SŌKA GAKKAI is a large religious organization that rapidly increased its strength after World War II. Official membership figures in December 2003 included approximately 8,210,000 households in Japan and 1,502,000 individuals in other countries. Makiguchi Tsunesaburo (1871–1944), the founder of Sōka Gakkai, was a primary school teacher who sought to establish an educational movement based on a new educational method. In 1928 Makiguchi became a follower of an exclusive subsect of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism, which promoted the merger of his educational and religious movements. In 1930 Makiguchi and Toda Jōsei (1900–1958), his chief disciple, published Sōka Kyoikugaku Taikei (The system of value-creating pedagogy). By 1941 the number of sympathizers had increased to approximately two thousand; at this time the activities of the Sōka Kyoiku Gakkai were inseparable from the activities of lay groups belonging to the Nichiren Shōshū sect. The...