Peace Constitution” from the perspective of its meaning to the Sōka Gakkai. To the present, the LDP's chief target for revision has been the war- and military renunciation clauses of Article 9. In connection with its argument that Article 9 undermines Japan's national security, the LDP has made the specification of collective self-defense a prime focus of its efforts to produce a draft for a new Japanese Constitution. During the last decade the LDP's best chance to date to achieve this goal arose by the convergence of a number of domestic and international circumstances. However, in the end, the LDP was prevented from realizing its revision aims on account of opposition from its coalition partner, the Kōmeitō, which itself sought to preserve Article 9 at the behest of its core constituent, the Sōka Gakkai. After having been excommunicated from the Nichiren Shōshū in 1991 Gakkai leaders prioritized activism on behalf of Article 9 as the pivotal component of an innovative hermeneutical strategy devised to evince that the movement had retained its legitimacy through the split. By contextualizing this hermeneutical strategy within the Sōka Gakkai's overall historical development and analyzing the streams of activity put into motion thereby until their eventual intersection (via the Kōmeitō) with the LDP's reform agenda, it has been revealed that the chance to impact the Constitutional revision process has served a critical function in enabling the Sōka Gakkai to demonstrate its legitimacy as a wholly independent lay religious movement, and thus to remain a viable factor within today's Japanese religious landscape. iv Key Terms: The Sōka Gakkai, “Peace Constitution,” Constitutional revision, Article 9, the National Diet, the Kōmeitō, the LDP, Makiguchi Tsunesaburō, value-creation, Toda Jōsei, Nichiren Daishōnin, Risshō ankoku-ron , mappō, True Dharma, daimoku , dai-gohonzon , the Nichiren Shōshū, shakubuku , Ikeda Daisaku, “absolute pacifism,” ōbutsu myōgō , kōsen rufu , SGI, excommunication, lay movement, interpretive authority, creative hermeneutics, religious legitimacy, collective self-defense, U.N. PKOs, Ozawa Ichirō, the SDF, Koizumi Junichirō, Mori Draft, the DPJ v Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv Key Terms .......................................................................................................................... v 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Significance of the Issue ........................................................................................... 1 1.2 The Influence of the Sōka Gakkai on the Constitutional Revision Process ............. 3 1.3 How the Sōka Gakkai Itself is Being Influenced ...................................................... 7 1.4 The Peace Movement and the Meaning of Article 9 to the Sōka Gakkai ............... 10 1.5 Questions to be Considered .................................................................................... 15 2. Early History of the Sōka Gakkai ............................................................................ 19 2.1 Current Membership Figures .................................................................................. 19 2.2 Under Makiguchi's Leadership ............................................................................... 20 2.2.1 The Establishment of the “Value-Creating Education Society”....................... 20 2.2.2 The Fundamentals of “Value-Creating Pedagogy” .......................................... 22 2.2.3 Suppression and Redirection of the Movement ............................................... 23 2.2.4 Makiguchi's Imprisonment and Death ............................................................. 26 2.3 Re-formation of the Movement as the Sōka Gakkai under Toda's Leadership ....... 28 2.4 Factors Behind the Sōka Gakkai's Early Success ................................................... 29 2.5 Improving karma through the Religious Practice of the Sōka Gakkai ................... 32 2.6 The Doctrine of Shakubuku .................................................................................... 34 2.6.1 Nichiren and Shakubuku .................................................................................. 34 2.6.2 The Sōka Gakkai's Adoption of Shakubuku ..................................................... 37 vi 2.7 Legacies of the Toda Presidency ............................................................................. 44 3. Diversification of the Movement under Ikeda's Leadership: 1960-90 ............... 53 3.1 Expanded Meaning of kōsen rufu ........................................................................... 53 3.2 The Formation of the Kōmeit ō ............................................................................... 56 3.3 The Nature of the Sōka Gakkai-Kōmeit ō Relationship .......................................... 62 3.4 The “Freedom of the Press Incident” and Formal Split of the Gakkai-Tō Alliance 70 3.5 Diversification of the Movement ............................................................................ 74 3.5.1 Factors and Principles Behind Diversification ................................................ 74 3.5.2 Establishment of Soka Gakkai International.................................................... 78 3.6 Foundations of the Peace Movement ...................................................................... 82 3.6.1 Ideological Basis .............................................................................................. 82 3.6.2 Activities of the Sōka Gakkai Peace Movement (Prior to 1991) ..................... 88 4. Excommunication from the Nichiren Sh ōsh ū ........................................................ 99 4.1 Historical Tensions between the Sōka Gakkai and the Nichiren Sh ōsh ū ............... 99 4.2 Ikeda's Forced Resignation as Sōka Gakkai President ......................................... 105 4.3 “Written Notification of Excommunication” ........................................................ 109 4.4 Specific Problems Presented by Excommunication ..............................................115 4.5 The Sōka Gakkai's Response ................................................................................ 120 4.5.1 Defining the Movement's Legitimacy vis á vis the Priesthood's ................... 120 4.5.2 Legitimacy through the Various Manifestations of a “Creative Hermeneutic” ................................................................................................................................. 126 4.5.3 Distillation of the True Dharma to Its Essence in the Modern World ............ 135 5. The Sōka Gakkai's Place In Society Since 1991 ................................................ 140 vii 5.1 The Contemporary Culture and Education Programs ........................................... 140 5.1.1 Developments with regard to the Culture Program ....................................... 140 5.1.2 Developments with regard to the Education Program ................................... 149 5.2 The Meaning and Focus of the Contemporary Peace Movement ......................... 154 5.3 Inflammation of the Article 9 Revision Debate Surrounding the first Gulf War .. 157 5.3.1 Period of Relative Dormancy of the Debate: 1954-1990............................... 157 5.3.2 “Checkbook Diplomacy,” and Stimulation of the Revision Issue ................. 161 5.4 “For” and “Against” Sides to the Dispute............................................................. 164 5.5 (Re-)Involvement of the Kōmeit ō in the Sōka Gakkai Peace Movement ............ 178 5.5.1 1992 U.N. Peacekeeping Operations Bill ...................................................... 178 5.5.2 Tying the Peace Program to the Kōmeit ō/ Article 9: Opportunities and Challenges ............................................................................................................... 184 5.6 Formation of the Coalition with the LDP ............................................................. 196 5.7 LDP-Kōmeit ō, the Gakkai-Tō, and Constitutional Revision in a Post-9/11 World ....................................................................................................................................

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