by Hirtatsu Fujiwara, 1970

Nisshin Hodo Co.
Tokyo, Japan

Chapter Four:

The Seven Damning Sins of Soka Gakkai-Komeito

Komeito Is The Sinful, Bastard Child of Soka Gakkai

The filthy relationship between Soka Gakkai-Komeito, who
commits the great crime of mixing  religion with politics and is
clouding politics and religion, might be said to be a reason for
regarding Komeito as the sinful, bastard child of Soka Gakkai.
 Now what do we mean by this statement, and just what kind
of political ideas do they have? A more detailed analysis of these
points is necessary.  Strange to say, the political ideas of of
Komeito are exactly the same as the religious ideas of Soka
Gakkai, which they call obiitsu myogo (the fusion of politics
and Buddhism). "0" refers to politics and "Buppo" means religious
 philosophy expounded by Nichiren Shoshu. By imperceptible
 blending these two, it is their contention that a Utopia will be built,
with everything based on this one doctrine.  In short, this political
group known as Komeito, aims at propagating the teaching of Soka Gakkai,
not only throughout Japan but all over the world, and in this respect, Komeito
 exists only for the purpose of adding the political accent to the teachings of
Soka Gakkai, the religious group. Accordingly, the most important activity
of all for Komeito is shakubuku as well as for Soka Gakkai and by these
activities they aim to establish Nichiren Shoshu as the State Religion by gaining
 a majority in the Diet and holding a political hegemony. We are not able to
 interpret it in any other way, otherwise, the formation of the political party,
Komeito, would have no meaning and there would be no reason for its existence
 as a branch of Soka Gakkai.
That is to say, Komeito has no political doctrines of its own, and no
partisans of its own, except those doctrines and membership supplied
 by Soka Gakkai. Therefore as a political entity, they exist only as
Soka Gakkai exists, and their purpose, program, and ideology is that
of Soka Gakkai-they are one and the same.  It is really possible to call
Komeito a politcal party?  Let us use common sense in making this judgement.
President Daisaku Ikeda, however, when it comes to the charge that
Soka Gakkai wishes to nationalize Nichiren Shoshu, will deny it with
words, but if the Diet, which represents all the people, admits the validity
of kokuritsu kaidan, it will be possible at any time to realize the nationalization
of Soka Gakkai.  This opportunity will surely come, or so some of the members
 of Soka Gakkai believe.  For this reason, we can have absolutely no confidence
 in what Daisaku Ikeda says, because it is mostly political jargon, and for public
 consumption only, for if Komeito should gain a majority in the Diet-when and
 if-they most surely would say: "Since we have the majority and express the
 desire of the people, what should hinder us from building the kokuritsu kaidan
 according to democratic principles and establishing Soka Gakkai as the State Religion?"
As I mentioned before, it was in 1955 that Soka Gakkai first sent representatives
into the local assemblies and the next year they sent three Councillors into the
House of Councillors. At this time they did not stand for general election,because
 they were not sure of being elected for the House of Representatives. But as
soon as they thought their candidate would have sufficient support from their
organization to insure election they intentionally forgot such flowery phrases as:
"We will fulfill our mission as a critical political party," "we will take an active
part in criticizing the government party", and "after careful consideration, we
will always act within the limitations of a religious political power," and immediately
set about forming a political party with the aim of coming into power, and with this
 in mind entered the general election.
This sudden change in their policies might be said to show that they are an
"opportunistic and unprincipled type" who adapt themselves to changing
circumstances. This is a typical tendency which is expressed by their past
 speech and behaviour. Thus judging from past experiences, we never
know when we will be misled by Soka Gakkai's statements and trapped,
and they cannot under any circumstances be trusted, and if we rely on
what the Komeito, who is the sinful bastard child of Soka Gakkai, says to
 the people, we will likewise be misled. We can never tell when they will
spring the trap on us. What we are saying applies particularly to the
nationalization of Soka Gakkai.  Regardless of the denials of Daisaku ikeda,
 it is evident that Soka Gakkai, through Komeito, is trying to take power and aims at
establishing Soka Gakkai as the State Religion.  At the present time, they
cannot afford to advocate this openly, since they would be severely condemned
by the provisions of the Constitution, which guarantees freedona of religion, and
which, they are committed to uphold.  Therefore it would put them in a most
 awkward position to advocate openly the nationalization of Soka Gakkai,
 however, once they come to power, would it not mean that they would not
only bring this about, but also change the Constitution in other ways to suit
their purposes? They will change the Constitution which forbids the establishment
of any particular religion as a State Religion.
The Nazis, for purposes of gaining a majority and coming to power upheld
 the Constitution, then after taking power, they blatantly ignored the same
Constitution, and established Hitler's dictatorship.  I think the possbility that
Soka Gakkai will do the same thing is not at all remote.
Just here, I would like to quote the words of both Chairman Takeiri and
 Secretary-General Yano concerning the problem of State Religion:
"When the freedom of religion was suppressed, it was Soka Gakkai who
suffered the most, therefore it would be impossible for Soka Gakkai to
oppress other particular religions."
So they avow, but, to what extent can we really rely on their words?
Can we say assuredly that the one who has been the victim of oppression
 will never oppress others? There are many cases in which just the opposite
has been true, as the victim was all the more determined to become an
oppressor, and the more fanatical the organization the stronger this desire.
Especially is this the case among those who have a "persecution complex."
As is clearly seen in the case of the old Japanese military, when the persecuted
comes to power, they persecute with fiendish power.  We cannot therefore
have any confidence whatsoever in these words.
At any rate, the building of a kokuritsu kaidan, and the nationalizing of Soka Gakkai,
would be an infringement of the Constitution which clearly guarantees freedom of
religion. According to Article 20. "Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all.  No
religious organization shall receive any privileges from the State, nor exercise any
political authority",and further it provides that, "no person shall be compelled to
take part in any religious act, celebration, rite or practice."  Also, "the State and
its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity."
According to Article 89:
"No public money or other property shall be expended or appropriated for the
use benefit, or maintenance of any religious institution or association, or for any
 charitable, educational or benevolent enterprises not under the control of public authority."
However, the executives of the Komeito by means of obtaining members through
the teachings of Soka Gakkai are in this way expanding their political power,
and in fact are using the teachings of Nichiren Shoshu to gain political power~
this being the tactic they are most deeply committed to.  To these charges they
have no reply.
If they resent these implications, they should be trying to fulfill their primary
objective as an opposition party to criticize the government, or else they should
come out publicly in support of their nationalization of Soka Gakkai,
since that was what they had in mind from the beginning of their entrance into
politics.
As soon as it was brought out that kokuritsu kaidan did in fact mean the same
thing as establishing a state religion, which would be in direct violation of the
Constitution, and this proved to be a deterrent to Komeito's advance in politics,
 they overnight came out with a brand of new interpretation of this policy. "We
did not really mean national religion. What we meant was a kaidan built by
 the will of the people and by their desire." Such about-face tactics, such
opportunism, emptiness, shameless using any means to attain an end, and
 their attitude to push toward holding the deciding vote in the Diet-this is the
 true face of Komeito.
In this connection, though Komeito and the Communist Party, which believes
 that religion is the opiate of the people, are poles apart in political doctrines,
 from the standpoint of their conduct in the Diet and in election campaigns we
 may say that they have something in common with one another.
For the Communist Party, which in essence does not follow democratic
parliamentary government, the Diet is a place for propagandism, and elections
 are only for the purpose of expanding their party power and nothing else. This
is made clear in their practice of entering candidates in elections with no chance
whatever of winning. In the Diet, as a strictly minority party, they make the most
of every opportunity to use this place to expand their strength through propaganda,
and we do not exaggerate when we say that this is how the Communist feel about
the Diet and parliamentary government. For the purpose of producing conditions
favorable to revolution they utilize both the Diet and elections.
In this regard, Komeito's position is similar to that of the Communist Party. If Komeito
 should come into power, they will bring about a Soka Gakkai styled "human revolution"
and by means of what they call "social revolution" set up a permanent dictatorship, with
none other than President Daisaku Ikeda at the helm of the ship of state.  It is said that
in Japan the Conservative Party is controlled by big business and the Socialist Party by
the labor unions, but far from being controlled, the Komeito is the sinful, bastard child of
Soka Gakkai and is manipulated by means of its incestuous relationship as a political
 party to its parent the religious body.  In this meaning, we must condemn Soka
Gakkai-Komeito and impeach them for committing the grave sin of mixing politics
and religion and confusing politics and religion, which makes the political character
of Komeito obscure, and which is the result of the their relationship with each other.
Among the Seven Great Sins of Soka Gakkai-Komeito, this is the greatest.