Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, the founder of Soka Gakkai, was born in rural Japan in 1871 and died in prison in 1944, at age 73, as one of Japan's few anti-war martyrs. An educator and author, he dedicated much of his life to developing a progressive philosophy of education and to reforming Japan's educational system.
The core of Mr. Makiguchi's educational philosophy is his theory of value. He believed that the purpose of education is to enable people to create value in any circumstance, that is, to build lasting happiness for themselves and others. Mr. Makiguchi emphasized that education must be practical and nurture students' independence and creativity--ideas contrary to what was being practiced by Japan's nationalistic educational system. His thinking imbues the founding spirit of today's Soka schools.
Mr. Makiguchi's tireless search for the source of value creation led to his encounter with the philosophy of Nichiren, a Buddhist teacher of 13th-century Japan. His meeting with Nichiren's teachings, Mr. Makiguchi later related, "brought about a complete change in my life." In 1928, he and Josei Toda, a young teacher who deeply admired Mr. Makiguchi's ideas, took faith in Nichiren Buddhism. In 1930 the two founded Soka Kyoiku Gakkai (Value Creation Education Society), the predecessor to the modern-day Soka Gakkai.
Originally a small group of educators, Soka Kyoiku Gakkai gradually developed until it became a target of oppression with the outbreak of World War II. When Japan's militarist regime attempted to force all religious denominations to subordinate their principles to State Shinto, the spiritual pillar of the Japanese war effort, Mr. Makiguchi and Mr. Toda refused to compromise their religious and pacifist beliefs. As a result, the two were arrested and imprisoned in 1943 for allegedly violating laws enacted to suppress public dissension.
Mr. Makiguchi, who challenged his guards and interrogators to religious and philosophical debates, never wavered in his convictions. On November 18, 1944, he died from malnutrition and abuse in the Tokyo Detention House.
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