Tsunesaburo Makiguchi

Tsunesaburō Makiguchi (牧口 常三郎), Sōka Gakkai's first president, was born in Kashiwazaki, a small village in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, on June 6, 1871. Adopted by the Makiguchi family, he moved to Hokkaidō, Japan's northernmost island, at the age of 14. Working his way through school, he graduated from Sapporo Normal School (today's Hokkaidō University of Education). First employed as an assistant teacher at a primary school affiliated with his alma mater, he later taught high school and served as a dormitory superintendent. After moving to Tokyo, he served as principal in six primary schools, from 1913 to 1932.

During those years, he devoted much consideration to the relationship between life and education, developing his theories on the creation of value, the happiness of the individual, and the prosperity of society at large.

Typical of his work is his first book, "Jinsei Chirigaku" ('A Geography of Human Life'), published in 1903. In it, he developed unique and progressive ideas on the relationship between people's lives and their geographic location. For over a period of five years from 1930, he also published the 4-volume "Sōka Kyōikugaku Taikei" ('The System of Value-creation Pedagogy'). Based on his long career as an educator, this series of books sets forth his astute observations and far-thinking proposals for reforming the Japanese educational system.

An example of his proposals was the creation of an educational system comprising a partnership of school, home and community, each of which had responsibility for a specific part of the educational task. In this system, a child would spend half day in school and the other half in apprenticeships and other types of work activities at home and in the community befitting the nature and needs of the child. Mr. Makiguchi felt that implementing his proposed system would change bored, apathetic learners into eager, self-directed students.

The theory and practice of value-creating education, which aim to instill in an individual an appreciation for the highest values, have attracted the attention of educators outside Japan as well. The "Sōka Kyōikugaku Taikei", has been translated now into English, Portuguese, French and Vietnamese.

In 1928, Mr. Makiguchi and his close friend and disciple, Jōsei Toda, began to practice the Buddhism of Nichiren Shōshū. Mr. Makiguchi's encounter with this school of Buddhist thought took his life onto an even deeper and broader dimension, resulting in the establishment of the "Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai" ('Value-Creation Education Society'), the predecessor to today's Sōka Gakkai. It can be said that Mr. Makiguchi created and developed a grassroots movement as the foundation of a lasting peace, an objective he perceived at the very heart of "Nichiren Buddhism".

During World War II, he staunchly opposed Japan's military government because it sought to impose the doctrine of State Shintō through strict control of religions and thoughts inimical to its war effort.

In 1943, he was arrested and imprisoned as a "thought criminal." Yet, in spite of being subjected to harsh interrogations, he never retreated from his beliefs; indeed, the 72-year-old former principal continued to assert the value of freedom of religion, the most fundamental of all human rights. On November 18, 1944, the anniversary of the founding of the "Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai", he died in prison.

Mr. Makiguchi is remembered by members of "Soka Gakkai International" to this day. During morning and evening gongyō members take a moment to remember the first three presidents of Sōka Gakkai: Tsunesaburō Makiguchi (President from 1930 to 1944), Jōsei Toda (1946–1958), and Daisaku Ikeda (1960–present).

A system of "Soka schools" in Japan, several independent secondary schools elsewhere in the world, as well as two universities (Soka University of Japan and Soka University of America) have been created based on Makiguchi's pedagogy.

Books

*"Education for Creative Living: Ideas and Proposals of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi", Iowa State University Press, 1989
*"A Geography of Human Life", Caddo Gap Pr, 2002
*"Philosophy of value", Seikyo Press, 1964

Links

* [http://tmakiguchi.org Tsunesaburo Makiguchi Website]