ABSTRACT

THE LIFE AND THOUGHT 0F TSUNESABURO MAKIGUCHI:
HIS CONTRIBUTION TO EDUCATION

By
Dayle Morgan Bethel

The writer's purpose in this study is to evaluate
the life, educational philosophy, and.pedagogy of the
Japanese educator and founder of the Soka Gakkai movement,
Tsunesaburo Makiguchi. The study Centers primarily around
Japanese educational history. Reference is made to American
educational pragmatism.and the life and thought of John
Dewey as a means of relating Makiguchi's work and aspects
of Japanese education to educational thought and practice
outside Japan during the early decades of the twentieth
century. A theory of social and cultural change formulated
by Anthony F. C. Wallace is employed in the study and serves
as a framework within which to present an interpretation of
Makiguchi and Soka Gakkai.

Following presentation of biographical material
covering Makiguchi's personal and professional life, the
study focuses on two major phases of his life and thought.
The first phase consisted of nearly forty years, from 1893

to 1929, which Makiguchi spent as a professional educator.

Dayle Morgan Bethel

He wrote his major work, Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei (System of
Value Creating Pedagogy), during the years 1929 to 1933
from notes and jottings accumulated over these four decades.
Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei itself is_a unique Japanese formu-
Ilation of an educational pragmatism which drew inspiration
from the works of both John Dewey and Lester Ward.

The second phase of Makiguchi's life considered in
the study covered the years from 1933 to 1944. During
these years Makiguchi, recognizing his failure to reform
Japanese education and society through educational means,
turned to the teachings of Nichiren Shoshu, a militant sect
of Japanese Buddhism, for the means to accomplish his
objectives. This shift in orientation introduced an element
of absolutism into his thinking which contrasts sharply
with his previous relativistic and pragmatic position.

Background data for the study were collected over a
six-year period during which time the writer resided in
Japan. In addition, the summer of 1969 was spent in Tokyo
in intensive investigation of the historical aspects of
Makiguchi's life and educational career. Primary sources
utilized in the study include all of Makiguchi's major -
works, pamphlets and periodicals which he shared in publish—
ing, and an unpublished manuscript written by one of his
students.

The major conclusion of the study is that Makiguchi

is one of the giants of educational thought in the twentieth

Dayle Morgan Bethel

century and.merits the attention of comparative and inter-
national educators. The study also points out that the
educational philosoPhy and pedagogy of this little-known
Japanese school teacher hold significant implications for
contemporary education and culture by virtue of their part
in the founding and present practice of the Soka Gakkai

movement .

THE LIFE AND THOUGHT OF TSUNESABURO MAKIGUCHI:

HIS CONTRIBUTION TO EDUCATION

BY

Dayle Morgan Bethel

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Secondary Education and Curriculum

1971

© Copyright by
DAYLE MORGAN BETHEL
1972‘

ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .

 

The writer wishes to express sincere appreciation

to Dr. Carl H. Gross, who, as his major professor and

 

guidance committee chairman, provided assistance and
guidance during all phases of the study. Dr. Gross first
called to the writer's attention, as a result of his own
pioneering study of the educational system of the Soka
Gakkai, the possibility of and need for a study of
Makiguchi. His encouragement and insightful suggestions,
and particularly his conviction that an academic department
must be flexible enough to include a variety of philo-
sophical positions and schools of thought, have been sources
of inspiration and help throughout the study.'

Dr. Iwao Ishino, Chairman of the Department of
Anthropology, went far beyond the call of duty as a member
of the guidance committee in giving assistance. The
numerous sessions spent with him were particularly helpful
in formulating the theoretical framework of the study.

The writer is indebted also to Dr. Herbert C. Jackson,
Department of Religion, for suggestions and advice in the
initial stages of planning the study and for assistance in
unlocking the mysteries of the Buddhist scriptures. The

other members of the guidance committee, Dr. Walter F.

iii

Johnson, Department of Administration and Higher Education,
and Dr. Stanley P. Wronski, Department of Secondary Edu-
cation and Curriculum, though less directly related to the
study, gave generously of their time, support, and encour-
agement.

Of the many persons in Japan who assisted with the
study three have given invaluable assistance. Mr. Shukaku
Yajima of the Shoin Temple in the city of Omiya and formerly
a personal associate of Makiguchi, though confined to his
sickbed, consented to talk with the writer about the study
and has continued to offer valuable information and sug-
gestions. Mr. Tomiya Akiyama, Director of Soka Gakkai's
Foreign Affairs Bureau, in addition to contributing hours
of his time, has assisted in many ways and on many occa-
sions. For suggestions which opened up new areas and
directions at a point when the research had reached a
stalemate, the writer is particularly indebted to Mr.
Satoshi Ikeda, author of a recent biography of Makiguchi.

Finally, for financial assistance at various stages
of the research the writer wishes to express appreciation
to the Institute for International Studies in Education,
the Asian Studies Center, and the Department of Anthro-
pology, all of Michigan State University, and the Reorgan-
ized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, of

Independence, Missouri.

iv

 

LIST OF FIGURES . . . . . .

Chapter

I.

II.

III.

IV.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCT ION . C O O O O O O 0

Purpose of the Study . . . . .

Background of the Study in Educa-
tional Pragmatism . . . . .

Interest of the Study in Soka

Gakkai I O O I I O O O I 0
Methods and Theoretical Framework of
the Study 0 O O O O I 0

Organization of the Study . . . .
FAMILY LIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES

Early Life and Education . . . .

Personal Life . . . . . . .

Political and Intellectual
Environment . . . . . . . .

PROFESSIONAL LIFE . . . . . . .

Sapporo Normal School . . . . .
Makiguchi and the Academics . . .
Public School Teacher and Principal .
Sources of Makiguchi's Educational
Ideas . . . . . . . . . .

VALUE CREATING PEDAGOGY . . . . .

Japanese Mis-education . . . . .
A PhilosOphy of Education . . . .
Value Creating Pedagogy . . . . .
Value Creating Pedagogy as an
Indigenous Japanese Pragmatism . .
Value Creating Pedagogy in Retrospect

Page

vii

w P‘ F4

Chapter Page

V. MAKIGUCHI'S INFLUENCE ON THE SOKA

GAKKAI MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . 80
Educational Reformer in Pre-World
War II Japan . . . . . . . . . 80
Reconstruction in the Postwar Period . . 92
New Leadership for a New Era: Value
Creating Pedagogy Resurrected . . . 105
VI. AN APPROACH TO AN INTERPRETATION OF
THE MAN AND THE MOVEMENT . . . . . . 123
A Frame of Reference . . . . . . . 123
Revitalization Movements, Educational
Priorities, and Value Orientations . . 131
Tsunesaburo Makiguchi: PrOphet of a
Revitalization Movement . . . . 137
Makiguchi' s Influence on International
Education . . . . . . . . . . 156
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

vi

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page
1. The Divisions of Learning . . . . . . . 128
2. The Matters of Learning . . . . . . . 136

3. Educational Priorities in a Self-
Renewing Society . . . . . . . . . 153

vii

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is twofold. It is, in
the first place, an attempt to assess the importance of
the life and work of a remarkable Japanese educator,
Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, for international education and
contemporary society. In the second place, the purpose of
the study is to make available to scholars in the English-
speaking world information about Makiguchi's educational
philOSOphy and pedagogy.

Makiguchi is virtually unknown outside Japan. In
fact, within Japan itself if one asks the average citizen
or even the average educator a question about Makiguchi,
he is likely to be greeted by a blank stare. In official
Japanese educational history, Makiguchi is known as an
elementary school teacher and principal who invariably
caused trouble in one way or another wherever assigned.

He was unceremoniously released from active school work,
after twenty years of service in the Tokyo School System,
by being transferred to a school scheduled to be closed
the following year. Yet, despite the anonymity and offi-

cial stigma associated with him, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi is

emerging today as one of the great educators of the twen-
tieth century.
Background of the Study in
Educational Pragmatism

The acceleration of Japan's economic development
following the Meiji Restoration in 1868 led to a situation
in which Japan and the United States entered the twentieth
century in a roughly comparable state in terms of the
accumulation of technological knowledge and industrial

development.1

Thus, although the cultures of the two
countries were vastly different, they began the century
facing common problems, needs, and concerns. In the United
States, during the late nineteenth century and the first
half of the twentieth, John Dewey was a pivotal figure in
the response of American culture in general and American
education in particular to the needs of peOple as human
beings in a technological society. In Japan, if allowance
is made for a time lag in the acceptance of Makiguchi's

views by Japanese society, it may be said that Makiguchi

played a similar role. As will be noted later in the study

 

1For a discussion of Japan's "forced march to indus-
trialization" which resulted, within a generation of the
revolutibn of 1868, in the transition of Japan from an al-
most purely agrarian to a predominantly industrial economy,
see Thomas C. Smith, Political Change and Industrial

Develo ment in Ja an: Government Enterprise, 1868-1880
(Stanford, CaIif.: Stanford University Press, 19555.

 

in more detail, the quality and merits of Makiguchi's edu-
cational thought and prOposals were largely overlooked and
rejected by the Japanese during his lifetime and are just
now coming to be recognized by some members of Japanese
society.

Makiguchi and Dewey were contemporaries, Dewey
having been born in 1859 and Makiguchi in 1871. Not only
did they face common problems in their respective countries,
they shared a common intellectual heritage. Both were in-
spired and challenged by the great educational reformers of
EurOpe: Comenius, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Herbert, and
others; both were deeply influenced by early pioneers in
the field of sociology; finally, both Makiguchi and Dewey
*had to come to grips, as did their contemporaries, with the
great intellectual issues of the nineteenth century having
to do with the nature and import for human life of science
and evolution.

This common intellectual heritage was a vital
factor in the development and growth of both men. At the
same time, both recognized early in their educational
careers that new needs and new demands of people in a tech—
nological age made necessary the plowing of new ground, the
creating of new structures, and the reforming of old
structures. Beyond this, they saw--as others have seen
more recently-~that as "our technological, scientific, and

urbanized civilization moves forward with ever-increasing

tempo, there must, of necessity, be some underlying prin-
ciple of order, some scheme of values, some sense of pur—
pose that extends beyond the material order of things."2
Makiguchi and Dewey must be understood in terms of this
search for an underlying order, for common human values,

for meaning and purpose. In their respective cultures

this search led them to formulate pragmatic conceptions of
man and the world which embodied the revolutionary impli-
cations of science and evolution.

That in the United States pragmatism represents an
indigenous philoSOphical develOpment is widely recognized.
It will be assumed for purposes of this study that the
reader is familiar with this important aspect of American
intellectual history.3 Such familiarity would include the
understanding that while pragmatism.was an indigenous
development in America, it was not new in the sense that it
had no connections with the wider movement of human thought.

On the contrary, as Charles Peirce, William James, and other

early scholars of the pragmatic school in America freely

 

2William E. Drake, Intellectual Foundations of
Modern Education (Columbus, Ohio: Charles . Merrill
Books, 19677, p. 275.

 

3For two excellent works dealing with the develop-

ment of pragmatism in America with particular reference to
education, see: John L. Childs, Education and the Philos-
o h of Experimentalism (New York: The Century Company,
1931) and C. Wright Mills, Sociology and Pragmatism:_IThe
Higher Learning in America (New York: Paine-Whitman Pub-
lishers, 1964).

 

admitted, there were important continuities between their
thought and that of earlier European philosophers, particu-
larly Kant, John Stuart Mill, and Darwin. It will be
assumed, also, that the reader is familiar with the social,
economic, and political dimensions of American life during
the century covering a period roughly from 1850 to 1950 in
which American pragmatism was given birth and grew to
maturity. All of these matters, while beyond the scape of
'this study, are essential background for it.

If, then, this background can be assumed, it will
be almost an afterthought to point out that John Dewey
stands today as American pragmatism's chief spokesman.
Without Dewey, as Childs points out, it is doubtful if the
ideas of Peirce and James would have developed into an
indigenous American philosophic movement.4 It was Dewey,
also, who initially grasped the significance of the new
philosophy for education. In the same way, Makiguchi repre-
sents and speaks for an indigenous philosophic movement in
Japan. That the Japanese, for the most part, failed to
recognize the significance of Makiguchi's work and thought
in no way diminishes his stature as an educator and
philoSOpher. On the contrary, the neglect and rejection

of Makiguchi accentuates today the significance of his work

 

4Childs, Ibid., p. 4.

and indicates the extent to which he was a man ahead of

his time in the society in which he lived.

Interest of the Study in Soka
Gakkai

The educational philoSOphy and pedagogy which grew
out of Makiguchi's struggle to integrate the diverse phi-
lOSOphieS in his cultural heritage and to relate them to
practical educational needs represents an important contri-
bution to the history and philosophy of education in Japan.
In addition to this, as the initial founder of the Soka
Gakkai movement, Makiguchi contributed to the growth and
development of one of the unique social phenomena of the
contemporary international scene. The growth of this move-
ment from approximately 3,000 followers before World War II
to well over ten million in the late 1960's is now well
documented. Included is a significant overseas membership
which, according to the branch office of Soka Gakkai in
Santa Monica, California, numbers 200,000 members in North
America alone. As a lay organization of the Nichiren Sho
sect of Buddhism, Soka Gakkai's professed aim is the real-
ization of a society which combines the happiness of the
individual with the prosperity of all society. Its
political party, the Komeito, has become the third most
powerful party in Japanese politics. The religious, finan-

cial, human, and political resources which Soka Gakkai

commands in contemporary Japan makes it Of key importance
both in that country and in the international community.

Not only are Makiguchi's educational philOSOphy and
pedagogy integral aspects Of the educational and ideologi-
cal foundations Of Soka Gakkai, which makes study Of these
matters of value to Western scholars. But worthy of note
also is the possibility that Soka Gakkai, in its present
efforts to implement Makiguchi's prOposals, may be pointing
some new directions in the ordering of educational priori-
ties. This matter will be examined in the concluding
chapter of the study.
Methods and Theoretical Frame-
work of the Study

The writer's qualifications for undertaking the
study include a six-year residency in Japan from 1960 to
1966. As a cultural affairs analyst for an American
religious organization he had Opportunity during this period
to conduct research dealing with Japanese religious groups.
This research focused on what have come to be known as the
"New Religions" Of Japan, particularly the Soka Gakkai and
the Rissho Koseikai. In the course Of this research an
Opportunity arose for the writer to assist William P.
WOOdard, then Director Of the International Institute for
the Study of Religions, with proofreading and editing Of
Institute publications and to participate with him in

studies of indigenous religious movements in Japan. In

addition to this earlier study of the Soka Gakkai movement,
the writer spent the summer of 1969 in Japan engaged in
further research.

Due to the paucity of information about Makiguchi
in English and in view of his relationship to Soka Gakkai,
the writer felt it imperative that the myths and the facts
concerning him be distinguished and interpreted. This was
one Of the primary purposes of the research conducted in
the summer of 1969. At times alone and at other times with
a trusted assistant, the writer tramped the streets and
alleys Of Tokyo where Makiguchi spent the major part of his
productive years, searching for clues and leads which would
help to fill in the dim outlines of his life and career.
These clues and leads spread in many directions, at times
to remote villages in the Kanto Plain far from Tokyo. They
led to schools where Makiguchi taught or served as principal
and where in some cases school records verified tenure and
other aspects Of his relationship to the school. They led
to former students whose memories helped to sharpen the
features of Makiguchi's personality as a man and as a
teacher. They led to former teachers who had taught under
his supervision and colleagues who had taught with him.
They led to associates who assisted Makiguchi in the organ—
izing of the reform oriented discussion groups in the
1930's from which Soka Gakkai traces its beginnings. They

led finally to members of Makiguchi's family, who, although

reluctant at first were most cooperative and gracious upon
learning Of the nature of the research and the proposed
uses of the information Obtained.

In many respects this phase Of the study was for
the writer the most enjoyable. For a brief period it was
possible to be completely immersed in the life and person-
ality Of this remarkable man. At times it seemed almost as
if the personality whose form.was taking shape through
successive interviews and scanned records was a present
reality. Then, too, many of the persons interviewed were
elderly and in poor health. These would soon be passing
on, taking their memories of Makiguchi with them. This
realization added to the sense of need for the study and
was a spur to leave no lead unchecked.

A central concern throughout the study is the role
Of education and the educator in social and cultural
change. As a result of this general interest and concern
for the relationship between education and change the
writer brought the following kinds Of questions to the
study. TO what extent can a reform-minded member of a
social system bring about change in that system? Under
what conditions and by what means can such change be
effected? How important is education in effecting inten-
tional and directed change? What kinds Of priorities in
the matters of learning contribute to meaningful and posi-

tive change? Is there a relationship between the value

10

structure of a social and cultural system and change within
the system? How can the dignity and worth of individuals
be respected in societies in which change is occurring?
Such questions pointed to the need for a general theo-
retical framework within which the data of the study could
be analyzed and interpreted. After consideration of
several possible theoretical models the writer chose for
this purpose a theory Of social and cultural change which
has grown out Of the work of an educational anthropologist,
Anthony F. C. Wallace.

Wallace's model is considered in Chapter VI. It
may be well at this point, however, to note the general
elements Of the model. The primary concept is the "revital—
ization movement." A revitalization movement, as defined by
Wallace, is "a deliberate, organized, conscious effort by
the members Of a society to construct a more satisfying

.5

culture. Any given society may be studied or analyzed in

terms Of the relationship of a revitalization movement or

movements to it.6

Thus, a society in which a revitalization
movement is developing Wallace terms a revolutionary

society. A society in which a revitalization movement has

 

5Anthony F. C. Wallace, ”Revitalization Movements,"
American Anthropologist, LVIII, NO. 2 (April, 1956), 265.

6Anthony F. C. Wallace, "Schools in Revolutionary
and Conservative Societies," in Anthropology and Education,
ed. by Frederick C. Gruber (Philadelphia: University Of'
Pennsylvania Press, 1961), pp. 38-39.

11

succeeded in achieving its Objectives and establishing its
values as the predominant values Of the society is defined
as a conservative society. On the other hand, a society
which mobilizes its resources to stamp out an emerging
revitalization movement and maintain the values Of the
existing order is defined by wallace as a reactionary
society.

Wallace admits that in reality no society could be
wholly one or the other of these three types. He suggests,
however, that it seems reasonable to consider one value
orientation or another predominant in a given group, such
as the political, economic, or religious leadership of a
society, during a stated period. Likewise, this tripartite
classification may be used to characterize different time
periods in the same society. Wallace believes that we may
expect these orientations to change in a definite order.
Thus, "a society which is now revolutionary will, if it
changes, become conservative, next reactionary, and again
most probably revolutionary."7 Over centuries and millenia
any given society "is apt to follow a roughly cyclical path
through revolution, conservatism, and reaction, over and
over again."8 At this point the provisions for formal edu-

cation in a society become Of strategic importance. The

 

71bid., p. 40.

81bid.

12

reason for this, according to Wallace, is that associated
with each of the predominant value orientations is a phi-
losOphy Of schooling which characteristically assigns
priorities in regard to the things taught in schools.

In summary, then, the historical data Obtained
through interviews and through study of primary and second-
ary sources is handled in the study in two ways. Emphasis
is placed, first of all, on the recording, analyzing, and
evaluating Of the data on Makiguchi toward the end Of
formulating an objective and realistic assessment of the
man, his educational thought, and the movement to which he
gave birth. Secondly, the theory Of social and cultural
change outlined above is employed as a means to interpret
and evaluate the implications Of Makiguchi's educational
thought and practice within the larger context of societal
reform and reform movements in general.

Mention should be made concerning certain technical
aspects of the study. Japanese words and names are rendered
according to English style and usage. Thus, names Of in-
dividuals are written with surname last, as in English,
rather than first, as in Japanese. Instead of "Sokagakkai,"
the form of the name used by the organization itself, the
more usual journalistic form "Soka Gakkai" is used. A
word should be said about problems Of translation also.
Anyone who is familiar with Makiguchi's written work can

bear testimony that communication through literary

13

expression was not one of his gifts. His writing is ex-
tremely difficult to read, even for a Japanese person,
because of its disjointed and repetitive style. Makiguchi
himself apologized for the limitations of his written work
in one instance, indicating that it consisted largely of
notes jotted down from time to time as thoughts and ideas
came to him. Reading Makiguchi, therefore, becomes essen-
tially a matter of searching for the treasures embedded in
the volumes which came from his pen and attempting to
relate these insights to each other in order to construct
a framework or general outlook as close to that held by
Makiguchi as can now be ascertained. In translating
material from Makiguchi's writings, therefore, the concern
of the writer has been to communicate as clearly as
possible Makiguchi's salient thoughts and intent, rather

than to slavishly imitate the original wording.

Organization Of the Study

The study consists of six chapters, including this
introductory chapter. Chapter II is a discussion of
Makiguchi's family life and the environmental influences Of
his childhood. Chapter III focuses on his educational
experience and his professional career as a public school
teacher and principal and as an author Of educational
literature. Chapter IV consists of a summary of Makiguchi's
educational philosophy and pedagogy. This is followed in

Chapter V by a discussion of Makiguchi as an educational

14

reformer and founder Of the Soka Gakkai movement. Chapter
VI, the concluding chapter, sets forth the theoretical .
framework Of the study and considers some possible impli-

cations Of Makiguchi's educational thought for Japanese

education and society.

CHAPTER II
FAMILY LIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES

Early Life and Education

Tsunesaburo Makiguchi was born on June 6, 1871, the
fourth year of the Meiji era, in Arahama-mura, Niigata
Prefecture, a small village in Northwestern Japan. A few
isolated facts are known about his early life. He was the
first son of Chomatsu Watanabe. His mother's name was Ine.
His parents named him Chohichi. When Makiguchi was still
very young, his father abandoned him and his mother. At
the age of three the boy was left with the family Of
Zentaiu Makiguchi, a relative. It is known that the mother
met her son secretly from time to time until she attempted
suicide by jumping into the Japan Sea with Makiguchi in her
arms. They were rescued but the boy never saw his mother
after that.1

Rough and mountainous land with sandy, unproductive
soil surrounds Arahama. Eking out a living in this area,

whether from the sea or from the soil, is hard. The word

Arahama itself, which in Japanese means "desolate beach,"

 

1Satoshi Ikeda, Maki uchi Tsunesaburo, Nihon
Sonoshobo, Tokyo, 1969, p. 2%

15

16

suggests something of the bleak and poverty-stricken char-
acter of the community. At the time of Makiguchi's birth
the life of commoners in this area was particularly
difficult.

Something of the tenor of life Of this period can
be seen in an incident which occurred in the year Of
Makiguchi's birth. The leaders of the new revolutionary
government of Japan were particularly anxious to increase
agricultural production in order to undergird their plans
for national development. They exerted severe pressure
upon farmers to increase yields. The response Of farmers
in the Arahama area was a rebellion protesting the exces-
sive work demanded by the authorities, which resulted in
the execution of seven farmers.2 The people Of the area
also received as threats two other policies of the new gov-
ernment. One was universal military conscription; the
other, six years of compulsory elementary education. Both
policies interfered with farm labor practices and needs.

Such was the situation surrounding Makiguchi's
birth and early years. When he was in the fourth grade,
his studies, along with a general emigration of local
people to Hokkaido, gave birth in his mind to an ambition
to see this frontier area. The ambition grew until, some-

time in his fourteenth or fifteenth year, he set out by

 

2Ibid.

17

himself for Hokkaido where he lived for a time with an
uncle, Shiroji Watanabe, in the city Of Otaru. The
Watanabe family was too poor to send Makiguchi to high
school. He soon obtained a job with the Otaru police
department as an errand boy and, in addition to carrying
out the duties of his work, studied to pass a government
examination which would qualify him to take college en-
trance examinations. This studiousness and the depend-
ability exhibited on his job so impressed the chief Of
police that when he moved to Sapporo he invited Makiguchi
to go along with him and enroll in Sapporo Normal School.
Makiguchi accepted the invitation.

In 1891, two years after moving to Sapporo, he
entered the Normal School as a third year student. He

graduated in 1893 at the age of 22.3

Something Of
Makiguchi's interest in and affinity for the field Of edu-
cation must have been apparent in his work at the Normal
School, for upon graduation he was offered a position as a
supervising teacher in the primary school attached to the

Normal School, a position which he accepted and held for

eight years.

 

3Up to this time Makiguchi had been using the name

given to him by his parents at birth. Just before gradu-
ation he changed his name to Tsunesaburo Makiguchi.

18

Personal Life

In 1894, a year after joining the Normal School
staff, Makiguchi married Kuma, the second daughter Of
Kumataro Makiguchi. To this union eight children were
born, four boys and four girls. Tragedy in the form of the
sickness and death Of his children struck repeatedly during
the last twenty years of Makiguchi's life. Three Of his
sons and one daughter died during the eight year period
from 1924 to 1932. His second son died in 1924 at the age
of 23; the fourth son died in 1928 at tne age Of 19; the
first son died in 1929 at the age of 31; and the fourth
daughter died in 1932 at the age of 14. Twelve years
later, while Makiguchi was consigned to solitary confine-
ment in Sugamo Prison, he received word that his remaining
son had been killed in battle in WOrld War II. Shortly
after receiving this news and while still in prison
Makiguchi died on November 18, 1944. He was seventy-three.
Political and Intellectual
Environment

Makiguchi was born during the first uncertain years
Of the Meiji era. His childhood and youth Spanned the
initial intense debate among Japanese leaders and intellec-
tuals as to the direction the new Japan should take and the
resolution of that debate in favor of the traditionalists
and the Confucianists. By the time Makiguchi began his‘

teaching career in 1893 the die was cast. The direction

19

of Japanese educational thought had been determined during
the 18803, the legal expression of which was contained in

the Constitution of 1889 and the Imperial Rescript on Edu-

cation of 1890.4

Robert Epp effectively described the implications
of this debate and its outcome for Japanese education and
society when he observed that basically at issue was the
question of whether the aim of education in the new Japan
should be that of building subjects or of building citi-
zens.5 Some Japanese insisted that a strong Japan could be
built, finally, only by citizens, only by persons educated
to be independent and self-assured.

Those who favored this course, of whom Yukichi
Fukuzawa was a foremost representative, hoped that persons
thus educated would be so little the servile subject that
they would not hesitate to defend their freedom, even if
the entire government should be against them. Others, how-
ever, believed that only obedient and loyal men could con-

struct the new Japan. Education, therefore, should have as

 

4Shimosa Idditti, The Life of Marquis Shigenobu
Okuma: A Maker of New Japan (Tokyo: The Hokuseido Press,
1930): PP. 209-219. See also Nobutaka Ike, The Be innin s
of Political_Democracy in Japag (Baltimore: JoHns Hopkins
UiiverSity Press, i350), p. 188 and Edwin O. Reischauer,

East Asia: The Modern Transformation (Boston: Houghton
MiffIin, 19655, pp. 286-2F8.

5Robert Epp, "Japan's Century of Change: Intellec-
tual Aspects," Ja an Christianguarterly, XXXV, No. 2
(Spring, 1969), 7 - .

20

its aim the building of loyal subjects. The latter group
won the debate. Consequently, the new Japan "was to be
built by subjects, not citizens. It would be built under
careful direction from above . . . The best builder was a
man trained to be loyal and obedient, not free and equal."6
This general direction of Japanese educational thought was
maintained with periodic reinforcement through the end of
the Pacific War.

Against the background of this debate and its out-
come Makiguchi's life and educational career must be seen
and evaluated. Nowhere in his writings is there direct
reference to the debate or to the contrasting educational
philosophies encompassed by it. He did not question
directly the policies of the government nor the ends
toward which education was used by the government. Rather,
his criticisms were leveled at Japanese teachers and edu-
cators for their tendency to be bound by traditional ideas
and practices or to accept without analysis and understand-
ing whatever educational ideas happened to be pOpular in a
given period.

At the same time Makiguchi's entire educational
career was a protest against the production of subjects.
While he managed to keep from bringing the wrath of the

national government down upon him, the educational

 

61bid., p. 74.

21

philOSOphy which he preached and the educational practices
which he advocated during the decades prior to World War II
clearly conflicted with the overall educational policies of
the government. It was not his revolutionary educational
ideas, however, but religious convictions acquired late in 1
life that led to his imprisonment during World War II.
Makiguchi's efforts to bring about reform in Japanese edu—
cation, his failure, and his turn to religion for the power
to accomplish the desires and objectives which haunted and
drove him for half a century is a story which is both
fascinating and inspiring and one which affords significant

insights for contemporary educators.

CHAPTER I I I
PROFESSIONAL LIFE

Sapporo Normal School

While information about the years of teaching in
Sapporo is limited, the scattered bits and pieces which
have come to light are important for glimpses which they
give of Makiguchi as a person and also for background
against which later developments can be seen and under-
stood. One source indicates, for example, that Makiguchi
was extremely pOpular with the student teachers whom he
supervised because he was always easy to approach with

questions and problems.1

It is clear also that he early
became highly critical of the educational practices Of his
day as these affected the lives of children. His criticisms
of Japanese education will be dealt with in the next chap-
ter. Here suffice it to note that in Makiguchi's view
Japanese education was stifling and destroying the creative
potential of children rather than releasing and developing
that potential. One can detect in his writings of this

period a sense of mission and personal responsibility in

calling into question the educational practices of his day.

 

1Ikeda, Makiguchi Tsunesaburo, pp. 38-39.

22

23

Ikeda, in his biography of Makiguchi, suggests that the
idea of the individual as a creator of value began to emerge
here also.2
Early in his teaching experience Makiguchi began to
conceive the idea of attacking the problems of education
through the study of geography.3 Geography, to Makiguchi,
was much more than a study of land areas, climate, natural
resources, etc. Although what he meant by geography in-
cluded the study of these things, his primary focus was on
the people who live within geographic areas, the relation
of peOple to land and land to peOple. Furthermore, although
Makiguchi was interested in geography as a subject of study
in itself, his efforts were directed primarily to the use
of geographic studies in the education of children. He be-
lieved, at this period of his life, that geography could be
used as a central, unifying point around which the entire

elementary school curriculum could be organized. In this

 

2Ibid., p. 43. This is a reference to Makiguchi's
concept of value creation which is discussed in Chapter IV.

3Makiguchi's fascination with this field of study
can be traced to at least two sources. First of all, after
the centuries of seclusion of the Tokugawa period (1605-
1868) there was a general interest among Japanese about
foreign lands. In a very real sense the study of geography
Opened up new worlds to Japanese students. Makiguchi un-
doubtedly shared this general enthusiasm for geography. Be-
yond this he was deeply influenced by two books, one of
which was Kanzo Uchimura's Chiginron (Theory of Land and
PeOple) published in 1894, the other, Nihon Fukeiron (Theory
of Japanese Landscape), by Juko Shiga.

 

 

24

way, he felt, the many weaknesses of education as it then
existed could be overcome.

These convictions led him to the idea of writing a
geography book for use by elementary school teachers.
Accordingly, every spare moment during a period of nearly
ten years was spent in collecting material and working on
this project. Makiguchi sensei,4 according to students who
were taught by him, always had a piece of paper or used
envelope tucked in his kimono on which he jotted down ideas
whenever they happened to come to him.5 Summers, between
terms of teaching, frequently found him making the arduous
trip to Tokyo to search for books and to come in contact
with scholars and educators from whom he could get new ideas
and with whom he could test his own.

There were likely many times during these years in
Hokkaido when Makiguchi longed to be located permanently in
Tokyo. There he would be at the cultural heart of the
country. He would be able to keep in touch with other
scholars, have access to libraries and book stores, and be

in a position to find a publisher for the book he dreamed of

 

4The Japanese word for ”teacher."

5Ikeda, Makiguchi Tsunesaburo, pp. 41-42. This
trait was also mentioned by Hirotaro Ito, a former Shirogane
Primary School student who attended the school during the
time Makiguchi was principal (1922-1928). Mr. Ito is now
retired and lives in Seiya village near Yokohama where the

writer interviewed him late one Sunday evening in the summer
of 1969.

25

writing. The opportunity to make the move came in 1901.
But it came about as a result of an unfortunate situation
for which Makiguchi was held responsible.

In order to understand the turn of events at this
time one must know something of the life of students at the
Normal School. The general nature and atmosphere of student
life as it then existed can be described with two words,
rigid discipline. The government's objective was to produce
teachers who would obey at command. Thus the school was
Operated like an army camp. Students were not allowed to
leave the school grounds and dormitory area except on
Saturday afternoon and Sunday. If they did leave, they
were required to be back by 5:00 P.M. Newspapers were for-
bidden. Each day after the evening meal there was a two-
hour study period in which complete silence was observed.

As some students remember the experience, one could not Open
a desk drawer or even sneeze during this period.6

In this setting Makiguchi, the year previous to the
period in question, had been made head of a boy's dormitory.
In the spring of 1901 discipline in the dormitory came close
to breaking down. The extent to which Makiguchi was re-
sponsible for this is not clear. A key incident occurred
during an annual military training field trip which involved

all boys in the SChOOI with the exception of the fourth

 

61bid., pp. 31-33.

26

year class. At one point in the course of the training
maneuvers the students of a Lt. Nakamura, an instructor in
military science, were given liberty with instructions to be
back at the camp by 9:00 P.M. These students, however,
apparently in a concerted act of defiance, did not report
back to the camp until the next day. As a result the entire
training exercise was thrown into a state of confusion and
disorder. Although Makiguchi had not accompanied the stu-
dents on the trip, he was considered officially responsible
for this and other evidences of a breakdown of discipline
among the students and was asked to resign.7
Makiguchi regretted the situation which led to his

leaving the Normal School. At the same time, he had longed
to have the opportunity to finish the geography manuscript.
Furthermore, as indicated above, the situation afforded the
chance he needed to make the move to Tokyo. Thus it was
that the summer of 1901 found Makiguchi, with his wife, two
children, and a wicker basket stuffed with pages of his
precious manuscript, making his way to Tokyo. Ikeda de-
scribes this episode in these words:

The same restless energy which drove Makiguchi to

Hokkaido when he was 14 or 15, now drives him to fur-

ther pioneering. He was approaching middle age. He

had no plan for the future, but he did have a wife, two
children, and a manuscript.8

 

71bid., pp. 44-45.

81bid., p. 45.

27

Makiguchi and the Academics

In order to appreciate Makiguchi's position at this
time one must understand that in Japanese academic circles
his Normal School education was not considered as being
college or university level work. Among the scholars of
his time Makiguchi was simply a lowly grammar school
teacher. As such, without a university diploma, recognition
as a competent scholar was forever closed to him. The one
possible exception to this general rule was that of pub-
lishing. If he could publish a valuable piece of scholarly
work, there would be some chance of gaining a reputation as
a scholar.

While Makiguchi's motivation was probably due to
some extent simply to a desire to be recognized, he also
felt deeply that he had something important to say and he
wanted to be heard. He was overjoyed, therefore, when he
found some reputable scholars in Tokyo who were willing to
listen to him. One of these was Kumezo Tsuboi, a young and
energetic professor of history at Tokyo University. Al-
though Makiguchi had no references and many questions,
Professor Tsuboi went to considerable lengths to be helpful
and to encourage Makiguchi in his writing. Shortly after
moving to Tokyo Makiguchi also made contact with Juko Shiga,

a widely recognized geographer whose book, Nihon Fukeiron

 

(Studies in Japanese Landscape), had first suggested to

Makiguchi the idea of writing a book himself. Early in the

28

year 1903 he took a six-inch thick manuscript to Shiga and
asked for criticism and guidance. Shiga, too, was im-
pressed. He said he would be glad to help. The encourage-
ment of such men as Tsuboi and Shiga gave wings to
Makiguchi's hOpes. He plunged into his work with renewed
vigor. By late summer the manuscript was ready for the
publisher and in October it came off the press under the
title Jinsei Chirigaku (The Geography of Human Life).9

The book was well received and considered by some
scholars as a milestone in the development of the study of
geography in Japan.10 It was even recognized by the gov-
ernment and became the standard reference in geography for
students preparing to take the government examination for
teachers. Furthermore, the publication of the book brought

Makiguchi into contact with scholars whom he otherwise might

not have had the opportunity to meet. Included among these

 

9Makiguchi intended originally to entitle his book
Shakai Chiriggku (Social Geography). However, the political
climate in Japan was such at this time that even mention of
the word "shakai" (society) carried the implication of
”Shakaishugi" (socialism), a word which meant treason to
government authorities. Accordingly, Makiguchi was per-
suaded, reluctantly, by friends who "feared misunderstanding
by ignorant and stubborn authorities" to change the title to
Jinsei Chirigaku. See the preface written by Suketoshi
Tanabe for Makiguchi' s Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei (System of
Value Creating Pedagogy), (posthumouSly edited portions of
Makiguchi' s writings) reprinted in English in The Philosophy
of Value (Tokyo: The Seikyo Press, 1964), p. I53.

 

loIbid., preface by Suketoshi Tanabe. See also

Yoshihei Kodaira, Soka Gakkai, Otori Shoin, Tokyo, 1962,
p. 65.

29

were Kunio Yanagida and Inazo Nitobe. For a time Makiguchi
was a part of a small group of intellectuals who gathered
at Nitobe's home for discussion and debate. These two men,
particularly Yanagida, were instrumental in launching
Makiguchi into his next major interest and area of study,
kyodoka, the study of local folk communities.

Although Jinsei Chirigaku (The Geography of Human
Life) was a significant contribution to Japanese education
and scholarship and the acclaim Makiguchi received as a
result of its publication notwithstanding, it did not serve
to increase materially either his social standing or his
financial resources.11 The birth of a fifth child in 1907
brought the family to desperate financial straits. During
these years following the publication of his book Makiguchi
tried various types of employment. He worked in a publish-
ing office producing materials for high school teachers,
edited a girls' magazine, and with an acquaintance, attempted
to deveIOp a correspondence school for girls. This latter
venture failed after two years. At one point he earned some
money through a part-time job with the Ministry of Education

editing geography texts.

 

11Kiyoaki Murata indicates that as a result of the
success of his book Makiguchi wanted to make a career as a
geographer, but he was apparently dissuaded from this
course by the coolness of academic circles toward his
aspirations. See Murata's book, Japapgs New Buddhism (New
York: Walker-Weatherhill, 1969), p. 73.

30

The experiences of hardship and deprivation Of these
years left their mark on Makiguchi's personality.12 His
intense feeling for the poor and his concluSion that only
among the common people could he find meaning and authen-
ticity were very likely due to his experiences of this
period. The struggles he endured the years following the
publication of Jinsei Chirigaku (The Geography of Human
Life) also forced Makiguchi to face up to the reality of his
relationship to the university-educated elite of Japanese
society. Thus, in his later writings one finds references
to the naivete of the theoreticians who sit in their ivory
towers with no conception of the problems faced by practical
educators, i.e., classroom teachers. He called teachers to
throw off the yoke which the theoreticians had forged for
them and develop their own sound pedagogy based on their

experience as teachers.

Public School Teacher and Principal
The year 1909 brought Makiguchi more permanent work

as a teacher of the Fujimi Primary School in Tokyo. After

 

12Ikeda, Makiguchi Tsunesaburo, pp. 27-28, 34, dis-
cusses at some length the probable effects on the develop-
ment of Makiguchi's personality of early experiences. He
believes there is no doubt but that the formative years
Spent in the rugged, desolate country surrounding Arahama
had something to do with Makiguchi's thinking about geog-
raphy and its relationship to human life. Likewise, Ikeda
believes that the poverty Makiguchi shared with his fellow
students at the Sapporo Normal School contributed to his
deep feeling and concern for the poor and underprivileged.

31

one year of teaching, however, he resigned due to ill
health. Four months later, in August 1910, he had suffi-
ciently regained his health to accept employment with the
Ministry of Education to engage in a study and survey of
local community cultures in selected parts of Japan. In
.1913 he returned to active school work as principal of
Toseika Primary School and for nearly two decades continued
to serve as an elementary school teacher and principal,
sometimes both, in a series of schools in the Tokyo area.
It was from random notes accumulated during this period of
elementary school work that Makiguchi's most significant
work, Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei (The System of Value Creating
Pedagogy) evolved.

Reference to official school records provides a
general chronology of the schools where Makiguchi served.
Ikeda, based on his own research, gives a chronological
history of Makiguchi's activities during this period. In
addition the writer personally reviewed and was permitted
to photograph portions of the records of Shirogane Primary
School where Makiguchi served as principal from 1922 to
1928. More intimate and personal information about
Makiguchi as a teacher and principal is difficult to ob-
tain. It is possible to gain a coherent picture only by
piecing together scattered impressions and views of former

students of Makiguchi and others who were associated with

32

him during this period.13 The picture that emerges is,
first of all, that of a very studious person. Jiro Takuda,
a young teacher who taught at Shirogane Primary School
during the years Makiguchi was principal, remembers that
Makiguchi often worked in the teacher's room late into the
night. In winter, he recalls, Makiguchi would put news—
papers on his back under his kimono as he sat working in
order to keep warm. All who knew him remember him as a
very stern and dignified person. Yet many remember him also
as a person who was extremely kind and deeply interested in
individual students and their problems.

Makiguchi had deep convictions about the need to
practice economy and thrift. Evidence that he practiced
these traits in his own personal life is given by
Nakabayashi when he writes that while younger teachers
usually had several sets of kimono, including white ones

for summer, Makiguchi owned only one kimono which he wore

 

13The writer found it difficult to locate persons
whose knowledge of Makiguchi extended to this early period.
However, an advertisement in the Japanese language Asahi
Evening News brought responses from two former students,
Hirobuni Ito of Yokohama and Kozaburo Nakabayashi of Tokyo.
Mr. Ito shared with the writer some priceless photographs
of Makiguchi and his students at Shirogane Primary School.
Mr. Nakabayashi had attended Taisho Primary School where
Makiguchi was principal from 1916 to 1919. Mr. Nakabayashi
had been so influenced by Makiguchi's personality that he
had started to write an autobiographical account of his
experience as a student at Makiguchi's school. Mr.

Nakabayashi graciously made this manuscript available for
the writer's research.

33

the year round.14 This was noticed even by the children at

Taisho Primary School who nicknamed Makiguchi, among them-
selves, "Fukuichi chan” (one-suit man).

Both during his teaching and while engaged in the
community studies for the Ministry of Education from 1910
to 1913 the philosophical and pedagogical problems with

which he had sought to deal in Jinsei Chirigaku (The Geog-

 

raphy of Human Life) remained uppermost in Makiguchi's
mind. In the course of his study he had come in contact
with the works of American and EurOpean sociologists and
anthropologists. This may have come about as a result of
his association with Yanagida and Nitoba, both of whom were
pioneers in initiating sociological and anthrOpological
studies in Japan. At any rate, Makiguchi's research in the
area of community studies led to the publication in 1912 of
a second book, gyodoka Kenkyu (Research Studies in Folk

Culture). In this volume the concepts of Jinsei Chirigaku

 

were further develOped and expanded in terms of the life and
structures of local communities. Again, as in the earlier
work, Makiguchi's chief concern was with the implications
of studies in folk culture of local communities for the
education of children.

Makiguchi's persistent protest against the favor-

itism and special privilege enjoyed by the upper layers of

 

14Nakabayashi's unpublished manuscript, p. 9.

34

Japan's stratified society was characteristic of his per-
sonality. In 1919, for example, he was dismissed from the
position of principal of Taisho Primary School as a result
of a petition initiated by the assistant principal and
signed by many teachers and parents. The reason given for
dismissal had to do with alleged misuse of funds for which
Makiguchi as principal had been responsible.15 Nakabayashi,
though admittedly viewing the situation through the eyes of
a student who idolized Makiguchi, questions whether there
had been any misuse of funds on Makiguchi's part. Rather,
he believes, it was Makiguchi's attitude toward wealthy
families and his refusal to show the least degree of favor-
itism to the children of wealthy families which was at the
root of the dismissal. Makiguchi vigorously discouraged the
common practice of teachers visiting the homes of only those
children whose families were well to do.

Nakabayashi remembers vividly an incident in which
wealthy parents requested special treatment of some kind
for their daughter, who was a student in Taisho Primary
School. Instead of complying, however, Makiguchi returned
the gift which the girl's parents had sent to him. On such
matters of principle he was adamant. Thus, while Makiguchi

was generally considered an effective teacher and educator

 

15According to Nakabayashi this money had been given
by the mayor of Tokyo on the occasion of the Opening of the
school.

35

by the administrative authorities, such disregard for
nearly sacred aspects of Japanese culture resulted in his
being in constant difficulty with the authorities, with
fellow teachers, with parents, or with all three. Evi-
dently it was just such incidents which built up over the
years and led to his forced retirement from active school
work in 1929. The incident which led to Makiguchi's re-
tirement from active school work is interesting because of
its subtlety. In 1928 he was transferred from Shirogane
Primary School to the position of principal of Niibori
Primary School in Azabu, a school which was scheduled to be
closed the following year. This was equivalent to dismissal
with a year's notice, a quiet means of getting rid of
Makiguchi and the troublesome issues which inevitably arose
wherever he happened to be.16
After this transfer to the Niibori school Makiguchi
set himself the task of preparing for publication the edu-
cational ideas and methods which he had develOped during his
years of teaching. In the work of editing his notes
Makiguchi found an invaluable assistant and ally in Jogai
(later changed to Josei) Toda, a young school teacher from

Hokkaido whom Makiguchi had assisted in obtaining a teaching

 

16There is lack of agreement as to the date of the
closing of the Niibori school. Murata gives the 1929 date
whereas Ikeda cites the date as 1932. The writer was not
able to obtain records covering this period.

36

position in 1920 when the latter was principal of Nishimachi
Primary School in Tokyo. Concerning Toda, Makiguchi wrote
in 1930:
Since the writing was done at random, editing was a
big job. Without the help of certain other peOple,
particularly Jogai Toda who used my methods in his
school and found them helpful, the work could never

have been done. In fact, Mr. Toda became so enthu-

siastic that it seems as if he were the initiator and
I the follower.l7

Toda continued to work closely with his revered teacher
until both were arrested in 1943.
Makiguchi envisioned a twelve-volume work which was

to be entitled, as indicated above, Soka Kyokiugaku Taikei

 

(System of Value Creating Pedagogy). The first volume was
published in 1930, the second in 1931, the third volume in
1932, and the fourth in 1934. The subsequent volumes were
never published. It is interesting to note that ten years
elapsed between the publication of the fourth volume and
Makiguchi's death in 1944. Why, one may wonder, did he not
produce additional volumes of his proposed work during this
ten year period? A possible explanation may be that
Makiguchi's own views were undergoing change during this
period as a result of his conversion in 1928 to Nichiren

Shoshu,18 a sect of Japanese Buddhism. This religious

 

17Makiguchi Tsunesaburo, Zenshu (Collected Works),
Tozai Tetsugaku Shoin, Tokyo, 1965, Vol. I, p. 5.

18The Japanese word for "sect" is "shu." Thus
Nichiren Shoshu designates the Nichiren Sho sect Of Japanese

37

interest, it would appear, led to the rearrangement of some
of his Objectives and priorities and involved him in activ—
ities which consumed his time and energy, thus turning him
from attention to later volumes of his proposed work.
Sources of Makiguchi's Educational
.Idfle

Soka Gakkai claims that the origin and basis of
Makiguchi's thought lay in the doctrine of Nichiren Shoshu.
In a general sense this is true, but the claim leaves a
number of important things unsaid. First of all, Makiguchi
was not converted to Nichiren Shoshu until 1928. This was
just one year before his forced retirement from active
school work. He had already spent nearly four decades in
some type of educational work, either as teacher or adminis-
trator, or in research and writing of educational materials.
By this time Makiguchi's basic concepts and ideas had been
formulated. It is the writer's conclusion, based on exami-
nation of historical materials and interviews with persons
who were closely associated with Makiguchi, that not until
several years after his conversion, during the mid 1930's,
did Nichiren Shoshu doctrine come to be an important element
in his thought. If this is an accurate assessment of the

data, it would mean that Nichiren Shoshu doctrine had not

 

Buddhism. A distinction should be made between Nichiren
Shoshu and Nichiren Shu, i.e., the Nichiren Sect, a rival
sect within the Nichiren tradition of Japanese Buddhism.

38

significantly influenced Makiguchi's thought at the time he
compiled and edited his major work, Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei,
a period extending roughly from 1929 to 1933. In fact the
basic concepts of Makiguchi's system, the philOSOphy of
value and value creation, are present in embryonic form in
Jinsei Chirigaku, which he published in l903--many years
before his relationship with Nichiren Shoshu.

Makiguchi's educational thought and practice, then,
may legitimately be considered in two parts: first of all,
that which developed from his nearly forty years as a pro-
fessional educator of which the four completed volumes of
Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei is a summary, and secondly, that
which grew out of his efforts to integrate that thought and
practice with Nichiren Shoshu doctrine of which the Soka
Gakkai is a manifestation. The first of these, Makiguchi's
educational philos0phy and pedagogy, is the subject of
Chapter IV. The second, the influence of Nichiren Shoshu '
doctrine on Makiguchi's thinking and the religious movement
which came forth from that ideological union, is dealt with
in Chapter V.

Before going on to these matters several additional
considerations will be in order concerning the intellectual
sources of the educational ideas contained in S253
Kyoikugaku Taikei.

From perusing various published works, from reading

neWSpapers and magazines, from listening to the con-
versation of business men, from nature, from the

39

observation of peOple, in other words, in response to

necessity and according to feeling and experience, I

made notes which accumulated to make a small volume.19
Thus did Makiguchi describe the sources of his educational
ideas. Interestingly enough he did not in his writings
acknowledge a debt to any specific individuals or philo—
sophical schools. On the contrary, he emphasized strongly
that his ideas and practices in education grew out of his
own experience. He was particularly quick to deny depend-
ence on Western scholars and educators. Makiguchi must be
understood at this point. As a matter of fact, it is
possible to identify with some degree of certainty the
major ideological sources of influence in the development
of Makiguchi's thought, many of which were Western sources.
What he meant was that he did not slavishly or unthinkingly
depend upon or accept the views of particular Western
scholars. Rather, he insisted, every educational idea or
method must be put to the acid test of actual educational
practice. Those ideas which proved valid and useful in
practice were to be accepted and incorporated into one's
own educational practice. Those ideas which did not so
prove themselves were to be discarded.

A cursory examination of Makiguchi's writings sug-

gests that he must have been an avid reader of the works of

both Japanese and Western scholars. The list of persons

 

19Ikeda, Makiguchi Tsunesaburo, p. 42.

40

cited in his writings is impressive. With reference to
Western scholars there is scarcely a single major figure in
the fields of education and social science from Plato to
the early decades of the twentieth century about whose work
he did not make some reference. However, despite this wide
acquaintance with scholarly works, there were actually
three main sources of the ideas which influenced the de-
velopment of Makiguchi's educational philosophy and peda-
gogy. One of these, the study of geography, was considered
above. The second was the educational school of pragmatism,
including its European predecessors, of which John Dewey

20

was the chief spokesman. The third source of influence

 

20That Dewey's early writings were a major resource
for Makiguchi is evident from an examination of Soka
gyoikugaku Taikei. The nature of the Japanese language
ruled out, however, at that time, the possibility of effec-
tive two-way communication between Makiguchi and Dewey.
Dewey died probably without ever hearing of Makiguchi. One
can only imagine what a dialogue between these two giants
of educational thought would have-been like if it had not
been for the barrier of language. It is well known, of
course, that Dewey lectured in Japan in 1919, spending more
than two and one-half months there, from February 9 to April
28. However, there is no evidence that Makiguchi met Dewey
at that time or that he could have conversed with him if
they had met. On the contrary, there is evidence which sug-
gests that communication with Dewey was difficult and
limited. Research conducted by Victor Kobayashi reveals
that Dewey's lectures were delivered in English without the
aid of an interpreter. It was primarily this lack of abil-
ity to effectively communicate with Japanese educators,
Kobayashi believes, which caused the dwindling of attendance
from about 700 persons at Dewey's first lecture to less than
100 at his eighth and final lecture. See Kobayashi's re-
search report, John Dewey in Japanese Educational Thought
(Ann Arbor, Mich.: The University of Michigan School of
Education, 1964), Pp. 37-38. That Makiguchi did not speak

41

on Makiguchi's educational thought stemmed from the con—
cepts of modern sociology and anthrOpOlogy with which he
became enamored during the years following the publication
of Jinsei Chirigaku. Here the works Of Lester Ward seemed
especially to challenge him.21 If one considers the mix-
ture of these three lines of thought, the importance for
the educational process of the geographic environment in
which the learner is based, the emphasis on experience and
the scientific method stemming from the pragmatic orienta-
tion, and the recognition Of education's sociological

dimensions, all within the particular context in which

Makiguchi worked, it is possible to discern the broad

 

English is implied in statements in his Zenshu (Collected
WOrks), Vol. I, p. 5.

21The importance of Ward's writings in the develop-
ment of Makiguchi's thought was an unanticipated finding in
the writer's research. In addition to evidence of Ward's
influence in Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei, including references
both to Ward's books and his major concepts, persons who
were close to Makiguchi have attested to the importance of
Ward's writings for Makiguchi. One such person is Shukaku
Yajima, now in his eighties and formerly a member of the
central leadership of Soka Kyoiku Gakkai from 1935 to his
arrest with Makiguchi in 1943. During an interview granted
the writer on August 20, 1969, Yajima stated that Ward's
writings had served as a major philOSOphical grounding for
Makiguchi's thought. He stressed the importance of the
influence of Dewey's writings on Makiguchi also, but in-
sisted that Makiguchi's philOSOphy of value went beyond the
educational pragmatism of Dewey because Dewey failed to
make the distinction between truth and value. These views
were reiterated in a letter from Yajima to the writer dated
October 8, 1969.

42

outlines of the educational philoSOphy and pedagogy which
issued from his thought and work. To this we turn in the

next chapter.

CHAPTER IV
VALUE CREATING PEDAGOGY

Japanese Mis-education

"Japanese education," Makiguchi wrote in 1930, "is
haphazard, unplanned, fragmented, and purposeless."l This
kind of education he designated as "natural education."
Natural education, according to Makiguchi, had grown up as
a result of teachers' unthinkingly collecting every manner
of educational theory and practice from here, there, and
everywhere, particularly from the West. Despite the fact
that there were numerous contradictions among these
theories and practices and although teachers for the most
part did not understand any of them, they attempted to add
them altogether to make up what was supposed to be chil-
dren's education.

Makiguchi did not devote time to systematic de-
scription of the Japanese educational system about which he
was so critical. Accordingly, one has to rely on other

sources for this information.2 The educational picture

 

1Makiguchi, Zenshu, Vol. I, p. 4.
2For further information in this area see Herbert

Passin, Society and Education in Japan (New York: Columbia
University, Teachers College, Bureau of Publications, 1965).

43

44

which emerges from such study is that of a fixed curriculum
of orderly subject matter, based partially on the past and
partially on the newly introduced scientific subjects of
the West, which children were expected to master through
drill and repetition. On top of this there had been added
a superficial overlay of various progressive educational
reforms which were limited primarily to the area of teach—

ing methods.3

The result of this kind of education was disastrous,
Makiguchi believed. He claimed that the educational ex-
periences of children under these conditions consisted of
little more than mental gymnastics and memorization of
material unrelated to their lives. This kind of education
did more harm than good to the rising generation. Further-
more, the 1055 both to the children and to the nation lay
not only in what was happening to children taught in this
way; equally important was what failed to happen. The
great potential of each child was not being developed or
nurtured. To the lack of development of this potential in

children Makiguchi credited "the pitiful and tragic

 

3The interest of Japanese educators in Dewey prior
to WOrld War II, for example, was limited to methods of
teaching, according to Victor N. Kobayashi. There were few
if any educators in Japan prior to this time who grasped
the deeper aspects of Dewey's educational philosophy,
Kobayashi asserts. See his monograph, John Dewey in
Japanese Educational Thought (Ann Arbor, Mich.: The Uni-
verSity of Michigan School of Education, 1964), p. 154.

 

45

conditions in which many people live."4 This desire "to
save the children of Japan from being victimized by the de-
plorable inadequacies of traditional Japanese education and
to assure that oncoming generations of Japanese children
will not have to suffer its devastations," became the con-
suming passion and central motivation of Makiguchi's life.5
As an alternative to natural education Makiguchi
suggested and drew up the outline for what he called "cul-
tural education." By this he meant an educational system
intentionally developed according to rational, logical, and
scientific criteria to achieve clearly defined purposes.
It will be the central purpose Of this chapter to consider
the implications Of cultural education or value creating
pedagogy as Makiguchi preferred to describe his proposed
system of education. First, however, it will be necessary
to consider the educational philosophy out of which value

creating pedagogy emerged.

A Philosophy of Education

PhiloSOphy and educational philosophy were one and
the same to Makiguchi. Philosophy for him centered in a
theory of value creation. In his major work, Sgkg

Kyoikugaku Taikei (System of Value Creating Pedagogy), S9,

 

4Ikeda, Makiguchi Tsunesaburo, p. 91.

5Makiguchi, Zenshu, Vol. I, p. 6.

46

which means creation, and H3, which means value, form a key
word and a key concept. Creation of value is part and
parcel of what it means to be a human being. Human beings
do not have the ability to create material; but they can
create value, and it is in the creation of value that the
unique meaning of human life lies. Makiguchi further
elaborated his philosophy in terms of human happiness.
"The highest and ultimate object of life," he held, "is
happiness, and the goal of life is none other than the
attainment and creation of value which is in itself happi-
ness . . . a happy life signifies nothing other than a

state of existence in which one can gain and create value

in full."6

Makiguchi insisted that his theory of value creation
could not be comprehended even in the slightest without a
correct knowledge of value. He sought to make explicit what
he meant by value through contrasting it with truth. Noah
Brannen, one of the few Western scholars who has studied
Makiguchi's writings, has very ably summarized this aspect

of Makiguchi's thought:

Makiguchi's theory claims to be a correction of the
alleged aberrations of the traditional platonic [sic]
values--truth, goodness, and beauty--by the substitu-
tion of "benefit" for that of "truth." The reason for
this is said to be that truth and value are entirely
different concepts. Truth reveals that which is; value

 

6Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, The Philosophy of Value

“bkyo: Seikyo Press, 1964), p. 4.

 

47

connotes a subject-object relationship. Truth makes
epistemological statements about an object. Value re-
lates the Object to man. Truth says, "Here is a
horse;" value says "The horse is beautiful."7
Truth, according to Makiguchi's philoSOphy, cannot be
created; it remains always as that which is, that which is
discovered. He held that value, on the other hand, can be
created. Creation involves changing the ordinary order of
nature into a special one through human activity, increasing
its usefulness for human life.8 Moreover, truth never
changes, whereas values do.9 In this respect Makiguchi was

a relativist. During his career as an educator he consis-

tently rejected the idea of absolute values.

 

7Noah S. Brannen, "Soka Gakkai's Theory of Value,"

Contemporary Religions in Japan, International Institute for
the Study of ReligiOns, V, No. 2 (June, 1964), 143. Note
that Brannen translates the Japanese word 5; as "benefit."
This Japanese word can also be translated into English as
"gain." The latter translation is employed throughout this
study with the exception of quoted passages.

8Clarification of this aspect of Makiguchi's thought
may be gained by reference to Ward's writings. In 1888, for
example, Ward wrote the following in a paper presented to
the AnthrOpological Society of Washington, D.C.: "Man can
make very little use of anything in its natural state.
Value, i.e., utility, is imparted to raw materials only by
labor and skill. The products of labor and skill are arti-
ficial, and scarcely anything has actual value, i.e., capa-
bility of actual, immediate use, until it has been trans-
formed from the natural into the artificial state. There-
fore, if that which can be used is superior to that which
cannot, the artificial is superior to the natural." See
Ward's Glimpses of the Cosmos, Vol. IV (New York: G. P.
Putnam's Sons, 1913), p. 155.

9Makiguchi, The Philosophy of Value, pp. 9-10, 22.

48

An important aspect of value creation for Makiguchi
was the develOpment of a harmonious balance between individ-
ual and social values. He stressed, for example, that an
action by an individual which brings gain to himself could
be an evil to the society of which he is a member. On the
other hand, Makiguchi held that working for gain is not
only an entirely proper and honorable pursuit, it is a re~
sponsibility of each individual, as a creator of value, to
work for gain in such a way as to contribute to the welfare
both of himself and of his society. This is a central
element in Makiguchi's thought which cones clearly into
focus as one examines the distinctions which he perceived
among the three elements of value. Thus beauty is perceived
to be an emotional and temporary value, derived through one
or more Of the five senses, which concerns only a part of
man's life. Gain is an individual value which is related
to the whole of man's life. It has to do with the rela-
tionship between an individual and an object that contributes
to the maintenance and development of his life. Goodness,
on the other hand, is a social value related to the life of
the group. It refers to the personal conduct of an indi-
vidual which intentionally contributes to the formation and
development of a unified society. Goodness is public

gain.10 The person who understands the difference between

 

loIbid., pp. 92—93.

49

truth and value and the distinctions among the various
elements of value will seek a harmonious balance between
the pursuit of the values of gain and good. The develOp-
ment of persons possessing this capability is a central
task of education according to Makiguchi's view.

The antitheses of beauty, gain, and good are ugli-
ness, loss, and evil:

Value means the total amount of force with which an
object (be it material or spiritual) causes a subject
to attain its purpose as the means to an end. It is
called good, gain, or beauty according to each kind

and degree of value which is considered to be favorable
to the maintenance of human existence, which is the aim
of life. Furthermore, these kinds of value are sum-
marized by such words as "valuable," or "of much
value," or "of little value." On the other hand, value
is called evil, loss, or ugliness according to the kind
and degree to which it is recognizei as being harmful
to the maintenance of life.11

When we consider the phenomena of the external world,
Makiguchi continued, we can divide them into two kinds:
those which bear positive usefulness to human existence and
those which are harmful. Thus, evil vs. good, loss vs.
gain, and ugliness vs. beauty, represent the negative side
of human life. These negative values, Makiguchi insisted,
should be thought of as "anti-value" rather than "non-
existent value." This is because while anti-value cannot

be called good, gain, or beauty, it likewise cannot be

 

“mitt, p. 83.

50

called non-value because its presence sometimes exerts a

great influence on the evaluating subject.12

Makiguchi also stressed the importance of distin-
guishing between cognition and evaluation:

Considering the aspect of the present world, I believe
nothing is so evil as the confusion of cognition and
evaluation, since the mixing of the two makes it hard
for a person to understand and causes him to assume an
uncertain attitude toward his choice and decision.

Even among fairly high intellectuals, this confusion

of cognition and evaluation is observed in their every-
day conversation. They are unaware of it, discuss
matters without knowing their causes but arbitrarily
pass judgement according to their l;kes and dislikes.

. . . these people are misled in their ways of thinking
and actions. 3

As an example of this kind of confusion Makiguchi writes:

Suppose a pupil asks his teacher, "What is this?" If
the teacher scolds him and says, "Do you mean to say
you still don't know what it is?" he is definitely
confusing the processes of cognition and evaluation.
The pupil who asked the question was not asking for a
judgement on his own competence. He was seeking in-
formation. The teacher who does not answer the pupil's
real question but diverts his attention to something
else is intimidating the child. If he thinks he is
helping the child's comprehension he is mistaken . . .
With a teacher of this kind, a poor student cannot help
but become an even poorer student.14

This kind of confusion can be observed, Makiguchi wrote,
"in every class of society--in governmental offices, trading

companies, and the factories of minor enterprises . . . In

 

121bid., p. 84.

13Ibid., pp. 15-16.

14Makiguchi, Zenshu, Vol. I, p. 60.

51

actuality, the confusion of cognition and evaluation has

been forcing the world into various chaotic conditions."15

But what specifically must one comprehend in order
to avoid this confusion? What is the distinction between
cognition and evaluation which one must understand?
Brannen's analysis of Makiguchi's answer to this question

can scarcely be improved upon:

Evaluation is the consciousness of the influence of an
object upon the subject. Cognition is the grasping of
the meaning of an impression. Evaluation, therefore,
is subjective; cognition is objective. For example,
cognition asserts "A is B," or "A is not C." Thus
cognition receives an Object as it is without relating
it to the subject. Evaluation, on the other hand, says
”A is beautiful," etc., and relates it to the evalu-
ating subject.

Cognition, therefore, is concerned with truth while
evaluation is concerned with values. Truth is a quali-
tative concept grasped by intellectual response to the
stimuli of phenomena; that is by cognition. Value is a
quantitative concept relating the influence of phenomena
to man through emotional and intellectual responses;
that is, by evaluation. Cognition is mental reception
or intellectual activity; evaluation is sense reception
or feeling activity.

Cognition comes by the relation of a new perception
to a past experience. Kant says that man perceives by
a riori standards; but the truth is that man first
decides whether something is the "same or different" on
the basis of his experience. It isn't necessary to
adOpt the method of some philosopher (such as Kant) when
we have the time tested method of "same or different."

The relation of cognition to external phenomena we
call "experience." This term experience is defined to
mean the sensual, intellectual connection of subject
and object. The relation of evaluation to external
phenomena we call "intercourse." Intercourse is de-
fined as the emotional, sentimental connection of sub-
ject and object. In the case of the former, the
external world has its independent existence and is not

 

15Makiguchi, The Philosophy of Value, p. 17.

A...

I l
A"

-\U

I-

h:

filh‘l‘

‘«

‘I‘

ulrl‘

52

directly connected with our personal world. In the

case of the latter, the external world has a vital,

intimate connection with our world.16
Thus, in order to know the external world both cognition and
evaluation are essential according to Makiguchi. Under-
standing is incomplete if either is neglected. Man faces a
serious problem in the modern world because science has
pursued the objective method of cognition and has analyzed
and classified phenomena until we are left with only the
pieces. However, Makiguchi maintained that cognition and
evaluation do not need to be in conflict. They may appear
to conflict in describing phenomena, but this is a conflict
, arising out of the opposition of the whole to the parts, and

is not a basic conflict.l7

 

16Brannen, "Soka Gakkai's Theory of Value/'pp.

146-47.

17The accuracy of Makiguchi's insights in this re-

gard and his grasp of the learning process is being veri-
fied today by competent educators. George I. Brown, for
example, cites the traditional tendency in American educa-
tion for teachers to focus on the cognitive elements in
learning and to neglect the affective elements as the most
critical problem facing educators today. See his book,
Human Teaching for Human Learning: An Introdugtion‘tngOn-
fluent Education (New York: Viking Press, 1971). Simie
larly, Michael Novak writes that American schools ”are not
characteristically interested in the depth of their stu-
dent's fantasy 1ife, the complexity of their emotions, the
delicacy of their sensitivity, the variety and range of
their instincts--only in their capacity to store information
and to analyze information" (The Experiepce of Nothingness
(New York: Harper and Row, 1970), p. 105). Two other edu-
cators have recently commented on the problems created by
the general tendency to confuse expressions of fact and ex-
pressions of value. David J. Bond writes that the “new

53

The confusion of truth and value and of cognition
and evaluation has implications for experimentation and the
experimental method. Thus, Makiguchi wrote, truth

can be proven by confronting it with a fact, i.e., by
making an abstract concept concrete and experimenting
as to whether or not the expression agrees with that
which has been realized. However, value cannot be
proven merely through such intellectual reasoning.
Between Object and subject there is relative force and
in proving value there is no method other than by
proving through experiment the influence an object
exerts on the subject which evaluates it.18
Makiguchi was critical of Western pragmatism precisely at
this point. In confusing truth with value and treating
them as being alike and equal, Western pragmatism, he con-
tended, makes the false assumption that if a thing is true
it is beneficial to man. Experience does not support such

an assumption. On the contrary, experience tells us that

 

education" of recent years is no less ineffective than the
traditional accumulation of knowledge type of education

that it replaced because "we make either the wrong or no
distinctions between statements of fact, expressions of
feeling, moral judgments, aesthetic preferences, value
claims and nonsense noises" ("The Fact-Value Myth," Social
Education, XXXIV, No. 2 (February, 1970), 190). Theodore
Brameld, in The Climactic Decades (New York: Praeger,
1970), p. 125, writes that the "trouble arises from the

fact that neither kind of value judgment (i.e., character-
izing and appraising) is clearly perceived or differentiated
in every day educational experience. Rather, both charac-
terizing and appraising value judgments are usually made
haphazardly, half-consciously if not unconsciously, and even
contradictorily by teachers, administrators, parents, stu-
dents, and citizens in general."

18Makiguchi, The Philosoppy of Value, p. 20.

 

 

.1“.

"I.

[u

v“'

 

 

54

some things are true which have no usefulneSs to human
life.19
As indicated earlier the highest and ultimate
object of human life for Makiguchi was happiness. This
aspect of his philosophy can be easily misunderstood and
may perhaps need some further discussion. Happiness, as
Makiguchi used the word, does not refer to some nebulous
emotional state such as may be implied from both the
English word and the Japanese word (kofuku) of which it is
a translation. Happiness, as used by Makiguchi, refers to
a state of man's life when he is engaged in the process of
attaining and creating value. "In my opinion," he wrote,
“a happy life signifies none other than the state of exist-
ence in which one can gain and create value in full."20
If one thinks a little bit, Makiguchi suggested, he
knows that happiness cannot be gained by oneself, nor can
it be inherited like property. People with money and
property think they can inherit happiness as well. They
become eager to gain more and more money and wealth. But
happiness, as Alfred Bernhard Nobel wrote, cannot be in-
herited like property. If everyone recognized this there
would be no reason for conflict between capitalists and

labor, for war, etc.21

 

19 20

Ibid., pp. 20-21. Ibid., pp. 3-4.

21Makiguchi, Zenshu, Vol. I, p. 131.

55

Education is the means whereby the members of a
society acquire competence as creators of value and thus
find happiness. This is what Makiguchi meant when he wrote
that happiness is the aim of education.22 But happiness
has two elements, personal and social. When some scholars,
such as Kant, Object that happiness is not adequate as the
aim of education, Makiguchi held it is because they see
only the personal aspect of happiness. If Kant had known
of the sociology of Comte, he might have accepted happiness
as the aim of education. It is quite natural to reject
happiness as the aim of education if the social element is
omitted. However, now that we know of sociology, Makiguchi
believed, the objection to happiness as the aim of educa-
tion ought to disappear.23

' When Makiguchi stated, then, that education is the
means whereby individuals can acquire competence as creators
of value, and thereby find happiness in the process, he was
taking it for granted that this dual personal-social nature
of man is understood. The educated person in these terms,
as noted earlier, is one who recognizes the tension between

the values of gain and good in his life and seeks a

 

22Ibid., p. 125.' Not the happiness of the parents,
Makiguchi insisted, but the happiness of the educated.
Parents should not, as he observed they were doing, use the
educated to fulfill their own happiness.

23Ibid., p. 129.

 

56

harmonious balance between them in the decisions which he
makes. This means, further, that the educated person
senses and accepts responsibility both for his own life and
for the society of which he is a part. A major theme
running through Makiguchi's educational philosophy is that
the educational systems which he knew were not capable of
educating individuals in this way, i.e., individuals pre-
pared to be creators of both personal gain and social good.
To provide education of this kind would require a pedagogy
specifically designed to accomplish the desired Objectives.
Such a pedagogy would have to be based on the philOSOphy of
value and the concept of value creation and would have to

meet tests of scientific or logical practicability.

Value Creating Pedagogy

Makiguchi's major criticism of the educational
practice of his day was that it was built in the clouds with

no basis in experience:

There are two main streams of thought in the educational
world. One consists of the empiriCLsts who emphasize
experience, the other consists of the theorists who
emphasize philosophical thinking. Those who are engaged
in actual teaching belong to the empiricist stream, and
since there are two hundred thousand teachers, they
could have made excellent manuscripts of teaching
methods, if they had tried. In actuality, however, the
theorists, who import many kinds of educational theories
and pedagogies from Europe, hold overwhelming power and
control over the empiricists or actual educators.

24i§l§~r Po 15. In other writings Makiguchi dis-
<flmsed the same problem in terms of two ways of studying

57

The theorists, Makiguchi went on to say, in introducing new
ideas from Europe employ the deductive method which begins
with theory or abstract philOSOphy. The ideas and con-
clusions of the theorists, deductively arrived at, are
worthless in actual teaching. Teachers should no longer
let the theorists with their abstract philosophical thinking
have the control and initiative in the educational world
Makiguchi insisted. Rather, they should reflect upon their
own teaching experiences, inducing principles from them,
and cease to worry about the conflicting things which the
theoretical scholars who are far away from actual teaching
have to say.

The advancement of education, therefore, and indeed
the establishment of a scientific pedagogy depended in
Makiguchi's view on the use of the inductive method by
actual teachers. What such teachers have to do

is to affirm cases of success and failure by analyzing

their daily teaching eXperiences, and then they will
find valuable truths.2

This inductive method, which, Makiguchi asserted, is
actually the method of scientific inquiry, was introduced

by Bacon and is the only way to advance the educational

eCucation. One is philosophical pedagogy, the other scien-
tlfic pedagogy. By the latter he meant a "pedagogy which
faces necessity and develops pedagogy to meet needs." See
Ibid., Vol. II, p. 313. Makiguchi, of course, considered
his own value creating pedagogy as a scientific pedagogy.

251bid., Vol. I, p. 18.

K

A.

 

‘l

'\

I

'0

u: s

-

«

ah

.nfi

58

world. Later Comenius explored the implications of the
scientific method for teaching and educators have been
talking about a scientific pedagogy ever since, but talking
is all they have done. Thus, Makiguchi contended that al-
though we live in the twentieth century, a true scientific
pedagogy does not exist.

To emphasize his assertion that educators had failed
to avail themselves of the benefits and possibilities of
scientific inquiry, Makiguchi contrasted the state of edu-
cation with that Of medicine. Educators, he suggested, can
only be described as groping in the dark, whereas in the
medical world practicing physicians assemble to report their
experiences, as well as to hear reports of great scholars
and read the translations of foreign works. The physicians
are making great progress, Makiguchi asserted. Although
medicine and pedagogy belong to the same field of applied
science, that which deals with the lives of human beings,
there is a great difference in the develOpment of the two.
The reason for this is that medicine has been firmly estab-

lished as an applied science.26

The new pedagogy thus could come from only one
SOurce as Makiguchi saw it: "Actual educators should look
back over fifty years of experience and search for effective

methods of teaching."27 That he was pessimistic about the

26%., pp. 33-35. 27Ibid., p. 33.

59

possibility of a pedagogy thus derived being generally
accepted is suggested by this statement: "If I, only a
principal of a school, try to make up a new pedagogy, they
might laugh at me and say that it is a task for those
scholars who understand foreign languages."28 Such appre-
hensions did not deter him from working at the task, how-
ever, as his Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei (System of Value
Creating Pedagogy) is evidence.

The pedagogy which evolved in the early 1930's as
Makiguchi looked back over his own experience of nearly
forty years in education was characterized by two main
features which set it in contrast to current educational
practice of the time. First of all, in Makiguchi's peda—
gogy, heavy emphasis was given to educational purpose and
the integration, not only of curriculum, but of all learning
experiences in terms of purpose. This purpose, as noted
above, centered in the concept of value creation. The valu-
able personality, the happy person, is the person who has
great ability to create value. The purpose of education,
therefore, is to increase the value creativity of the edu-

Gated.29 This cultural objective would be at the heart of

 

28Ibid., pp. 33-34. Upon one occasion, Makiguchi
wrote, he was told by a government official responsible for
sI‘lpervising education: "Why don't you experiment with new
klnds of pedagogy after you retire?"

29Ibid., p. 11. What Soka (value creating) pedagogy
seeks to do, Makiguchi wrote in 1930, "is to find and make
clear the methods to accomplish this aim."

60

an adequate educational system and would bring unity and
integration to the educational experience provided for the
young. Secondly, and closely related to the first,
Makiguchi envisioned an educational system which would be
socially responsible. These two predominant characteristics
of Makiguchi's pedagogy are caught up in two terms which
appear frequently in his writings, bunka kyoiku (cultural
education) and kyodoka (community study).30

If cultural education may be said to express the
overall aim of education for Makiguchi, community study
expresses its central method. Community study was an ex-
tension and refinement of his earlier work in geography, an
extension and refinement based on his discovery of sociology
and sociological concepts. Through study of the community,
the hometown or neighborhood, Makiguchi believed that chil-
dren can observe directly the complex relationships between
land and life, between nature and society. By this means

the educator can help students understand the meaning and

30The Japanese word "kyodoka" has meanings which are
not adequately reflected in the translation "community
Study." The Japanese word carries a connotation signifying
that the local community is one in which a person has a
definite stake. It signifies that a person is intimately
related to the community by virtue of residence in it.
When related to pedagogical concerns the community becomes
that interconnected network of personal and structural rela-
tionships which occur in the geographic area in which one's
life is sustained. Makiguchi saw more clearly and exploited
more fully than perhaps any other educator the pedagogical
possibilities in that network of relationships.

61

significance of home, school, and city or village. More-
over, this lays the foundation for establishing ties with
the nation and the world.

Community study was for Makiguchi the basic starting
point of all study and courses; and not only the starting
point but the destination as well. This means that stu-
dents, rather than studying the traditional subjects such
as history, geography, mathematics, etc., study life by
means of the insights and concepts offered by the various
academic subjects and disciplines. The traditional pattern
of teaching fragmented, unrelated subject matter is uneco-
nomical and ineffective. Such isolated subject matter is
dead knowledge because of its unrelatedness to children's
lives. When community study is made the central unifying
and integrating focus of children's educational experience,
it becomes possible to relate things taught to the actual
living of a community of people and to the social, economic,
and political structures of the community. Such knowledge
is living knowledge; and only living knowledge is useful
knowledge, Makiguchi insisted.

One Of Makiguchi's central concerns was that chil-
dren should begin, from their earliest educational experi-
ence, to acquire depth understanding and awareness of the
Structures, first of all, of their local community and then
0f the larger national and world communities. The develOp-

ment of such understanding and awareness of the structures

 

 

-r

‘7

do

‘6
w

‘31

62

of the social body was, for Makiguchi, the very essence of
the educational task.31 Only persons with such grasp of

the meaning and significance of social life would be able

to live effectively and competently in a scientifically
oriented world. Only such persons, furthermore, can be.
"creators of value" in the fullest sense. The great tragedy
of education as Makiguchi saw it was that traditionally edu-
cation, fragmented and unrelated to life as it had been,
gave children only a superficial veneer of understanding of
life in society which was almost worse than no education

at all.

It is clear in Makiguchi's writings that he was
completely egalitarian in his view of human potential. He
was vehemently Opposed to the view that only highly gifted.
natures, after an elitist form of educational experience,
can acquire the comprehensive grasp of life and society
which he advocated. Every normal person, he inSisted, is
a potential creator of value, is potentially a skilled
participant in the life of his community and his world.

Whether or not such potential is developed depends largely

on the kind of educational experience provided by society.

31"To study many other subjects without studying the
total society," Makiguchi wrote, "is like building a house
On sand." Studying the nature and cultural cohesiveness of
a total society, Makiguchi believed, helps to give direction

to the study of other subjects. Makiguchi, Zenshu, Vol. V,
p. 52.

4|

63

Makiguchi recognized that the kind of educational
experience which he advocated for children would be possible
and feasible only to the extent that competent teachers were
available to teach. Teachers who cannot comprehend the
nature of the teaching task, i.e., the task of develOping
value creating persons, teachers who themselves do not
understand the structures of the society in which they live,
are unfit to be teachers. Yet, the reality which Makiguchi
faced was that Japanese teachers of his day were, almost
without exception, unfit by his standards. The improvement
of teachers and teaching, therefore, became the primary
means whereby he hoped to change Japanese education and
society. "We have to start," he wrote in Volume Two of
Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei (System of Value Creating Pedagogy),
”by helping teachers comprehend the fundamental concepts of
life, education, and society. Otherwise, we can never
escape from the long established customs and patterns of
traditional education."32 For teachers to try to learn mere
techniques before acquiring this deeper comprehension is a
waste of time. Nearly as important is that teachers cease
to see their role as one of filling children full of knowl-
edge, and see it instead as one of nurturing and developing

the abilities and powers of children to think and study and

32Makiguchi, Zenshu, Vol. II, p. 293.

64

acquire knowledge and understanding by their own initiative.
The time would come, Makiguchi predicted, when teachers who
cling to a style of teaching which seeks simply an accumu-
lation of factual knowledge by the student would be in
danger of losing their jobs.33
It is necessary, therefore, that teachers begin to
define their role in other terms. A major aspect of this
redefinition as Makiguchi saw it was a view of the teacher
as leading children through the processes of discovery and
invention, rather than filling them with accumulations of
knowledge. This basic principle of learning, Makiguchi
asserted, has been known to educators from the time of
Comenius and Pestalozzi but has not affected the educational
practice of teachers. The reason for this, he charged, was
a failure upon the part of teachers to engage in study and
research on their own initiative.34
This charge that teachers themselves were largely to
blame for the sad state of children's education reveals the
main thrust of Makiguchi's thinking in regard to teacher

training. While he referred occasionally in his writings to

pOssibilities of Official action and official programs which

331bid., p. 253.

34Ibid., pp. 290-291. "The only time teachers
Study," he observed on one occasion, "is when the Ministry
Of Education directs them to do so, or in order to pass a
teacher's examination."

65

might be undertaken to upgrade the quality and effectiveness
of Japanese teachers, he seemed never to have been overly
optimistic as to their realization. Within the actualities
of the Japanese culture and government of his time,
Makiguchi concluded that personal study and growth upon

the part of individual teachers offered the best hope of
educational improvement and reform. Accordingly, his
efforts after his release from active school work in 1929
focused on the development of helps and resources to assist
teachers in their own study and teaching.

An elaborate and detailed series of syllabi to
assist teachers to utilize the methods and principles of
community study in actual teaching grew out of Makiguchi's
work of this period.35 Some of the suggestions and illus-
trations contained in these syllabi are dated and would be
inappropriate for present day use. The material, further-
more, was prepared to be used in conjunction with prescribed
text materials of the Ministry of Education. But such limi-
tations notwithstanding, the material provides insight into
the concepts and principles of community study as envisioned
by Makiguchi. The following ideas and suggestions are
illustrative of the material contained in the syllabi:

1. In every school system there are problems of order,

regulations which must be made and obeyed if the life
of the school is to go on. What if some students do

 

351bid., pp. 153-201.

66

not want to abide by the rules? This is politics. The
wise teacher can take this living experience and help
students learn basic concepts and principles of polit-
ical life which will have application in national and
world politics as well as in their local community.

Similarly, such questions as these may be asked. Who
pays the expenses of the school? What is the cost of
constructing a school building? How much is the yearly
budget? What is the major expense? What is tuition
used for? From this direct recognition of the school's
economic situation, students not only can learn prin-
ciples of mathematics and economics, they can also begin
to see the close relationships between the various
sectors of society.

The family is studied in terms of its own internal rela-
tionships and in terms of its relationships to the com-
munity. For example, the various needs of a family are
considered, psychological, economic, etc. Considered
also are the effect on the family and its members when
certain needs are not met, the responsibilities of
family members to each other, the responsibility of the
community to the family, the problem of poverty as a
breakdown in responsibility.

The resources of the community, food resources, indus-
trial resources, human resources, service resources, and
others are studied in terms of the population which the
area can sustain. Climate and geographical features are
considered in relation to resources.

The customs and general culture of the peOple of the
community are studied, permitting the introduction of
the meaning of culture to people, understanding of how
cultures differ, and respect for cultures other than
that of the local community.

Such examples could be multiplied, but these will

indicate the essence of Makiguchi's thinking in regard to

community study. All aspects of the curriculum come back

to the local community as the center of the student's

learning experiences. Concepts from geography, biology,

botany, sociology, economics, literature, history, and other

subjects become the tools for understanding and responsibly

67

participating in the local, national, and world communities
in which the student's life centers. The community itself,
particularly in its local manifestation but increasingly in
the older grades in its larger manifestations, becomes the

course of study.

In this type of education there are times, Makiguchi
cautioned, when the student knows more than the teacher. At
such times the teacher should not try to explain but should
let the new knowledge come from the students themselves.
Above all the teacher should not exhibit a know-it-all
attitude but should share the learning experience with the
students. Sonetimes, Makiguchi advised, the teacher should
lead, but most of the time he should play the role of a
spectator. Sometimes he should clearly point out purpose
or direction, while at others he should just be there to
help. Again, the teacher should not be a boss but should ‘
leave students free to meet and solve problems. He should
not be an obstacle to students who really want to learn.

He should not stifle their curiosity but should help them
experience the good feeling and pleasure of discovery. By
these means the teacher can help students develOp internal
discipline and perseverance, self-respect and self-esteem.
Such goals as these can best be achieved as the teacher en-

gages in discussion with students just as an elder brother

68

would. This is the key to good teaching in Makiguchi's
view.36
Makiguchi felt strongly that Japan's educational
system was extremely wasteful and uneconomical. Learning,
he insisted, could not be measured in terms of the number
of hours a child sits in the classroom nor by the number of
teachers employed. The only valid measure of learning and
teaching effectiveness must be in terms Of useful and usable
insights, concepts, and skills which the learners retain and
which become a permanent part of their personalities. If
natural education were replaced by cultural education, he
predicted, children would not only learn more and retain
more of what they learn, but they would be able to learn it
in a fraction of the time.

On the basis of this conviction Makiguchi advocated

a half day school plan. He was convinced that a half day

 

36Against this style of teaching Makiguchi con-
trasted the style of traditional education which, he
charged, did little more than fill students full of dead,
useless knowledge. Such knowledge has little meaning for
students; thus they lack understanding and cannot make
application of what they have learned to real life situ-
ations. Makiguchi was especially critical of the Japanese
examination system for entrance to schools and universi-
ties. This cramming of useless, soon-to-be-forgotten in-
formation in order to pass tests was to him the height of
f011y and represented in acute form the deeper sickness of
the whole educational system. Once this poured-in educa-
tion is gone, he asked, what is left? He answered that
there is nothing left. The learner is empty and is like
"a person walking in the dark with a cane." See Ibid.,
Vol. V, p. 460.

69

in school, if that half day were effectively and effi-
ciently used to lead children in cultural educational
experiences grounded in community study, was all the time
needed. Furthermore, the child needs time to engage in
other kinds of activity. Time spent in study needs to be
balanced by time spent in physical exercise and in crea-
tive, productive work experience.

There were several implications of the half day
school proposal to which Makiguchi addressed himself.
First of all, he wished to make it clear that children were
not to have more time out of the classroom to be idle.
Guidance would be required from both teachers and parents
in assisting children in planning fruitful, self-learning
activities in which they were personally interested. As
examples of the kinds of activities which children might
choose to engage in, Makiguchi suggested that a child might
study in the area of industrial or technological education,
he might study and acquire skill in the occupation of his
parents, he might engage in other kinds Of work experience
or on-the-job training for which he is suited, he might
pursue some specialty which will be useful to him in the
future, he might develop skill in one or more athletic
activities in which he is interested and has capability.

A second aspect of Makiguchi's proposal for a half
day school program was its implications for the community.

In effect, Makiguchi sought to end the isolation of the

70

school and make it an integral part of community life.
This would mean, from the standpoint of the school, that
the entire community would become the student's classroom.
It would mean, also, that the members of the community
would become participants in the teaching task. Makiguchi
felt strongly about this. He was, for example, highly
critical of the industrial education program as it then
existed in Japanese schools. IndustriaL education courses
were being taught by what he called "non-industrial edu-
cators," teachers who had no practical experience in the
job skill being taught. Consequently, students received
only superficial training in the skill. In Makiguchi's
plan the student would spend some time working in an on-
the-job training type of situation and would thus receive
some instruction from members of the community who were
actually working in the skill the student was studying.
This would, Makiguchi recognized, require a high degree of
cooperation and teamwork from business and industrial peOple
and from the entire community. He not only thought this
would be possible, he believed it would enable the school
and the community to develOp a healthy and positive rela-
tionship toward each other which would be beneficial to both.
A third aspect of Makiguchi's half day prOposal was
its saving in the cost of education. School plants and
facilities could be used for one group in the morning and

for a second group in the afternoon; and, where necessary,

71

they could also be used in the evening for a third group

of students. This emphasis on economy, it will be noted,
follows quite naturally from Makiguchi's basic views and
recommendations for the develOpment of a healthy educational
system. Economy in education means that there is no wastage
in utilizing the abilities of teachers and develOping the
abilities of students. The economizing of experience and
time in education was, in fact, according to Makiguchi, one
of the principles of his theory of value. Thus, his advice
to teachers who wanted to assist in establishing the new
pedagogy included three slogans: start with experience,
.make value the aim, make economizing the principle.

This, in brief, was Makiguchi's alternative to the
educational system of his day. Satoshi Ikeda37 holds that
it is one of the tragedies of Japanese education that
Makiguchi's educational proposals were ignored by the
Japanese people and their government during his lifetime.

He believes that Makiguchi's educational ideas may contain

the solutions to many of modern Japan's educational prob-

lems. In fact, if the Japanese had listened to Makiguchi,

 

37Author of a recent (July 1969) biography of

Makiguchi. The writer spent the greater part of the after-
noon Of July 29, 1969, just a few days after Ikeda's book
came on the market in Japan, with Mr. Ikeda and his wife at
their modest apartment in Hibarigaoka near Tokyo. While
Mrs. Ikeda kept us supplied with quantities of tea and
yokan (Japanese bean cake), Mr. Ikeda unfolded to us the

results of much of his own research into Makiguchi's life
and thought.

72

Ikeda contends, they would not now be experiencing a serious
crisis in their educational system which has seen a major
part of the nation's colleges and universities on strike and
in rebellion in recent years.

How valid is this assessment of Makiguchi and his
work? Are we dealing with one of the great educators of
history, or, as many of his contemporaries who knew him
perceived him to be, with an insignificant school teacher
who had some wild ideas? Do Makiguchi's educational philos-
ophy and pedagogy contain insights of value for modern edu—
cators? These questions became increasingly persistent as
the research proceeded. It is the writer's conclusion that
Makiguchi does, indeed, merit recognition as one of the
world's great educational thinkers and that his work does
contain meaningful and valuable insights for the present
day. It will be apprOpriate now to consider some factors
which led to these conclusions.

Value ngating Pegagogy as an In—
digenous Japanese Pragmatism

It is the writer's view that Makiguchi stands today
as the chief spokesman for Japanese pragmatism and for the
new education which, he believed, must be develOped in
accordance with the principles of pragmatism and as its
handmaiden in the pursuit of a better life for the masses
Of mankind. It would be correct to say, in fact, that

Makiguchi's pragmatic educational philosophy is the only

73

indigenous expression of pragmatism in Japanese culture
which has endured and which has contemporary significance.
This assertion will require some validation and clarifi-
cation for, as students of Japanese intellectual history
are aware, there were attempts at the formulation of prag-
matic philosophies in Japan early in the present century,
and the influence of Dewey has been pronounced in Japan
during certain periods. As early as 1888 Yujiro Motora
introduced the ideas of James and Dewey into Japan.38
During the following thirty years enthusiasm developed upon
the part of some philOSOphers for pragmatic ideas. Among
those who showed some originality were Odo Tanaka and Jiro
Abe. In addition, Dewey's educational ideas were enthusi-
astically received by some Japanese during this period and
several of his books were translated into Japanese, his

Outline of a Critical Theory of Ethics appearing in 1900

and School and Society the following year. Democracy and

 

Education was published in Japanese translation in 1918.
Some educators proceeded to apply Dewey's ideas and pro-
gressive educational ideas from other sources in actual
teaching situations during this period.

Active promotion of pragmatism was shortlived, how-

ever. By 1930 both pragmatism and progressive educational

 

38For a discussion of pragmatism in Japan during
this early period see Gino K. Piovesana, Recent Japanese
PhiloSOphical Thought, 1862-1962 (Tokyo: Enderle Bock-
store, 1963), pp. 62-73.

 

74

practice had ceased to be significant aspects of Japanese
education. Various explanations have been Offered for the
decline of pragmatism in Japan, including that of the
nationalists to the effect that pragmatism did not suit

the Japanese mentality. A more realistic assessment is

that of Kobayashi:

The interests in philoSOphy of Americans and Japanese
had similar histories until about the turn of the
century. Both groups had studied J. S. Mill and
Spencer and the Kantians with great intensity. How-
ever, when American philosophy began to come of age
with the appearance of William James and Dewey, the
dominance of German philosophy continued in Japan,
partly because of the stimulation of close cultural
ties with Germany which were encouraged by the govern—
ment. The interest was further perpetuated by the
predominance of philOSOphy professors who specialized
in German philoSOphy; it was reinforced by the dete-
rioration of relations with England and America, as
Japan joined Germany in its tide of fascism.

These factors were also in Operation in the area of
pedagogy and educational philosophy.39

Dewey's educational ideas not only declined in
popularity during the years prior to World War II, even
during the heyday of his influence in Japan immediately
following World War I, his views were not grasped by the

Japanese as a complete philoSOphy of education.40 As

 

39Kobeyashi, John Dewpy in Japanese Educational

Thought, p. 24.

40Not only in Japan was this the case. Americans,

too, largely failed to understand the deeper implications
of what Dewey was saying. Judith Groch, for example,
writes that the "spirit behind Dewey's words was ignored,
and his words, notably ambiguous, were misunderstood.
Watson, who had been Dewey's pupil and who had been

75

Kobayashi points out, his ideas on teaching methods were
most emphasized and moved most educational reformers. It
is valid to say, then, in the opinion of the writer, that
Makiguchi is Japan's foremost pragmatic philosopher and
educator. His theory of value and his value creating
pedagogy, although developed on foundations provided for
the most part by the pragmatic ideas and views of John
Dewey and Lester Ward, represent a unique and creative
formulation of the pragmatic position within Japan.
Value Creating Pedagogy in
Retrospect

It will be well to recognize that when one looks
closely at Makiguchi's prOposals for the transformation of
Japanese education and society, there are some areas in
which he is vulnerable to criticism. For example, he was
vehement in his denunciation of "abstract philosophers" or

”theorists" as he called them and called for a completely

 

influenced by Dewey's pragmatic philosophy, remarked years
later that he had never really understood what Dewey was
talking about. Apparently Watson was not alone. Mediocre
teachers milked the doctrine for its more attractive con-
cepts. 'Learning by doing' and 'freedom of expression'
became ends in themselves, and the 'object lesson' was
vested with magical properties and sprinkled throughout the
curriculum even when glowingly inappr0priate. Dewey, with
good reason, distrusted teachers and textbooks, preferring
experiment and the laboratory as a means of discovery. But
Dewey never intended the laboratory experiment to be a
cheap, mechanical imitation of science in which the student
knew ahead of time what he was supposed to find." The
Right to Create (Boston: Little, Brown and CompanyT—IDGQ),
p. 1822

76

inductive approach to the development of a practical peda-
gogy for teachers. Yet, he proceeded to develOp an equally
philOSOphical or theoretical position and insisted that his
proposed pedagogy could not be understood even in the
slightest degree without first understanding the philo-
sophical position which he had outlined. At this point
Makiguchi's biases and resentments at his exclusion from
academic and intellectual circles of his society seem to
have influenced his thinking.

Another limiting factor which may be pointed to in
regard to Makiguchi's proposals for educational reform is
that they were for the most part speculative and untested
deSpite his emphasis on scientific method and experimen-
tation. The only eXperimenting ever done using the teaching
methods and approaches which he advocated was that which he
did within the Tokyo Public School System. This was
necessarily limited because of the realities of that system
and the indifference of officials to the kinds of reforms
which Makiguchi advocated.

Josei Toda utilized some of Makiguchi's methods in
a private tutoring school which he established in 1923 to
prepare primary school students for the entrance examination
to the Japanese middle school. Toda's experimentation seems
to have made a believer out of him. In fact, he became

quite wealthy as a result of the sale of books which he

77

published to assist students in preparing for examinations.41

Toda's work, however, could hardly be considered an adequate
test of Makiguchi's methods. Furthermore, the use of value
creating pedagogical methods in assisting students in pre-
paring for entrance examinations would appear to hit against
Makiguchi's major criticisms of Japanese education and have
the effect of supporting and strengthening the system rather
than reforming it.

Furthermore, there is no mistaking the philOSOphical
naivete in Makiguchi's writings. The fact that he was a
self-taught philOSOpher will be detected very quickly by the

42

competent scholar. While he read widely and brought the

 

41Murata, Japan's New Buddhism, p. 87.

42It should be understood that the writer's compari-

son of Makiguchi with Dewey in terms of the type of role
each played in the intellectual history of their respective
countries does not imply that Makiguchi's grasp of the field
of philosophy was as extensive as Dewey's nor that his
stature as a philoSOpher compares with that of Dewey. Dewey
had access to the entire range of Western philosophical
thought. He had opportunity to study and teach at the
leading institutions of higher learning which his culture
possessed. During the course of his teaching career he had
opportunity to confront and be challenged by scores of razor
sharp minds in the fields of philosophy, education, psy-
chology, and sociology. Furthermore, Dewey rode the crest
of one of the central tendencies and moods of his time in
the society in which he lived. Makiguchi, in contrast, had
but limited access to the literature of the Western philo-
sophical tradition. His reading was necessarily limited to
translations which were often of questionable quality.

(See Kobayashi, John Dewey in Japanese Educational Thought,
p. 27.) Makiguchi had no college or university training
and, with the exception of a few close acquaintances, he

was denied access to the resources of the university com-
munity.

78

ideas of many brilliant minds into his work, he was fre-
quently beyond his depth and unable to grasp or at least to
express the larger implications of the ideas about which he
wrote.43 On the other hand, in View of Makiguchi's limi-
tations and handicaps, the quality of his insights and the
extent to which he anticipated the problems and needs of the
individual in a mass society are nothing short of remark-
able. Thus, while such criticisms as those noted above are
valid and should be taken into account, they do not diminish
the importance of Makiguchi's work as a significant con-
tribution to educational thought.

Recent developments in the field of education tend‘
to confirm many of the reforms which Makiguchi advocated. I
Van Cleve Morris, in a review of Charles Silberman's recent

book, Crisis in the Classroom: The Remaking of American

Education, comments as follows:

 

As the professional educator reads Silberman, there is
a haunting, back-of-the-cerebrum sense of having heard
it all before. But where? Silberman himself provides
a clue to the answer. Informal schooling and experi-
ence centered education, he implies, are John Dewey
reissued. Silberman's Crisis is the kind of book which
needs writing every few years to remind us that, half a
century later, we still have not carried into practice

 

43It was at this point that the works of Dewey and

Ward were extremely important to Makiguchi. The writings
of Dewey as educator and Ward as sociologist provided the
initial core of Makiguchi's own thinking, enabling him to
evaluate and interpret the widely differing ideas and

philosophical positions to which his reading exposed him.

79
the sound and sensible theories of this 20th century
pedagogical architect.44
Much the same thing could be said with reference

to Makiguchi's work that Morris says of Dewey's. There
are some areas in which Makiguchi may legitimately be said
to have added worthwhile insights to Dewey‘s work.
Makiguchi's concepts of value and value creation and his
emphasis on community study and the social responsibility
of individuals as Creators of value would seem to be of
this nature. [n most respects, however, one finds little
in Makiguchi taat cannot be found also in Dewey. The value
of Makiguchi's work, then, does not lie in its being greatly
different from that of Dewey. Rather, its strength lies in
the fact that it provides support and confirmation from yet
another culture for the efficacy of education based on an
open, experiential model in contrast to the transmission of
knowledge model which we have inherited from the Medieval

Western EurOpean period of our history.

 

44Educational Studies, II, Nos. 1 and 2 (Spring-

CHAPTER V

MAKIGUCHI'S INFLUENCE ON THE

SOKA GAKKAI MOVEMENT

Educational Reformer in Pre—
WOrld War II Japan

Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, as previous chapters have
shown, was a reformer. Like Johann Pestalozzi a century
earlier, his life centered in one consuming purpose, the
elevating and enhancing of the life of his fellows. Like
Pestalozzi, too, Makiguchi was often misunderstood and
rejected by the peOple he sought to help and mistrusted by
the government to which he professed allegiance. During
the greater part of his life he sought to achieve his ob-
jectives by working as a teacher and administrator in the
educational structures of Japanese society. A reconstruc-
tion of the events and relationships of the last fifteen
years of his life suggest, however, that a major shift
occurred in his thinking with respect to the means by which
persons dedicated to reform could best pursue their objec-
tives. Essentially this was a shift from educational to
religious means of effecting reform. The broad outline of
the conditions and incidents involved in this shift in

Makiguchi's position has been traced in Chapter III. It

80

81

will be appropriate here to look more closely at the shift
itself and some of the factors involved in it.

It may be observed, first of all, that up to the
present time no specific statement has come to light in
which Makiguchi recognized and acknowledged this shift in
his thought and outlook. Thus it can only be deduced from
an examination of his writings, the record of his activi-
ties during this period, and from reports of persons who
were acquainted with him at this time. A second observation
which may be made is that this shift occurred gradually over
a period of nearly a decade.

In tracing the developments of this period three
factors emerge which may explain this shift in Makiguchi's
outlook and approach to reform. One is the series of per-
sonal tragedies and hardships which he experienced during
the twenties and early thirties, including the death of
four of his children described in Chapter II. Even more
important may have been the cultural and political environ-
ment in which he pursued his educational career. To put
it bluntly, Makiguchi, after devoting nearly forty years of
his life trying to bring about change in Japan's personality-
stifling, tradition—bound system of education, had to face
the hard reality that he had failed. His efforts to human-
ize the educational system and increase its effectiveness

had been thwarted at every turn by the rigidity of the

82

culture and the increasing dominance of the military in
_national life.

A reasonable assessment of the data may be that it
was primarily a sense of frustration and futility, which
accompanied this recognition of his powerlessness to bring
about change in Japanese society through educational means,
that led him eventually to see religion rather than edu-
cation as the most strategic means for effecting societal
change. This analysis was born out in interviews with the
remaining members of the small cadre of young men who
gathered around Makiguchi during the 1930's as well as less
intimate participants in the movement which he initiated.
It is the general assessment of these persons that what
Makiguchi and they were about initially was an educational
revolution and that this emphasis turned increasingly to a
religious one during and immediately prior to World War 11.1

A third factor in the shift from an educational to
a religious orientation was Makiguchi's conversion to

Nichiren Shoshu in 1928.2 As far as can be determined this

 

1Representative of persons whose observations during
interviews supported this general conclusion were a Nichiren
Shoshu priest, who was still active in the sect, and a
school teacher who had severed ties with Makiguchi' 8 move-
ment in the late 1930' s because its orientation had become
too religious in his view.

2Murata writes that if it had not been for a seem-

ingly minor incident in Makiguchi' 3 life in 1928 when he was
principal of Shirogane Primary School in Tokyo, Soka Gakkai

83

was the first serious interest in religion for Makiguchi.
Murata's research reveals that Makiguchi's family background
in Niigata was that of Nichiren Shu, a related but different
sect from Nichiren Shoshu. He had also been mildly inter-
ested at times in Christianity. In fact, he had been quite
deeply influenced in the development of his educational
philosophy and practice by such Christian educators as Inazo
Nitobe and Kanzo Uchimura.3 In neither case, however, is
there evidence of serious concern with or attention to
religious matters as such.4 Furthermore, even after his
conversion to Nichiren Shoshu, it appears that Makiguchi's
religious convictions matured slowly, probably growing in
intensity as his faith in educational reform diminished.

At this point the researcher must acknowledge a
paradox in Makiguchi's philosophical orientation. His edu-
cational work and the writings which grew out of that work

reveal him as a thorough-going pragmatist. In Volume I of.

 

would not exist today. That incident was a visit to
Makiguchi's school by a trade paper reporter who was a
Nichiren Shoshu adherent. This visit led to Makiguchi's
being introduced to another Nichiren Shoshu believer, Sokei
Mitani, principal of a Tokyo business high school. It was
through association with Mitani that Makiguchi was con-

verted to faith in Nichiren Shoshu. See Murata, Japan's
New Buddhism, p. 76.

3Makiguchi cites Uchimura's work, Chijinron (Theory
of Land and People), as making a significant contribution
to his own work, Jinsei Chirigaku. See Makiguchi, Zenshu,
Vol. III, p. 160 and VOl. IV, p. 577.

 

4Murata, Japan's New Buddhism, p. 76.

84

Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei, for example, he wrote that any
argument which is not scientific or which cannot be proved
experimentally will only end up in endless dispute. Even
though that which science has been able to explain thus far
is limited, human beings have to solve actual problems which
-they face in daily living. It is unfruitful, therefore, to
waste time in metaphysical consideration.5 In contrast with
this position are statements in Kachiron (The Philosophy of
Value), edited by Josei Toda after Makiguchi's death, which
seem to constitute a direct refutation of Makiguchi's rela-
tivistic, pragmatic philoSOphy, advocating instead an un-'
questioning faith in a worship Object.6

Brannen was one of the first scholars to note this
apparent discrepancy in Makiguchi's work and thought. It
was his conclusion that in the editing of Kachiron Toda,
the second president of Soka Gakkai, "took the liberty of
bringing what may have been originally a purely utilitarian
philosophical treatise into conformity with the teachings
of the Nichiren Sho Sect.n7 An example cited as evidence

of such editing liberties on Toda's part is a reference to

 

5Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei,
Fuzanbo, Tokyo, 1930, pp. 87-89.

6Makiguchi, The Philosophy of Value, p. 159.

7Brannen, "Soka Gakkai's Theory of Valuel'pp.

151-152.

85

atom bombs.8 The writer's research verifies this conclu-
sion. He has been able to find nothing in Makiguchi's
original writings summarizing the results of forty years in
education which is contradictory to a pragmatic position.
If further research bears this out, it will suggest that
although Makiguchi was converted to Nichiren Shoshu in
1928, there appears to be no evidence that Nichiren Shoshu
doctrine influenced the editing during the years 1929 to
1933 of his major educational work, Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei.

One could argue that since Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei

 

was compiled from notes and jottings accumulated during the
course of several decades, the utilitarian philosoPhy ex-
pressed therein represents an earlier period in Makiguchi's
intellectual develOpment and does not necessarily reflect
his views during the early 1930's. However, other of
Makiguchi's writings of this period refute any such conclu-
sion. Kankyo (Environment),a.magazine for teachers pub-
lished with the help of Toda and several other supporters

who had organized themselves as a study society, is a case

 

8Makiguchi, The PhilOSOphy of Value, p. 125. This
evidence led the writer to conjecture that Makiguchi main-
tained his pragmatic position to the end and that it was
later leaders who turned the movement to its postwar empha-
sis on the mystical and metaphysical. This turned out not
to be the case. Thus, while there is no doubt that Toda
did make changes in Kachiron as Brannen points out, it is
very likely that he did so fully believing that Makiguchi

would have made the same changes and additions if he had
lived.

86

in point.9 Organized for the purpose of furthering
Makiguchi's brand of educational reform, this group called

itself Soka Kyoiku Gakkai (Value Creation Education Soci-

ety).10 Kankyo was its means of communicating with other

teachers and educators.

Included in the ninth issue of the magazine, dated
November 20, 1930, is an editorial statement outlining the

purpose of the publication:

The study of teaching materials and methods is some-
thing which practical educators must not neglect or

take lightly; rather these matters should be the central
concern of their daily living. Such study is the prac—
tical educator's source of power. Lacking such study he
is just like a steam engine without fuel . .

However, the average educator is too busy with his
daily round of teaching activities to discover and
collect life related teaching material. It is hoped
that this magazine can become a companion or partner to
the classroom teacher by carrying a share of the burden
of his school work. Thus, teachers who wish to be on

 

9COpies of this publication and others published by
Makiguchi and his associates prior to World War II are rare
since most were confiscated by the Japanese Government
during the war years. When members of Makiguchi's family
heard of the nature of the writer's research, however, they
very graciously offered to loan for zeroxing copies which
had been saved from the flames. In one instance, an original
c0py owned by Tsutomu Watanabe, Makiguchi's son-in-law and
close assistant from the early 1930's until Makiguchi's im-

prisonment in 1943, was presented to the writer as a contri-
bution to his research.

10The Soka Gakkai, the organization which Makiguchi's
followers reconstructed after World War II, now regards the
formation of this study group in 1930 as its beginning.
The formal organization of the group with Makiguchi as its
elected president did not occur until 1937. See The
Nichiren Shoshu_Sokagakkai (Tokyo: The Seikyo prEEE,
1966)! pp. 46-170

87

the frontline of educational practice will not have to
worry about these matters, but will be able to devote
their full attention to the teaching task itself.
Scientific pedagogy or systematic research in teaching
methods and collecting of living teaching material are
vital aspects of the teaching task. The relationship
of these two aspects of education to education as a
whole is just like the relationship between a cart and
its wheels or a bird and its wings.
In this issue of Kankyo we are giving special attention
to Mr. Makiguchi's book Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei because
we believe it can be a great help to the busy teacher.
At the present time when education is stalemated and
deadlocked, Mr. Makiguchi's pedagogy is truly like a
beacon lighting the way to a rebirth in education.
The articles in this issue bear out the sentiment and
intent of this purpose. In a major article entitled "The
Essential Elements of Value Creating Pedagogy" Makiguchi,
after critically examining Japanese education and society,
wrote that education is the key element in any move toward
the revolutionary reconstruction of society. And not just
any kind of education, but value creating pedagogy is the
first step toward bringing about urgently needed changes in
human attitudes, in educational institutions, and in the
social structures of Japanese society.

Among the factors working against the development
of an effective educational system based on value creating
pedagogy in Makiguchi's view was the government's strangle—
hold on education as a result of its operation and control
of teacher training institutions. The government had done

nothing, he charged, to encourage creative teaching or to

improve the status of teachers and attract and hold competent

88

people in the teaching ranks. What Japan desperately
needed, he wrote, was an educational research center where
educational problems could be scientifically studied and
educational experimentation carried on. The school,
Makiguchi insisted, must become society's laboratory. As
such it would function as a bridge between the individual
and his family and the society at large. In order for the
nation to make orderly development and progress, then,
value creating pedagogy must be studied and understood not
only by educators but by politicians as well.

Particularly interesting in this connection are two
articles by leading progressive educators and statesmen
supporting Makiguchi and his efforts to promote educational
and social reform. One article was written by Inazo Nitobe.
The other was a brief statement signed by twenty-eight
prominent persons including Tsuyoshi Inukai, later to be-
come prime minister from April 1931 to May 1932. That
Makiguchi had support from peOple of this stature suggests
the possibility that if the political climate in Japan had
moved toward Openness and democratic participation during
the 1930's it is very likely that recognition of Makiguchi
as an educator would have increased in marked degree.

This, as history records, did not occur, however. In May,
1932, Prime Minister Inukai was assassinated. From that
point on the position of progressively'oriented educators

and statesmen deteriorated rapidly. With that development

89

Makiguchi's last hope for achieving reform through purely
educational means began to diminish.

The study group continued and increased in number,
primarily by the addition of teachers who had become frus-
trated in their teaching efforts or who had been "black
balled" by the government for leftist leanings.or activi—
ties. But as the 1930's wore on and as the military regime
tightened its hold over the various sectors of the society,
the channels through which Makiguchi could influence
teachers and educators became closed to him. It is the
writer's view that as this occurred there began to dawn in
Makiguchi's mind the possibilities afforded by Nichiren
Shoshu for achievement of reform objectives. Thus, a small
publication written by Makiguchi and printed in 1937 con-
trasts sharply with his writings of the 1930 period.11 At
this time, too, Makiguchi apparently began to give more
attention to the possibilities in organized or corporate
action and power. Early in 1937 sixty peOple who had become
interested in and responsive to Makiguchi's ideas met at
the Kikusuitei, a Tokyo restaurant, and formally organized
Soka Kyoiku Gakkai. This was considered the first general
meeting or conference of the organization. A second such

meeting was not held until three years later in 1940 when

 

11Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, Practical Experimentation

9f Value_Creation Educational Methods through Science and
Supreme REligion, Soka Kyoiku Gakkai, Tokyo, 1937.

90

membership is said to have increased to three- or four-
hundred persons. From this time until the breaking of the
organization by the government in 1943, the members met
semiannually to report on the results of their educational
research programs and their personal experiences.

Following the 1937 meeting the membership of Soka
Kyoiku Gakkai began to change. Whereas prior to this time
the persons associated with Makiguchi were primarily
teachers interested in some aspect of education, reform,
research, or Makiguchi's educational insights, there now
began to come into the organization persons from other
stations and walks of life who were drawn by the religious
elements of Nichiren Shoshu as these were interpreted by
Makiguchi. That such a change in the membership composition
of the organization occurred is suggested by items in Eaghi_
§2£g (The Creation of Value), a monthly periodical which the
organization began to publish in 1941. Interspersed in this
periodical with feature articles about value creating peda-
gogy are testimonials of persons who claimed to have found
various kinds of benefits and blessings as a result of
obedience to the requirements of Nichiren Shoshu, membership
in Soka Kyoiku Gakkai, or of following the guidance of

President Makiguchi.12 For example, in the first issue of

 

les the shift from chiefly educational concerns to
a combined emphasis on education and the Buddhism of
Nichiren Shoshu occurred, the response of the original mem-
bers tended to be one of two kinds. The response of some

91

Kachi $020 is a group testimonial of twenty-seven mothers
that as a result of joining the organization they had
experienced painless childbirth.13 The feature articles in
Kachi 8020 also suggest Nichiren Shoshu influence. These
articles contrast markedly with those of Kankyo and Sgkg
Kyoikugaku Taikei of a decade earlier.

The Japanese Government apparently did not approve
of the type of material printed in Kachi $020, for publi-
cation was suspended after the ninth issue by government
order. However, a printed report, Taizen Seikatsu Jishoroku
(Witness to Abundant Life), of the fifth conference of Soka
Kyoiku Gakkai in 1942 contains the same kinds of articles

14

and testimonials. ‘The following year, on July 6, 1943,

 

of these original members was simply to drop out of the
organization. The number who responded in this way is dif-
ficult to estimate. The writer interviewed one person, an
elementary school teacher nearing retirement age, who indi-
cated that he had left Makiguchi's movement because of the
shift to religious concerns. It was his opinion that others
had left for the same reason, but he was unable to give
specific information as to such cases. Others, probably the
majority of Makiguchi's original disciples, continued in

the organization and shared in the attempt to integrate
Makiguchi's educational philosophy and pedagogy with
Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism.

13Another feature of Kachi 8020 was an admonition

to members to participate in shakubuku activities, a mili-
tant and forceful method of conversion.

14The c0py of the report obtained for this research
had been seized by the Japanese Police at the time of the
arrest of the leaders of Soka Kyoiku Gakkai and had the

official seal of the Police Headquarter's office affixed
to it.

92

Makiguchi and Toda and nineteen other persons, the entire
upper echelon leadership of the organization, were arrested
and jailed.15 On November 18, 1944, at the age of seventy-
three, Makiguchi died of malnutrition in his cell at Sugamo
Prison. The only record available, to the writer's knowl-
edge, concerning Makiguchi's intellectual and emotional life
during his seventeen-month imprisonment is a series of post
card messages which he wrote to his daughter-in-law, Sadako.
Study of these messages suggests that Makiguchi remained

firm in his convictions about Nichiren Shoshu to the end.16

Reconstruction in the Postwar
Period

Although Makiguchi's death in prison in 1944 brought
to an end his leadership of the movement which he had
initiated, his influence was an important element in the
reconstruction of the movement after the war through the
lives of those who had been closely associated with him.
Chief of these was Josei Toda, who as a young school teacher
had met Makiguchi in 1920. Toda joined Nichiren Shoshu in

1928 along with Makiguchi. Until his arrest in 1943,

 

15The reason for and circumstances surrounding the
arrest of Soka Kyoiku Gakkai leaders in 1943 is fully dis-
cussed in other writings and need not be considered in
detail here. For further information concerning the arrests
see Murata, Japan's New Buddhism, pp. 83-84.

16The writer is indebted to Mrs. Makiguchi and per-
sonnel of the Soka Gakkai headquarters for permission to
examine these post cards and have photostatic c0pies made
of them.

93

however, he appears to have been more interested in business
than in religion. During the early and mid-1920's he had
experienced dire poverty, which was undoubtedly a con-
tributing factor to a series of tragedies in his life in-
cluding the death of an infant daughter, the loss of his.
wife from tuberculosis, and the contraction of the same
disease himself. His fortunes began to improve, however,
with the publishing of some books to help students preparing
for middle school examinations. One of these, a book on
arithmetic, was highly successful, selling more than a
million c0pies. This was the beginning of Toda's business
activities. By the time of his arrest in the summer of
1943 he controlled seventeen companies, with two more about
to be added to his business holdings. His fortune is said
to have amounted at that time to more than ¥6,000,000 or,
at the prewar exchange rate, $1,500,000.17
The ordeal in prison brought to Toda a more in-
tense religious experience. Interested as he was in the
study of science and mathematics, Toda found it difficult
to believe in anything which was not logically convincing.

But as he read the Hoke-kyo18 and the sacred writings of

17Murata, Japan's New Buddhism, pp. 88-90.

18The Buddhist scripture which Nichiren Shoshu in-
eludes in its teachings, also referred to as the Lotus Sutra.

94

Nichiren, and particularly as he chanted the daimoku,19 a

profound change came over him and he became convinced that
at last he had found the true meaning of life. This ex-
perience, together with shock and grief at the news of
Makiguchi's death, led Toda to vow that he would devote
the rest of his life to spreading the teachings of
Nichiren.20
After his release from prison on July 3, 1945, Toda
set about the twofold task of rebuilding his business
empire, which had been completely destroyed, and gathering
t<>g¢$—‘t‘.l'1er the fragments of Soka Kyoiku Gakkai. Successive
business ventures ended in failure, due probably not so
much to lack of ability on Toda's part as to the unstable
economic conditions of the postwar period. His final ven-
ture, a credit cooperative, collapsed in 1950. While the
rebuilding of Soka Kyoiku Gakkai eventually proved more
suc(Iessful, its chances appeared bleak at the end of the war.
All of the leaders of the organization with the exception of
Makiguchi, Toda, and Shuhei Yajima had broken under pressure
Of the Government and had renounced their faith and alle-

21

glance to the organization. Rank and file members were

\

19The sacred phrase: nammyohorengekyo.

20Murata, Japan's New Buddhism, p. 89.

Sto “ZlMurata (Ibid., p. 90) indicates that only Toda

menod Wlth Makiguchi in refusing to be broken by the Govern-

writ. Ikeda (Satoshi Ikeda, Makiguchi Tsunesaburo, p. 185)
tes that Yajima stood firm also.

95

scattered and there was no way of regaining contact with
them.
Against this background Toda launched into the task

22 .
He was conV1nced

of reconstructing Soka Kyoiku Gakkai.
that the organization had disintegrated because it had been
weak in the doctrinal discipline of its members. He deter-
mined, therefore, that in the new organization greater
emphasis would be placed on the inculcation of members with
the teachings of the Hoke-kyo and the teachings of Nichiren.
Toward this end he opened a seminar on the sutra at
Taisekiji on January 1, 1946, with three followers. Follow-
ing this he lectured three times a week at his office in
downtown Tokyo, the second floor of which developed into
the headquarters of the organization as membership increased.
On May 1, 1946, a meeting of leaders was held in
which Toda was named chairman of the board of directors,
the position he had held in the prewar organization. How—
ever, he resisted moves to make him president. Not until
the collapse of his business ventures in 1950 did he con-
sent to assume the position of president, which had been

23

left open since Makiguchi's death. Up to this time the

22The word "Kyoiku" was dropped from the name of
the reconstructed organization.

23Toda, at this time, reasoned that his business

failures were divine punishment for his failure to devote
his full energy to the rebuilding of Soka'Gakkai. See
‘MUJata, Japan's New Buddhism, pp. 93-94.

96

growth of the organization had been modest at best. Further-
more, with the collapse of Toda's business ventures many of
his followers, including some Soka Gakkai leaders, left the
organization. Toda himself was apparently discouraged at
times. In March, 1951, he is reported to have remarked
sarcastically: "At this rate (ninety-five families per
month) we can reach an enormous number in ten thousand
years."24 Yet at the general meeting of Soka Gakkai in
Tokyo on May 3, 1951, at which he was inaugurated president,
Toda vowed to "convert 750,000 families before I die. If
this is not achieved by the time of my death, don't hold a
funeral service for me but throw my ashes into the sea off

Shinagawafl'z5

While at the time this goal was dismissed by
some observers as the prediction of an idle dreamer, Soka
Gakkai announced on March 1, 1958, one month before Toda's
death, that the 750,000 family goal had been achieved.
While a detailed discussion of Nichiren Shoshu and
its belief system is beyond the scope of this study, an
understanding of certain basic aspects of Nichiren Shoshu
is essential in order to place the developments of the
decade following Toda's assumption of the presidency of

26

Soka Gakkai in prOper perspective. The goal which

24 25

Ibid., p. 94. Ibid.

26The unique relationship which presently exists
between Soka Gakkai and Nichiren Shoshu had its beginnings
during this early postwar period. While some of the

97

believers in Nichiren Shoshu seek to attain is kosen rufu.

 

Literally this means "the spreading of Buddhism through the
whole world." Buddhism in this context means Nichiren
Shoshu Buddhism, which for believers is the only true
Buddhism. This uncompromising belief in Nichiren Shoshu
Buddhism as the only true faith is based on a unique inter-
pretation of the Lotus Sutra and the life of Nichiren, a
thirteenth-century Buddhist priest. Briefly, according to
Nichiren Shoshu, Nichiren is the fulfillment of Buddhist
teachings in the present day. He is hailed as the original,
eternal Buddha, meriting from contemporary Buddhists even
greater reverence and respect than Sakayamuni, the chief
Buddha of the Lotus Sutra.

Nichiren, particularly during the latter part of
his life, was militant in his insistence that his interpre-
tation of Buddhism and the Lotus Sutra was the only true
belief. All other religions, he insisted, were false, cor-

rupt, and evil and consequently must be destroyed. When

 

frictions which had marred relationships between the
Nichiren Shoshu leadership and the leadership of the lay
movement prior to Makiguchi's death continued into the
postwar period, these frictions had been satisfactorily re-
solved by the time of Toda's death, April 2, 1958. See
Murata, Japan's New Buddhism, pp. 95-98. For further in-
formation on Nichiren Shoshu doctrine see also Tthichiren
Shoshu Sokagakkai (Tokyo: Seikyo Press, 1966). For an
account of the life and teachings of Nichiren see Masaharu
Anesaki, Nichiren,_§he Buddhist Prophet (Cambridge:

Harvard University Press, 1949).

 

98

the government officials of his day disregarded his preach-
ings, Nichiren predicted that dire consequences would
befall the country. Some of these predictions materialized,
thus strengthening Nichiren's credibility.

Historically there are within Buddhist teachings
two principle methods of prOpagating the faith. These are
ghgjg and shakubuku. Murata writes that Soka Gakkai's

intensive conversion method, shakubuku, has become
identified in the public mind with Soka Gakkai itself.
Shakubuku, however, is neither an invention nor a
monOpoly of Soka Gakkai or even Nichiren Shoshu. It is
one of the two traditional Buddhist methods of conver-
sion, the other being shoju. Buddhist sutras refer to
them both, as did Nichiren in his writings. Shakubuku,
literally meaning "break and subdue," is the forceful
method of conversion while shoju is the moderate con-
ciliatory approach.25

 

 

Soka Gakkai recognizes and employs both shoju and shakubuku

 

in its proselytizing activities. It was shakubuku, however,

 

which Toda made the keystone of his efforts to develOp Soka
Gakkai after he became president in 1951, on the grounds
that Japan at that time, just as the Japan of Nichiren's
time, was full of evil religions and their adherents. In

his inaugural address Toda told his followers that the goal

 

27Murata, Japan's New Buddhism, p. 102. Understand-

ing of this aspect of Nichirenޤhoshu belief throws some
light on Makiguchi's behavior during the last two or three
years of his life, prior to his arrest in 1943. It is not
hard to imagine that Makiguchi, observing his own failure
to further educational reform, might find it easy to iden-
tify with Nichiren and accept the principle of shakubuku as
a means of achieving his goals. This, at any rate, seems a
possible explanation of activities in which he engaged in
the years immediately prior to his arrest.

 

99

of kosen rufu (the spreading of Buddhism through the whole

 

world) could be attained only when "all of you take on evil

religions and convert everyone in the country . . ."28

Toda's followers took his counsel seriously. Shakubuku

 

came to be a central aspect of the meaning of membership in
Soka Gakkai. The result of this development is a matter of
record. In 1951 few Japanese had ever heard of Soka Gakkai.
It was just one among many new religious movements which

had mushroomed after World War 11.29

By the end of the
decade the reverse was true. It was difficult to find a
Japanese person in 1960 who had not formed some opinion with
respect to Soka Gakkai. From a membership of some 500
families in 1951, the organization reached Toda's predicted
750,000 families one month before his death in 1958.

The tactical method which made this possible was

shakubuku. But what was behind the method? What was the

 

driving force in the development of Soka Gakkai? An analysis

 

28Quoted in Murata, Ibid., p. 104.

29H. Neill McFarland aptly describes this period as
the "rush hour of the Gods." In his book bearing this
title he writes: "Prior to 1945, the Japanese people suf-
fered through a long period of totalitarianism, during
which religious bodies were either suppressed or regimented
as thought-control agencies. Hence, at the end of the war,
‘when complete freedom of religion was guaranteed as one of
‘the cardinal principles in Japan's new day, the way was
<3pen for innumerable captive and incipient religious move-
rnents to become independent sects and for new 'prophets' to
Ilet their voices be heard" (New York: The Macmillan
Company, 1967, p. 4).

100

of Soka Gakkai literature reveals two major and intimately
interrelated appeals which attract and hold members to the
movement. These two appeals are expressed in the litera-
ture as a twofold objective: "to save the whole world
through the attainment of each individual's happiness in
life."30 As we shall see later, both the individual and
the collective appeal are important factors in the growth
and staying power of Soka Gakkai. During the development
of the 1950's, however, the individual appeal was particu-
larly emphasized. Murata notes that Toda frequently re-

minded his followers of earthly benefits they would receive

from conducting shakubuku. On August 3, 1951, he told an

 

audience: "You carry on shakubuku with conviction. If you
don't do it now, let me tell you, you will never become
happy."31 On September 1, 1954, he gave the following

reason why members should engage in shakubuku:

 

Let me tell you why you must conduct shakubuku. This
is not to make Soka Gakkai larger but for you to become
happier . . . There are many people in the world who
are suffering from poverty and disease. The only way
to make them really happy is to shakubuku them. You
might say it is sufficient for you to pray at home, but
unless you carry out shakubuku you will not receive any

 

 

 

30Soka Gakkai promised the postwar Japanese that any

person could, without fail, attain happiness (or overcome
unhappiness) providing he accepted and carried out Soka
Gakkai's twofold discipline, i.e., prayer and persuasion.
In action terms this meant chanting the Nichiren sacred
prayer and conducting shakubuku.

 

31Quoted in Murata, Japan's New Buddhism, p. 104.

101
divine benefit. A believer who has forgotten to
shakubuku will receive no such benefit . . ."32
Kasahara gives further evidence of the strength of

Soka Gakkai's appeal to the desire for individual benefit.
The Japanese people during the immediate postwar period, he
points out, particularly those with limited usable skills
and little education, felt overpowered by the

hardships arising from poverty, illness, and dissension

. . . They continued to exert themselves to the utmost

to improve their lot, but there was a limit to what

they could do . . . some of them began to turn for help

to new religions rather than the established ones.

They felt that they had already come to the end of

their tether and could no longer stand their misery

. . . Many people in postwar Japan jumped at religion

in expectation of tangible rewards as the immediate re-

sult of their belief and prayers. They wished to be

freed from poverty, illness, and trouble the moment

they embraced the faith.33
Kasahara goes on to point out that many new religious groups
sprang up at this time to take advantage of the situation of
the masses. It was not long, however, until peOple began to
realize that they had been cheated by the new religions and
their promises of impossible gains. While Soka Gakkai was
one of these new religions, it also differed in significant
ways. It too promised instantaneous rewards in this world

but at the same time made these promises conditional on a

person's taking responsibility for making his own way in

 

321bid.

33Kazuo Kasahara, "Soka Gakkai and Komeito: The
Advance of a New Religion into Politics," Japan Quarterly,
XIV, No.-3 (July-September, 1967), 313.

102

life. Perhaps the most significant thing about Soka Gakkai
was that it built up and strengthened within its members
confidence in their own ability to live on in the world,
and to live on within a general frame of reference which
gave meaning to each person's life.34
The determining factor in the realization of these
'promises of economic success, health, and family harmony
was, as indicated above, the member's faithfulness in per-
forming shakubuku.3S He became convinced, furthermore,
that in thus prOpagating his faith, he was assisting to

bring salvation, not only to himself and to the immediate

object of his shakubuku efforts, but to the world as

 

34Ibid., p. 314.

35There are other incentives within the system also.
For successes in shakubuku activity one is rewarded with
titles and position as head of troops, districts, etc. In
this connection Dator notes that while "the Soka Gakkai
stresses equality of all members in that all are equal when
they enter Soka Gakkai, and social position is said to make
no difference within the Soka Gakkai (thus, we are told, the
janitor of a bank may be a teacher and the bank president
his pupil), the Soka Gakkai provides for intraorganizational
ranking on the basis of individual effort. For example, it
provides persons with such culturally honored titles as
'Assistant Professor' or 'Professor' or the like on the
basis of objective tests covering the doctrine and practices
of Nichiren Shoshu. Thus persons who did not have an oppor-
tunity to receive higher education (and such is the case for
most Soka Gakkai members) are able to be 'professors' within
the Soka Gakkai." By permission, from Soka Gakkai: Builders
of the Third Civilization, by James A. Dator c0pyright<9
1969'by the University of Washington Press (p. 139).
Brannen stresses the new sense of identity which Soka
Gakkai makes possible for persons without identity: ". . .
there is a sense in which the millions of converts to Soka

103

well.36 Under such circumstances a Soka Gakkai member

could approach other persons in the act of shakubuku with

 

complete sincerity and conviction. With members thus im—
pelled and motivated it was probably inevitable that some
would go to extremes. In some cases overzealous members

went so far as to use force and violence in their attempts
to pressure potential converts into acquiescence. It has

been these extreme forms of shakubuku, in addition to a

 

general suspicion of Soka Gakkai's phenomenal success

itself, which have led to negative reactions from the

press and the public.37

 

Gakkai are a new race, sought out, and . . . reclaimed."
Noah Brannen, Soka Gakkai: Japapfs Militant Buddhists
(Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1968)] pp. 15-16.

36This dimension of Soka Gakkai may be a signifi-
cant factor in accounting for the staying power and con-
tinued growth of the movement into the present. Soka
Gakkai offers the convert not only the opportunity to
benefit himself, but to feel a part of a great and magnifi-

cent destiny which he, through individually creating value,
can help to work out.

37On November 26, 1955, for instance, Goichiro

Fujii, Director of the Public Security Investigation Agency
of the Minister of Justice, was quoted in a major national
daily as saying that Soka Gakkai "was conducting a member-
ship drive in a semi-gangster manner, using a military
organization . . ." Mr. Fujii later denied making such a
statement and the daily retracted the report. The report
does reflect, however, the general attitude of fear and
distrust of Soka Gakkai which had developed among the
Japanese by the late 1950's. For further details see
Murata, Japan's New Buddhism, p. 104. In order to prOperly
assess Soka Gakkai's record on this point it should be
clear that the leadership of the organization at no time
condoned or encouraged these extreme forms of shakubuku.

 

104

In any objective analysis of Soka Gakkai the ines-
capable conclusion is that a great deal of the credit for
the success of the postwar movement must go to Toda's
skillful blending of organizational and doctrinal elements
and to his ability as a strategist. But while Toda's con-
tribution was of key importance, the general sociological
context of the postwar period was also a factor. During
the period from 1950 to 1960 a massive population migration
from rural to urban areas occurred in Japanese society. It
is no coincidence that this period coincided with the first
major increase in Soka Gakkai's membership. As Ikado
points out in the following observation, the rural to urban
migration severs the migrant from traditional roots and
ties:

People who came from rural areas and therefore were
formerly in one way or another part of the traditional

system of established religions, are more or less cut
off from such an institution when they are in the

 

Toda, on a number of occasions, cautioned against the use
of force and violence in carrying out shakubuku activities.
In an essay written by him in 1954 entitled "The Middle
Path" Toda appealed to his followers to be sensible in
their religious fervor. For further information in this
regard see Brannen, Soka Gakkai: Japan's Militant Budd-
hists, p. 102. -According to Brannen, Daisaku Ikeda, the
present president of Soka Gakkai, has also appealed to
members to "speak and act with common sense." Ikeda has
"reprimanded them for making obscene gestures when passing
before Shinto shrines and temples of other denominations

. . . And he has forbidden shakubuku activity on the job
and frowned upon the practice of staying at a neighbor's
house until the early morning hours trying to win a con-
vert” {Brannen, Soka Gakkai: Japan's Militant Buddhists,
p. 103 .

 

105

cities. The postwar develOpment of mass communication
media has prompted the expression of individual inter-
ests and, in the course of time, the so—called 'non-
religious' people appeared Openly in cities, having
been released from the control of the established
religion Of the ie38 which forced belief and member-
ship on them.39 _—

It was this sociological phenomenon which made the unprece-
dented growth of Soka Gakkai possible.
New Leadership for a New Era:

Value Creating Pedagogy
Resurrected

 

The central theme of the postwar movement under
Toda's leadership may be symbolized by the phenomenon of
shakubuku. Emphasis during this period was on the mystical
and the metaphysical elements of Nichiren Shoshu, on the
winning of converts to strengthen the movement, on com-
municating an absolutistic message and promise of salvation
which the uprooted masses of Japanese society yearned to
hear. Although in setting the movement in this direction
Toda was only continuing trends and emphases which had
begun under Makiguchi, the intensity and depth commitment
to this direction which came to characterize Soka Gakkai

during its first decade-and-a-half following the

 

38The extended family of traditional Japanese
society, literally the word means "house."

39Fujio Ikado, "Trend and Problems of New Religions:
Religion in Urban Society," in Kiyomi Morioka and William
H. Newell, The Sociology of Japanese Religion (Leiden:
E. J. Brill, 1968), p.7104.

106

war clearly reveals the imprint of Toda‘s personality. The
implications of the convergence at a given point in time of
Toda's leadership skill in the use of ideology and organi-
zation with a specific psychological and sociological
crisis in Japanese society has been referred to in the
preceding section.40
With the assumption of the leadership of the organ-
ization in 1960 by Daisaku Ikeda, Toda's chief disciple, a
decided shift in emphasis occurred and a new dimension was
added to the organization. There were numerous aspects of
this shift in emphasis but in essence it may be described
as a return to or a resurrection of the central elements of
Makiguchi's philosophy of value and his value creating
pedagogy. It should be clear that Ikeda in no way retreated

from or de-emphasized any of the elements which had char-

acterized the organization under Toda's leadership. He

 

4oLane suggests that the rise of social movements

can be explained in terms of the interrelatedness of four
major variables. These are leadership, ideology, organiza-
tion, and what he calls structural antecedents. By struc-
tural antecedents he means some additive or cumulative pro-
cess whereby multiple factors and multiple increments build
up to a point at which the potential for the emergence of a
social movement becomes high. At this point some precipi-
tating factor may add the increment which makes the appear-
ance of a social movement highly probable, whereas such a
development would not have been probable or even possible
at some earlier date. See Skelton T. Lane, Sogial Move-
ments and Social Change: The Soka Gakkai of Japan (Ph.D.
dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1968), P.
87. Lane believes his analysis applies particularly to the
Soka Gakkai during the immediate postwar period.

107

continued to emphasize shakubuku both as a conversion
method and as a way of life, although with some modifica-
tions; he reaffirmed the importance of repetition of the
sacred prayer of Nichiren Shoshu and the worship of the
sect's sacred object, the mandala.41 But along side these
mystical and doctrinal elements which had become integral
aspects of the organization during Toda's administration,
Ikeda added, or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say

strengthened, a secular dimension of the organization.42

 

41The importance of this worship Object in Nichiren

Shoshu doctrine and in the everyday worship life of Soka

Gakkai members is very ably discussed by Murata, Japan's
New Buddhism, pp. 51-52.

42For purposes of expediency, or perhaps even on

the basis of faith and belief, Ikeda attributes the par-
ticular tie between the sacred and the secular within
Nichiren Shoshu Soka Gakkai to Buddhism. This relationship
is described in the religious terminology of the organiza-
tion as Obutsu Myogp, which means the ideal combination of
politics and religion. At a staff conference of the Youth

Division in 1965 Ikeda sought to clarify the concept as
follows:

The Sokagakkai is a religious organization and the
Komeito, a political party. These are the different
names of the same organization whose members believe in
the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin and aim at the
achievement of Obutsu Myogo. As far as a man is con-
cerned, he is a member of the Komeito in the political
field, in religious field a member of the Sokagakkai,
and in society he could be a company employee, a stu-
dent or a doctor. Thus, man's life and his activity
are always one . . .

In the light of the life—philosophy and actual proofs
of well over 10 million members, it is obvious that
individual happiness cannot be established without the
True Buddhism. Without individual happiness, there can
be no prosperity of society. Millions of people cannot

108

The importance which Ikeda attached to this secular dimen-
sion became evident one year after he assumed the presi-
dency when, on May 3, 1961, he announced the reorganization
of the Culture Department to become the Culture Bureau,
'incorporating newly created Departments of Economics,
Politics, Education, and Speech, and, later, a Department

of Art.43

All of these Departments have played significant
roles in the life of the organization during the ten-year
period since the establishment of the Culture Bureau.

Taken together the Departments of the Culture Bureau repre-
sent a major new dimension within the new religious move-

ments of Japanese society, a dimension which places Soka

Gakkai in a separate class from the other new religions.

 

build a happy society, if they themselves are unhappy.
On the contrary, without social prosperity, there can

be no individual happiness. It is politics that brings
prosperity to society. Accordingly, Sokagakkai's
practices which leads [sic] each individual to happi-
ness should never be separated from the Komeito's polit-
ical movements which bring prosperity to society. This
axiomatic principle is the idea of Obutsu Mypgo (Daisaku
Ikeda, Complete Works, English trans., Vol. I‘TTokyo:
Seikyo Press, 1968), p. 195).

 

But while Ikeda and Soka Gakkai leaders discuss the goals of
the organization in the doctrinal terminology Of Buddhism,
the means whereby these goals are being sought are those of
Makiguchi's educational pragmatism. Satoshi Ikeda observedr
during the writer's interview with him in July, 1959, that
Makiguchi's educational ideas have led to a revolutionary
transformation in Japanese Buddhism. This transformation
has been brought about by the fusion of generalized con-
cepts of traditional Buddhism with the pragmatic educational
theory and practice of Makiguchi's value creating pedagogy.

43Murata, Japan's New Buddhism, p. 125.

‘-

my;

{I V
”‘4‘:
0

‘AJ
ll)

'9.

L;

\An
IV”

'1.
Jim.

"I .
~11;

109

As McFarland notes, with the exception of Soka Gakkai, none
of the new religions has sought to set up organizational
machinery for a sustained and purposeful involvement in the
secular life of Japanese society.44

It is the writer's conclusion that much of the
philOSOphical rationale for this secular emphasis as well
as the pedagogical means for implementing it has grown out
of Ikeda's study of Makiguchi's work. Study and analysis
of Makiguchi's and Ikeda's writings reveal in both a central
concern for the welfare of the individual in a mass society.
Out of this concern for the individual person there emerges
in both Makiguchi and Ikeda a common model for social refOrm
which sees education as the key factor in the reform pro-
cess. Since Makiguchi's philoSOphical and pedagogical ideas
have been discussed at length in Chapter IV, this model is
discussed in the paragraphs which follow on the basis of
Ikeda's writings.

The individual as a separate, isolated unit in the
midst of the mass is utterly powerless, Ikeda holds. In
this powerless condition he is constantly the victim of un—
scrupulous individuals and pressure groups who exploit him

45

in their own interests. Ikeda believes that three things

are essential if the individual is to be freed and nourished

 

44McFarland, Rush Hour of the Gods, p. 232.

45Ikeda, Complete Works, pp. 98, 108—110.

I!

110

rather than destroyed by modern mass society. First of
all, it is essential that each individual attain a high
degree of political consciousness undergirded by depth
understanding of social structures and processes. Each
such "politically conscious" and "awakened" person must
then accept responsibility for keeping constant surveil-
lance on the political process and the use of power in the
society. "If true democratic politics is to be develOped,"
Ikeda writes, "it is necessary first to clarify the actual
conditions of our present-day politics to the public and
then to raise the political consciousness of each citizen.
Then, an eye to watch politics will be cultivated and the
bud of true democracy will emerge."46
Ikeda's belief that the possibility of true democ-
racy exists only if citizens are enlightened and alert is
stated even more strongly in the following paragraphs from
a discussion concerning problems of modern politics:
One cannot call it an age of democracy unless the
people, outside of election periods, keep a constant
surveillance on politics, and the people's will is
always reflected in politics . . .
If people elect representatives who aim at protecting
only certain groups who have common interests with
their own, or if the former expect such of the latter,
confused politics will ensue and harm the entire
society, hindering its constructive advance. Accord-

ingly, the masses should not only demand their rights
but be awakened to their duty and responsibility in

 

46Ibid., p. 5.

111

society. Only then can an ideal form of democracy be
established . . .

These facts show that the premise Of a democratic gov-
ernment is above anything else the self-awakening of
the peOple. They are required to have their own asser-
tions, at the same time listen with reason and modesty
to Opposing opinions, and yet put into practice the
merits of the both . . .

If peOple lack reasonable persuasion and criticism,
utilizing the violence of the majority, they are de—
stroying democracy with their own hands. The conflict
between the majority, who in disregard of reason trust
in numbers, and the minority, who Oppose with violence,
will result in nothing but the debasement of the demo-
cratic spirit. In this case democracy turns into
mobocracy.

Thus the position of the masses in support of democracy
is very important. They are required to have a spirit
of independence, public sense, patriotic mind and
leniency, but what is most desired of them, however, is
to acquire a high education and sound knowledge, plus
social morality. Whether politics improves or degrades
naturally depends on whether politicians are superior
or inferior. However, it is not too much to say that
politics at the same time depends on the masses' in-
tellect, culture and moral sense. They are requested
to fight resolutely against false ideas or government.
Namely, the masses should be self-established poli-
ticians.

From ignorance, blindness and irresponsibility, only
confusion, corruption and disorder will be born. To
blindly follow others' opinions without any conscious-
ness or critical faculty or use public rights owing to
personal courtesy, to follow senselessly in response
to others' movements, to be agitated by irresponsible
leaders--all these lead to destruction of democracy.

One of the key elements in Ikeda's model for reform, then,
as in Makiguchi's, is the alert, informed, and responsible
citizen or, in Ikeda's words, the "self-established poli-

tician." The development of such politically conscious and

 

471bid., pp. 113-114.

112

socially responsible individuals is one of the primary
tasks of education in the Soka Gakkai system under Ikeda's
guidance.
The need for the development of such persons in

Japan is urgent, Ikeda believes, because of the degradation
and corruption of Japanese political life. When one Ob-
serves the condition Of Japanese political life, he con-
tends, it is easy to see how vain and empty the politicians
are. Japan has, Ikeda insists, simply replaced the prewar
military clique with inconsistent, corrupt, power—hungry
politicians whose concerns center more in their own rather
than the people's interests:

A political party in Japan is nothing but a group of

political factions . . . Cabinet posts are distributed

among factions of the ruling party. The principle of

putting the right man in the right place has never
existed.

Cabinet posts are coveted by Dietmen to satisfy their
desire for personal fame and power. Factional leaders
struggle with one another for personal posts to be
divided among their men. They cannot afford to concen-
trate their attention on solving the peOple's suffer-
ings.
The Japanese politician is just like a feudal lord, Ikeda
concludes, and democracy exists in modern Japan in name only.
Thus, in addition to enlightened and alert citizens,
Japanese politics also needs a new breed of politician. We
are awaiting, Ikeda writes, "the appearance Of fresh re-

liable politicians who have undergone the human revolution

 

48Ibid., p. 5.

113

and can fully satisfy the desires of the masses."49 These
new politicians will be concerned with the "rich human
possibilities" of individual citizens and will base all
social reforms on the premise that human society can so
order itself that these human possibilities may be realized
for every individual. What Japan needs, Ikeda continues,
is a political party dedicated to the needs and welfare of
the masses. Since none of the present parties in Japan,
whether conservative or reformist, fill this need, Soka
Gakkai has given birth to Komeito or the Clean Government
Party, which is designed to be a party for the masses:

These reformist parties, even though they promise to
represent the working class, are in actuality nothing
other than the agents of "working nobles." They are
parties for the assembly sent from labor unions, or in
other words, organizations for "working nobles" or
labor agitators who aim merely at their own advancement
in life. Accordingly, even reformist parties exist for
but a part of the peOple. They are degraded into
parties which agitate a small number of people under
the name of class struggle. These parties are sup-
ported by as few people as the conservative party is.
They are mere representatives of working nobles who are
only a small percentage of the entire population.

Judging from these facts, both the conservative and re-
formist parties are mouthpieces of minority pressure
groups, or rather are the means for assisting certain
pressure groups. In Japan, there are many unorganized
workers in small and medium enterprises who are left
untouched by politics. Still more people below those

levels are utterly ignored by all of the existing
parties.

A political system which is truly desired for a mass
society is one which will fill all the demands of the

 

49Ibid., p. 7.

114

mass. In this connection, the existing parties who
contribute merely to certain pressure groups are all
disqualified. In order to respond to public demand,
they should be the parties comprising all the mass, and
be firmly rooted in the complicated mass. Unless a
party does truly stand on the mass, the deadlock of
modern society cannot be resolved, and we can say that
a party which is based in the masses is the new party
which can powerfully promote the policies of public
welfare.50

Ikeda invites the people to scrutinize Komeito and he
pledges that he will do the same:

Please watch Komeito activities for ten to twenty years

to come. I will watch over them as their supporter.

At the same time, I am determined to watch all members

of the Diet including Komeito members, for any corrup-

tion and to take them to task, if they are involved in

corruption.51

The second element in Ikeda's model for social

reform is that of providing the means whereby the power of
the individual can be multiplied through organized COOpera-
tion with other individuals. Power must not be shunned,
therefore, but actively sought so that it may be used to
increase the prosperity and well-being Of the entire
society. This aspect of Ikeda's thought is expressed in‘
such observations as the following:

. . . we believe that democracy should be clearly dis-

tinguished from mobocracy. The ideal of democracy can-

not be attained unless each individual attains a high

political consciousness and makes himself a humanist.

In other words, democracy should not be mobocracy. In-

stead, it should be the government of the wise or the
union of wise peOple.52

 

50 51

Ibid., pp. 109-110. Ibid., p. 12.

521bid., p. 83.

115

The mass, separated into individuals, is utterly power-
less . . . When each is organized into an organization
comprising a part of its structure, a great power is
displayed. The larger the organization, the greater
the role each person plays in it.53
Thus the central issue is power and the use of power:

. . . it is a mistake to consider power as merely evil;
therefore, dislike it with no reason. Rather, we must

first discuss how power should be used to realize pub-

lic welfare and then watch over and engage in the exer-
cising of power.

The major element in the Culture Bureau which Ikeda
created in 1961 was the Political Department. "In retro—
spect," Murata points out, "it is evident that the creation
of the Culture Bureau, with its Political Department, was
the first step toward Soka Gakkai's full-fledged partici-
pation in the nation's politics."55 One Of the central
implications of Soka Gakkai, both for its individual members
and for the society of which it is a part, lies in its
determination to meet the powerlessness of the individual
in modern life and to influence the exercising of power in

Japanese society. This element of Soka Gakkai was present,

in embryonic form, in Makiguchi's work and thought;56 it was

 

53Ihid., p. 98. 54Ibid., p. 83.

5Murata, Japan's New Buddhism, p. 125.

56Admittedly, this element came late in Makiguchi's

'thinking; one does not find it in his writings as such.
IRather, it may be inferred from his participation in the
initial organization of Soka Kyoiku Gakkai in 1930, and
eSpecially in the group oriented nature of his activities
from the mid 1930's until his arrest in 1943.

116

present during Toda's presidency, as a goal, a reality
which must be dealt with, but without systematic and organ-
izational expression;57 it has become a major focus of Soka
Gakkai concern and activity during the ten years of Ikeda's
leadership. If one fails to take this element of Soka
Gakkai into account, i.e., the intentional mobilization of
personal and organizational resources in order to influence
and effect change in the exercising of power in Japanese
society, it is impossible to understand the organization.
This is precisely the mistake which some observers of Soka

58

Gakkai have made. It is not a question of whether a per-

son approves or disapproves of this kind of exercise Of
power upon the part of a religious organization. The

reality is that this is what Soka Gakkai seeks to do.59

 

S7Satoshi Ikeda credits Toda with having made the

following statement upon one occasion: "Someday we have to
fight with elections. So far we have prayed and engaged in
shakubuku and felt that our faith was complete. This, with-
out doubt, is basic. But the time will come when this will
not be enough. To say 'I like politics' or 'I don't like

politics' is irrelevant . . . In view of the state of our

country we have no choice but to step out in political life.

. . . (Ikeda, Makiguchi Tsunesaburo, p. 206).

58A reporter for Newsweek, for example, wrote the
following: "But what is Soka Gakkai? In its brief 33-year
history, the sect has shifted doctrines so often that the
only sure thing about it, aside from the lotus chant, is the
sheer fact of its existence . . . But if the past is any
guide, there is no telling what position the followers of
the lqtus sutra will take next" (Newsweek, January 19, 1970,
p. 46 .

59Soka Gakkai leaders are quick to insist that this
does not mean religious control of the state, however. They

117

Soka Gakkai, under Ikeda's leadership, by building on the
spirit and further develOping the implications of
Makiguchi's educational philOSOphy and pedagogy, is creating
new social structures which give promise Of radically alter-
ing interrelationships between education, religion, poli-
tics, and society in Japan.

The third element in Ikeda's model for social reform
is the most basic and the one on which the other two ele—
ments depend for their meaning. It is the prOposition that
society must be so ordered as to provide for the maximum
growth and development of every individual in the society.
Phrased in Soka Gakkai's terminology it means that the de-
velOpment of persons capable of creating value and the pro-

viding of opportunity for such persons to give expression

 

are not, they contend, advocating saisei—itchi or the unity
of church and state. "Obutsu Myogo is not the "Unity of
Church and State." In the past there were abominable rela-
tions between religion and politics. In medieval Christi-
anity, religious authorities ruled politics, or political
power utilized religion . . . This should not be confused
with Obutsu Myogo. If a religion is forced on the masses
by the Government or by law, of what use will it be? It
means the impotence of the religion, its isolation from the
masses, and the loss of its eternity." See Daisaku Ikeda,
Complete Works, p. 11.

Elsewhere Ikeda argues that saisei-itchi "is an
ancient form of government in which one and the same person
is in charge of both religious rites and politics. If this
primitive form of theocracy were to be realized by the Soka
Gakkai, we would have to entreat the High Priest of
Nichiren Shoshu to become prime minister." Ibid., p. 131.
But such assurances notwithstanding, some Observers both in
Japan and in other countries continue to be skeptical of
Soka Gakkai on this point.

 

 

118

to their creativity are central Objectives of the organi-
zation. For Soka Gakkai this is more than window dressing.
Soka Gakkai, Ikeda claims, is committed and dedicated to

the improvement and change Of society in the interests of
all of society's members, rather than in the interests of

a specific class or group. One all-important criterion
must guide every aspect of social planning and political
action, Ikeda insists. That is the question of how any

plan or action will affect the individual members of soci-
ety. All social plans and every political action must be
subjected to the test of the extent to which they contribute
toward the end of enabling every member of society to become
fulfilled, value creating persons.

This brings one back to a central theme in
Makiguchi's thought, that of the dual personal-social nature
of man, and the need for a harmonious balance within every
person's life between the pursuit of values of personal
gain and the pursuit of values of social good. One cannot,
in other words, be a complete, happy, value creating person
by himself. Only as he senses his interconnection with
other persons in a social matrix and seeks to create values
which will bring about the fulfillment and happiness of
these other lives as well as his own, is happiness or ful-
fillment possible for him. This basic View of Makiguchi's
is expressed by Ikeda and Soka Gakkai today as the goal to

seek social salvation and prOSperity through the attainment

of each individual's happiness.

119

Priority should be given to Man's right to live, and
the respect for humanity should be placed above all.
The ideal public welfare which aims at "social pros-
perity in accordance with individual happiness," should
be the goal of politics.60

However, Ikeda continues:

The actual situation is far from ideal. Rather, it is

common that social prosperity is separated from indi-

vidual happiness. To bring about a change in this

situation presents the greatest problem Of our present-

day politics.61

Like Makiguchi prior to his preoccupation with

religious concerns, Ikeda sees education as the single most
important factor in changing the present reality. Value
creating persons dedicated to the task of ordering society
in such a way as to attain both "social prosperity and in-
dividual happiness" do not just spring up automatically.
They have to be given birth by educational systems which
have as their central goal individual and social value
creativity. Toward this end Makiguchi developed his value
creating pedagogy. Toward this end, too, Ikeda has moved
consistently since assuming the presidency of Soka Gakkai
to implement the principles of value creating pedagogy.
His latest effort in this regard has been in the establish-

ment of formal educational institutions. Soka High School

was Opened with the enrollment of seventh and tenth grade

 

60Ibid., p. 84.

6lIbid., p. 89.

120

classes on April 8, 1968.62 Soka University enrolled its

first classes in April, 1971. The Japan Times described

 

the new university in the following way in its issue for

May 28, 1971:

The Sokagakkai, one of the most influential religious
organizations in Japan for the past several decades, has
now launched a new venture in the field of education.
Soka University, an institution that may well be set-
ting a new trend for the educational system of Japan,
started classes last April near Hachioji City some 30
miles west of Tokyo . . .

At present about 700 students, of which over 100 are
coeds, are attending the new university . . . student
enrollment will be increased to 8,000 in the near
future.

The student-faculty ratio at the university is presently
5 to l but the ratio will be stabilized to around 15 to
1 for maximum results. This is almost unheard of in
present Japanese universities.

The university includes a complete dormitory system for
faculties and the university staff members as well as
all students. This is to foster a closer relationship
between students and faculty as well as to help students
develOp self-reliance and autonomy and to encourage
them to experience COOperative group life . . .

The idea of Soka University was proposed by Daisaku
Ikeda, president of Sokagakkai, at the 7th general
meeting of the organization's student division. Ikeda
was dissatisfied with the present educational system of
mass education and decided to set up a school which puts
more emphasis on personal relations between faculty and
students, combined with the best modern facilities
available.

The late Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, first president of
Sokagakkai, established the unique Soka Educational
Theory upon whose basic tenets lies the educational

 

62For an excellent description and discussion of

the Soka High School see Carl H. Gross, Sokagakkai and Edu-
cation (East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University,
institute for International Studies, 1970): PP. 56-63.

 

121

foundation of the university. His principle—-"Educa-
tion should aim at creating values in one's character."

Kazuo Takamatsu, president of the university, announced
the motto which reflects Makiguchi's as well as Ikeda's
philOSOphy: The highest institution of human education,

the cradle of a new culture and the fortress of peace
for mankind.53

Ikeda indicated his views as to the need for and importance

of Soka University in an address to the Blst General Meet-

ing of Soka Gakkai in 1968:

Needless to say, education is the mast important under—
taking which will determine the future Of Japan and the
trend of the world. Thus far, however, politicians and
leaders of our country have been all too indifferent to
this problem. Not only that, there seem to be signs of
intensified intervention in various ways with an ulte-
rior motive of exploiting education as a tool of polit-
ical struggle. If things are left as they are, I am
gravely worried that university education will inevi-

tably lose its dignity further and become confused and
enervated. '

In the circumstances, I cannot help but be convinced
that it is our Sokagakkai living in the tradition of
deep thought and practice, formed by our founder presi-
dent T. Makiguchi and former president J. Toda-~and our
creation Soka University--which has the true qualifi-
cations and mission to translate the ideal form of edu—
cation into reality and correct the stance of the edu-
cation circles drastically. In particular, the uni-
versity must be the mother of a nation's culture and the
crystallization of a nation's spiritual culture.64

It is too early at this point to attempt to assess
the long-range outcome of Soka Gakkai's efforts. There

should be no misunderstanding, however, as to what those

 

63The Japan Times, May 28, 1971, p. 10.

4Daisaku Ikeda, "Youth Let's Advance Toward a New
Day," address given by President Ikeda at the Blst General
Meeting of the Soka Gakkai, May 3, 1968, pp. 6-8.

122

efforts consist of. Soka Gakkai, as suggested earlier, has
set out to permanently rearrange the power balance and in-
fluence the exercising of power in Japanese society. The
restructuring Of formal education in accordance with the
principles of Makiguchi's value creating pedagogy is seen
as a necessary and basic step toward the achievement of the
organization's Objectives. Murata has insightfully ob—
served that today, forty years after Makiguchi's own at-
tempts to reform Japanese education ended in failure, Soka
Gakkai "has an opportunity to put the late founder's edu-

cational theory into practice on a grand scale."65

 

65Murata, Japan's New Buddhism, p. 76.

 

CHAPTER VI

AN APPROACH TO AN INTERPRETATION OF THE MAN

AND THE MOVEMENT

A Frame of Reference

Any attempt to assess the contribution to society
and culture of an individual or movement, if the assessment
is to be meaningful beyond the particular case, must neces-
sarily include some theoretical frame of reference with
regard to social behavior and interaction within which the
life and behavior of the individual or movement can be
understood and interpreted. This is not to say that the
historian must be an anthropologist or sociologist. As an
historian he is concerned with the analysis of the actions
of a particular person or set of events or processes. As
an historian he must remain close to the "actual happenings
and avoid statements which, though linking behavior at one
time or place to that elsewhere, lead to a distortion in
the description of what occurred in the set of circumstances
1

being analyzed."

The anthropologist and the sociologist, on the

other hand, look for concepts which subsume a variety of

 

1Seymour M. Lipset, Revolution and Counterrevolu-

tion (New York: Basic Books, 1968), p. 6.
123

124

particular descriptive categories. The use of such con-
cepts and insights offers the historian sets of categories
and frames of reference with which to order historical
materials and which may enhance the power of his interpre-
tative or causal explanation.2 By the same token, if his-
torians can profit from contributions of anthrOpOlogists
and sociologists, these latter have come to recognize the
value of historical evidence in their own research. This
recognition has within the past decade led to the re—
emergence of historical and comparative studies within the
fields of anthropology and sociology as valid and valued
areas of inquiry. The prospects appear good, therefore,
for the development of fruitful COOperation between his—
torians on the one hand and anthrOpOlogists and sociologists
on the other. The historian can contribute to such inter—
disciplinary endeavor by utilizing anthropological and
sociological concepts in the ordering and conducting of his
research and by reporting his findings in such a way that
they will be usable and available for comparative study by
social scientists.

A theory of social and cultural change formulated
by an anthrOpOlogist, Anthony F. C. Wallace, was selected
by the writer as a theoretical frame of reference for the

present study of Makiguchi and the Soka Gakkai movement.

 

2Ibid.

125

Wallace's theory is particularly relevant for this purpose
because both education and revolutionary movements such as
Soka Gakkai are treated as major conceptual variables.
Wallace holds that study and analysis of the learning pro-
cess in any human society may be approached with a two-
dimensional model. The first dimension concerns the circum-
stances in which the learning process occurs. He arranges
the circumstances of human learning in the form of a scale
of generality, each category of which is contained in and
implied by its succeeding category. Schooling, his initial
category, is followed by education, enculturation, and
finally learning itself. Schooling is learning done in a
school. A school is defined as
an institution which deliberately and systematically,
by the presentation of symbols in reading matter, lec-
tures, or ritual, attempts to transform from a condition
of ignorance to one of enlightenment, the intellect, the
morality, and the technical knowledge and skills of an
attentive group of persons assembled in a definite place
at a definite time.
Education is "all learning (including but not confined to
schooling) obtained from reading or from listening to for-
mally prepared symbolic presentations."4 Enculturation is
all learning enjoined on the person with a particular

status as a member of a particular culture-bearing
society, and thus includes, in addition to schooling

 

3Wallace, "Schools in Revolutionary and Conservative
Societies," p. 29.

4Ibid.

126

. and education, such homely but essential skills as
knowing a language or two; observing the proper times,
places, and techniques for the execution of such mal-
leable body processes as urination, defecation,
breathing, walking, eating, sleeping, and sexual inter-

ourse . . .5

Learning is the cover term and embraces "all of the fore-
going, and also those idiosyncratic learnings which every

person accumulates throughout his lifetime and which may or

may not be transmitted to others."6

The second dimension of Wallace's model classifies
learning by matter rather than by position on a scale of
circumstances. Thus, according to Wallace, in any situation
of learning, three matters may be learned. These are
matters of technic, of morality, and of intellect. Technic
is "how to" learning by reinforcement:

It includes such things as learning how to talk, how to
extract the square root of a number, how to dance, how
to harpoon a walrus . . . How to identify a witch, how
to get to heaven. From this standpoint, even the rote
learning of information-~dates, names, events, formulas,
art work, institutional structures, store, prices,
fashions, and the like--is "how to" learning, for the
motive lies not in the acquisition of the information
but in the use to which it may be put . . . And even
values--such as standards Of beauty, tastes in music,
concepts of the good life--may be learned, both by rote,
as when one learns first the symbols for the rewarded
values, and-later, by performing the act that earns the
reward.

Morality, on the other hand, deals not so much with "how to"
as with "what." Furthermore, in Wallace's usage, morality

concerns

 

51bid. 6Ibid., pp. 29-30.

 

7Ibid., p. 31.

127

not just positive and negative goals, not just values,
not even all socially approved values, but one par-
ticular kind of socially approved value. This kind of
value is the conception that one's own behavior, as
well as the behavior of others, should not merely take
into consideration the attitude of the community, but
should actively advance, or at least not retard, its
welfare. Morality is thus to be sharply distinguished
from mere prOpriety, conformity, and respectability,
although it is not necessarily non-conformist. Morality,
in this sense, is most conspicuously exemplified by
such heroic actions as the soldier's who throws himself

on a hand grenade in order to smother the blast and save
his buddies . . .

. . . it is, to my way of thinking, questionable whether
this kind of morality can be adequately explained by any
simple learning-by-reinforcement model. Although
morality is not necessarily accompanied by sacrifice,

in any particular case its criterion is its potentiality
for sacrifice. And sacrifice seems to fly in the face
of the law of effect. Indeed, the American academic
psychologist is apt to deny that moral behavior in this
sense can exist in a sane person . . . Yet anyone who
has observed men in combat, who has seen the religious
or the political devotee in action, who has watched a
family holding together in adversity, must realize that
morally altruistic behavior is possible. And it is

hard to escape the inference that such persons, on such
occasions, have not learned to sacrifice their own
interests in favor of their conception of the interests
of other persons merely by passing through some adroitly
arranged sequence of Skinner boxes.

Intellect is not the same as intelligence, nor is

it intellectualism. Rather, intellect, in Wallace's usage,

refers to a social tradition, an aspect of culture, the

core of which involves the proposition that if a subject is

worthy of consideration at all, it should be considered in

a particular cognitive form. Wallace seems to be referring

here to principles of critical thinking or what in John

 

8Ibid.. pp. 31-32.

128

Dewey's terminOlogy would be the scientific method or
problem solving approach to learning. The utility of in-
tellect, Wallace writes,

springs from the fact that it is the only truly uni-
versal tool, capable of maintaining and restoring

human arrangements against the erosions of time, capable
of recognizing and solving new problems as well as
learning the answers to old ones. And it does this in-
tensely human task by requiring its users to practice
what is sometimes, and paradoxically, described as an
inhuman detachment from the technics and morality of

the moment.9

Wallace suggests the following diagram to represent
the divisions of learning discussed thus far, i.e., the
three matters of learning and the scale of the circumstances

Of learning:

 

tech ic

 

Figure l. The Divisions of Learning10

 

91bid., p. 37.

1Orbid.

 

129

The key educational issue which faces the people of
every society is concerned with the question: What should
a man learn? Societies differ in their answer to this
question; and these differences, Wallace theorizes, can be
related to the particular value orientation of a society.
While the values which guide a society in its choices of
what learnings to impress on the individual are legion, and
while these may be described on many levels of complexity,
Wallace suggests that any society can be explained and
understood with reference to one or a combination of three
contrasting value orientations. These are the revolution-
ary, or utOpian, orientation; the conservative, or ideo-
logical, orientation; and the reactionary orientation. What
a man is expected to do in his life will, in part, depend on
whether he lives in a revolutionary, conservative, or
reactionary society. And what he is expected to do
determines what he is expected to learn. Furthermore,
not merely what a man should learn, but whether he
should learn it in a school, or from his parents, or
from his peers, or by casual reading, conversation, and
attendance at entertainments, will be in part determined
by whether he lives in a revolutionary or a conservative
or a reactionary society.
While in reality no society could be wholly one or
another of these three types, it seems reasonable to con-
sider one value orientation or another predominant in a

given group, such as the political, economic, or religious

leadership of a society, during a stated period. This

 

llIbid., pp. 38—39.

130

tripartite classification may be used also for the different
time periods in the same society. Wallace believes that we
may expect these orientations will change in a definite
order. Thus, "a society which is now revolutionary will,

if it changes, become conservative, next reactionary, and
again most probably revolutionary."12 What Wallace is sug-
gesting here, then, is that over centuries and millenia any
given society "is apt to follow a roughly cyclical path
through revolution, conservatism, and reaction, over and

over again."13

The specific conceptual tool used by
Wallace to study this phenomena is what he defines as a
"revitalization movement."

Wallace's general theory may be summarized by noting
that with regard to any one society, we may expect to find
that both the content and the circumstances of learning will
vary with the varying predominance of its value orientation.
More specifically, it would appear "that with each of the
major value orientations there is associated a philosophy
of schooling which characteristically assigns priorities to

the matters of learning in schools."14

 

12Ibid., p. 40.

13Ibid.

14Ibid.

131

Revitalization Movements, Educa-
tiOnal Priorities, and Value
OrientatiOns

 

Analysis of the association between these priori-
ties and the value orientations represents the major thrust
of Wallace's theoretical formulation. A revolutionary
society, thus, is a sOciety which is dominated by a revital—.
ization movement. A revitalization movement is defined as
"a deliberate, organized, conscious effort by members of a
society to construct a more satisfying culture."15 A re-
vitalization movement may in the extreme be either religious
or political but is usually a combination of both. The code
of a revitalization movement "defines the previous state of
society as inadequate, perverse, even evil, and depicts a
more or less utOpian image of the better society as the goal
culture toward which the ad hpg_and temporary social ar- 1
rangements of the present transfer culture is carrying the
society."16

A revitalization movement generally has six tasks
to perform or six stages which it must pass through in
order to create a truly revolutionary society. These are
as follows:

Formulation of the code. Mere dissatisfaction with the

existing state of affairs does not launch a revitali-
zation movement. A prOphet, political party, or clique

 

l51bid.

16Wallace, "Schools in Revolutionary and Conserva-

tive Societiesl'p. 41.

132

must formulate explicitly the nature of the existing
culture's deficiencies, the nature of a desirable goal
culture, and the nature and mode of Operation of the
transfer culture. This formulation must be more than
an exercise of intellect; it must be passionately moral.

Communication. The formulator must preach his code to
other people. This communication mast emphasize the
moral Obligation of the bearer to subscribe to this new
code and render service to the movement.

Organizatiop. The converts made by the formulator
organize into a hierarchical system, with a prophet or
other titular head, an elite group of disciples who
constitute an executive praesidium, and a rank and file
who carry out but do not make policy.

Adaptation. As the movement's challenge to the exist-
ing leadership of the society is met, by counter-
propaganda or by force, the movement will be required
to enlarge, modify, specify, and otherwise adapt the
code to the circumstances of survival. The process of
reformulation is continuous from this point on, for new
situations constantly arise not anticipated in the
code; and it lasts long after political victory is com-
plete. This process of doctrinal elaboration is a work
of disciplined intellect, and high value is accordingly
placed on intellect, which can perfarm such work
(whereas technic cannot).

Cultural transformation. When social power falls into
the hands of the movement (the revolution is 'won'), the
movement is able to carry out directly the cultural
transformation of the society. In this process,
morality and intellect are more valuable than technic,
for technic tends to be conservative, and intellect will
discern that a new technic will have to be invented to
meet new tasks.

Routinization. As the movement's immediate aims are
realized by the acquisition of power and the establish—
ment, if rot of the goal culture, at least of the
transfer culture, the organization of the movement peg
§§_tends to contract into the form of a church, or a
behind-the-scenes party, which attempts to maintain the
ongoing transfer culture. At this point the society
has become conservative, with a division of role be-

tween the executive and the morality-maintaining func-
tions.17

 

l7Ibid., pp. 41-42.

133

The main point to be noted with respect to schools
and schooling is that in a revolutionary society the primary
concern of the schools must be the moral transformation of
the population. Next in importance is intellect and last
is technic. "The reason for this priority list--mora1ity,
intellect, and technic--is that the moral rebirth of the
population and the develOpment of a cadre Of morally reliable
and intellectually resourceful individuals to take over
executive positions throughout the society is the immedi-
ately necessary task."18

A conservative society is a society which has won
its battle with reaction and has established a successful
new culture. The new culture, although it may be in some
cases only a transfer culture rather than the goal culture
itself, has become secure; thus the Old movement does not
need to preoccupy itself with combat against reaction or
against new revitalization movements. "The problem is to
keep the machine going as efficiently as possible, with
occasional improvements, and possibly with smoothly pro-
grammed shifts from one stage to another on the path toward
the goal culture."19 In contrast to the revolutionary
society, the conservative society is not primarily con-

cerned with morality. This is because the transformation

of the society is sufficiently complete for severe moral

 

18 19

Ibid., p. 43. Ibid., p. 44.

134

non-conformists to be treated as delinquents, criminals, or
victims of mental illness. "The reform, rehabilitation, or
control of these people can be safely left to the police,
the courts, or the medical profession, and (most impor~
tantly) to the informal sanctions of the family and the

community itself."20

It is even possible, Wallace observes,
for a conservative society to permit a degree Of Open non-
conformity. A conservative society is, he says, "para-
doxically, also a liberal society, precisely because the
elite is secure enough that it can afford to learn from its
critics and even absorb them into the ranks of conservatism
as a 'loyal Opposition.'"21
Intellect is valued least in a conservative society.
The work of code formulation and its application have been
accomplished; thus the skilled practitioner of intellect
is not necessary to the regime:
Intellect becomes a rather special tradition, relatively
free from constraint, but without access to power be-
cause, in a political sense, it has little power to
offer. Thus the schools see relatively little need to
force intellect even upon the intelligent. Intellect
becomes a career in itself, self-sought and guildé
protected, with the members of the guild practicing
partly for the fun of it and partly as professional men
selling their services to the highest bidder . . . 2
Technic, then, becomes the first concern of the

conservative society, and the primary concern of the school.

 

20 21

Ibid. Ibid., p. 45.

22Ibid.

135

The school, as C. Wright Mills has Observed with reference
to the United States, first of all trains peOple to do
jobs.23 Morality comes next in importance for it is con-
sidered, in a negative sort of way, to be necessary to keep
society from falling apart. Intellect is placed last.
While it may be respected, it tends also to be viewed with
suspicion and distrust.

The reactionary society is a post-conservative
society. The conservative order,

having been challenged by a budding revitalization
movement (i.e., by what it regards as a treasonable,
heretical conspiracy from abroad), adjusts its posture
to minimize the effectiveness of its competitors'
propaganda and to mobilize counter-attacks. In the
interest of preserving the same values that an earlier
revitalization movement established in pain and sweat,
and which the conservative society cherished and elabo-
rated, the reactionary society subverts its own way of
life in order to deliver telling blows against the
enemy within. In so doing it may destroy the very
social structure which it is defending; and it becomes,
because of the growing discrepancy between ideal and
practice, and because popular confidence in its values
begins to erode, rapidly moribund, an eminent subject
for revitalization. 4

In the area of learning, two concerns predominate in the
reactionary society. One is "to combat the alien heresies
by revealing the inadequacy of their values and the poverty

of their practice," and the other is "to recapture the moral

 

23C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1956), p. 317.

 

24Wallace, "Schools in Revolutionary and Conserva-
tive Societies," p. 47.

136

enthusiasm of its earlier, revitalization phase."25 In

other words, the reactionary society shares with the
revolutionary society a deep concern for morality, but for

different reasons. In the logic of revolution, Wallace

writes

morality and intellect are believed to be linked in a
pact with the future. Hence . . . the revolutionary
society will place intellect before technic in its
scale of priority: the cultivation of intellect be-
comes a kind of capital investment in peOple. In the
reactionary society, by contrast, intellect is feared
as a potential enemy because, in the preceding con-
servative phase, it has acted as endowed critic of the
conventional wisdom . . . Thus the reactionary society
will favor technic over intellect . . . The ultimate
consequence to a reactionary society of neglecting the
cultivation of intellect is collapse before the on-

slaught of a revitalization movement which is guided by
intellect.26

A comparison of value orientations and associated
priorities Of the matters of learning according to Wallace's

theory is shown in Figure 2.

MORALITY TECHNIC-i::><::::MORALITY ——-—-—-
X INTELLECT MORALITY TECHNIC x
TECHNIC INTELLECT -———-—-INTELLECT

 

 

Social
History
Revolutionary Conservative Reactionary
Phase Phase Phase
Figure 2. The Matters of Learning27
25Ibid., pp. 47-48. 26Ibid., pp. 48-49.
27

Ibid., p. 49.

137

Tsunesaburo Makiguchi: Prophet
offia Revitalizatibn Movement

Analysis of Makiguchi's life and thought within the
theoretical context provided by Wallace suggests that
Makiguchi was, in fact, a dynamic prophet of a significant
revitalization movement in Japanese society. Japanese
society during this period, roughly from 1890 to the begin-
ning of World War II, was, as pointed out in Chapter II,
experiencing a continuous battle for control between
revolutionary and reactionary forces. But while this bat~
tle continued to be waged, it was fought on very unequal
terms, for the reactionary elements had won the battle for
all intents and purposes in 1889 and 1890. The constitu-
tion of 1889 was the official declaration of the reactionary
success. The Imperial Rescript on Education of 1890 spelled
out the implications of that success for the Japanese school
system. In the scheme outlined in the Rescript morality was
of paramount importance, technic was second, and intellect
was last.

In the midst of this situation Makiguchi initiated
a new revitalization movement based, not on Western tech-
nical knowledge as had been the case with the earlier re-
vitalization movement which had carried off the Meiji
Restoration in 1868, but on educational principles, con—
cepts, and practices gleaned primarily from Western European
and American educational progmatism as expressed in the

works of John Dewey and Lester Ward. Makiguchi's movement

138

built slowly. For nearly half a century Makiguchi was a
voice in the wilderness, participating as an educator in
Japanese society but at the same time highly critical of
its values and particularly of its educational practices.
During this period Makiguchi worked at the formulation Of

a new cultural code, pin-pointing the inadequacies of
Japanese education and society as he saw them, hammering
out the dimensions of a goal culture, as well as the nature
and mode of Operation of a transfer culture.

Each of these three aspects of code formulation can .
be clearly seen in the discussion of Makiguchi's educational
philOSOphy and practice in Chapters IV and V. It will be
worth noting in more detail, however, certain aspects of his
approach to tte development and Operation of a transfer
culture. Wallace indicates that there are two variables in-
volved here: the amount of secular action which takes place
in a movement, and the amount of religious action:

Secular action is here defined as the manipulation of
human relationships; religious action as the manipula-
tion of relationships between human and supernatural
beings. NO revitalization movement can, by definition,
be truly nonsecular, but some can be relatively less
religious than others, and movements can change in
emphasis depending on changing circumstances. There is
a tendency . . . for movements to become more political
in emphasis, and to act through secular rather than

religious institutions, as problems of organizationé
adaptation, and routinization become more pressing.

 

28Wallace, "Revitalization Movements," p. 277.

Reproduced by permission of the American AnthrOpological

Association from the American AnthrOpOLogist, LVIII, NO. 2,
1956.

139

Makiguchi initially envisioned a purely secular movement.
His emphasis was on the manipulation of human relationships
through restructuring and substituting alternative methods
and values in the educational system. When his initial
efforts to deve10p a transfer culture based on this model
were throttled by the military-reactionary coalition which
got the upper hand in Japanese society in the 1930's,
Makiguchi, aided by religious ideas recently acquired
through his conversion to Nichiren Shoshu, shifted his
strategy to include a transfer culture based predominantly
on religious action. Viewed within this framework
Makiguchi's seeming turn-about from a strictly pragmatic
orientation to an absolutistic one and the religious fanat-
icism which characterized the final years of his life
appear more understandable.

The effect of Makiguchi's shift from secular to
religious means of attaining the goals of his movement was
to bring about a reordering of priorities of the matters of
learning in the movement itself. Initially, Makiguchi's
value creating pedagogy sought to reorder the priorities
of the matters of learning in Japan's reactionary society,
placing intellect first in importance, morality second,

and technic third.29 At the later stage in the life of the

 

29See for example, Makiguchi's Objectives in com-

munity study as outlined in Chapter IV, and his proposal
for a half day school plan.

140

movement and associated with the shift to religious action,
concern for morality and commitment became paramount;
intellect reverted to secondary importance, with technic
third. Thus, at this stage, Makiguchi's movement corre-
sponded to Wallace's ideal type revitalization movement in
a revolutionary society. The movement was just beginning
to enjoy success when its back was broken and its members
diSpersed by action of the government in the early 1940's.

The postwar movement which developed under Toda's
leadership continued the revolutionary characteristics of
the prewar movement; i.e., morality continued to be of
first importance, with intellect second and technic third.
A further most interesting phenomenon has become evident
since the leadership of the movement passed to Daisaku
Ikeda in 1960. While Ikeda has continued to place strong
emphasis on morality and moral training, he has proceeded
to attach increasing importance to the role of intellect in
the movement. In this respect he appears to be much more
like Makiguchi than was Toda.

This tendency of Ikeda's to elevate intellect to a
higher priority among the matters of learning raises some
interesting questions concerning revitalizations movements
and their role in cultural change. Wallace suggests, to
review briefly the central aspects of our theoretical
orientation, that there occur in human societies cyclical

processes of cultural change, the major phases of which are

141

revolution, conservatism, and reaction. A key factor in
these cyclical processes is the revitalization movement.
Thus, one can expect that the future of any given society
will inevitably hold within it this cyclical process, i.e.,
the coalescing of dissatisfied individuals in a society

into a revitalization movement (or movements), the striving
for and in some cases capturing of power by a revitalization
movement, the develOpment of a conservative society based
on the new code and value orientation of the revitalization
movement, the eventual develOpment of a reactionary move-
ment which comes into being to counter new revitalization
movements and to preserve the values of the conservative
society inherited from an earlier revitalization movement,
the eventual collapse of the reactionary movement before

the onslaught of a revitalization movement which is guided
by intellect, and thus the cycle repeats itself. While this
general theoretical formulation is extremely helpful in
analyzing cultural and social change, there are some ques-
tions which may be raised with regard to it. First of all,
the Obvious may be noted, that the theory is based on study
and analysis of past and presently existing societies.
Secondly, the theory seems to assume that human societies
inherently have a particular type of composition, i.e., a
ruling elite which dominates and exploits a poorly educated
mass which is susceptible to and receptive of the prOpaganda

disseminated by the elitegroup to justify its domination

142

of the society. The theory does not appear to grant the
possibility of a society without ruling elites and with
competent citizenry. Finally, the theory appears to limit
the possible range in the ordering of priorities to the
“three which have been found to correspond to the revolu-
tionary, the conservative, and the reactionary value orien-
tations. There would seem to be room for questioning some
of these assumptions.

What would be the consequences for instance, if a
revitalization movement, rather than following the usual
tendency of such movements to order priorities of the
matters of learning as morality, intellect, and technic,
were to hold intellect to be first in importance, morality
second, and technic third? Frankly, we do not know. While
such ordering has been proposed, we cannot point to any re-
vitalization movements which have succeeded on the basis
of this ordering of priorities. This was, in effect, as
noted above, the ordering of priorities in Makiguchi's
initial movement, based on his value creating pedagogy,
prior to the shift to religious action during the 1930's.
But more significantly, it appears to describe the present
ordering of priorities within the Soka Gakkai. There is no
mistaking the fact that under Ikeda's leadership the primary
concern for morality which characterized the Soka Gakkai
during Toda's regime has yielded to emphasis upon intellect.

While morality is still considered to be of critical impor-

 

tance, it is now secondary. (

143

The present ordering of priorities within Soka
Gakkai may have far-reaching significance. It should be
recognized, first of all, that this ordering of priorities
brings into being a new relationship between a revitalizaé
tion movement and the general population of the society in
which it was given birth. Note again what Wallace says
with respect to schools and schooling in a revolutionary
society:
. . . one inference is paramount: that in a revolu-
tionary society (i.e., a society in the process of
cultural transformation under the leadership of a re-
vitalization movement) the primary concern of schools
must be the moral transformation of the population.
Next in order Of priority will be intellect; and last
of all, technic (despite the Often critical need for
technically trained personnel to carry out the program
of the transfer culture). The reason for this priority
1ist--morality, intellect, technic-~13 that the moral
rebirth of the pOpulation and the develOpment of a
cadre of norally reliable and resourceful individuals
to take over executive positions throughout the society
is the imnediately necessary task.30
In the revolutionary society described by Wallace the move-
ment leadership sees the mass primarily as potential support
in the movement's effort to seize power and establish itself
in the society. In other words, the revolutionary revitali-
zation movement's interest in the individuals making up the
mass of the society's pOpulation stems from a desire for

converts, or to put it more crudely, for bodies. Little

concern or thoaght is given to the nature or characteristics

 

30Wallace, "Schools in Revolutionary and Conserva-

tive Societies," p. 43.

144

of those bodies so long as training in morality can make
loyal supporters of them for the movement's cause and so
long as training in intellect can enable them to suffi-
ciently comprehend the philosophical rationale of the move-
ment so they can be persuasive recruiters for it and so
some of them can become competent executers of its will.
The present writer submits that this relationship
between the revolutionary revitalization movement and the
mass of peOple in the society in which the movement is
Operating inevitably leads to the movement's downfall or,
to use Wallace's terminology, to its becoming conservative
if it succeeds as a revitalization movement. The important
thing to recognize here is the crucial role of formal edu-
cation and the ordering of its priorities. Thus, it is
being suggested that the cycles of revolution, conservatism,
and reaction, which Wallace rightly sees occurring, do not
occur because such a cyclical process is inherent within
human social interaction. It occurs, rather, as a result
of the almost universal tendency, up to now, for revitali-
zation movements to give first priority to morality. In
doing so, as Wallace notes, it links morality and intel-
lect in a pact with the future. The future, be it noted
however, refers not to the future of humanity nor to the

welfare of the society as a whole, but to the future of the

145

revitalization movement itself, i.e., the preservation of
the movement for the movement's sake.31
In contrast, the Soka Gakkai, in choosing to give
intellect top priority, may be pointing toward a more per-
manent solution to human problems. In effect, Soka Gakkai
seems to be saying that as important as training in morality
is, training in intellect is even more important. In the
revolutionary revitalization movement intellect is pressed
into the service of the movement. A marriage is consummated
between intellect and morality, as Wallace puts it, toward
the end of consolidating and establishing the movement's
morality. In Soka Gakkai, however, under Ikeda's leader-
ship, intellect is not pressed into the service of the
movement, but rather is aimed at transforming the quality
of mind of the entire population, equipping that population
to judge the movement and hold it accountable as well as its

competitors.32 Soka Gakkai may well be breaking Open new

 

31Interesting in this connection is John Gardner's

observation that revolutionaries very often prove to be more
rigid and uncreative than the forces they are Opposing. See
his book, Self-Renewal (New York: Harper and Row, 1963),

pp. 40-42. In the same vein Arthur Koestler writes: ". . .
if we survey history and compare the lofty aims, in the name
of which revolutions were started, and the sorry end to which
they came, we see again and again how a polluted civiliza-
tion pollutes its own revolutionary Offspring" (The God That
Failed (New York: Bantam Books, 1952), p. 13).

 

32Two references which deal either directly or in-

directly with the question Of intellect being given priority
over morality are worth noting at this point. One is Lester

146

frontiers in this respect. As indicated earlier, while

this ordering of priorities, i.e., intellect, morality,
{technic, has been advocated before,33 no revitalization
movement to date has taken the idea seriously enough to
commit itself to testing its validity.34 Yet a strong case
can be made for the need for such testing. Wallace himself,
for instance, raises questions about the inevitability of
the cyclical process of which he writes and suggests the

possibility of additional alternatives in the ordering of

priorities:

 

Ward's sociological theory and his concept of sociocracy
which, as noted earlier, was a significant influence in the
develOpment of Makiguchi's thought. Ward insisted that
education, which to him meant the "universal diffusion of
scientific knowledge," must underlie all social reform.

See his Applied Sociolpgy (New York: Ginn and Company,
1906): PP. 280-281, 337-338; also Ward's address, "Educa-
tion and Progress," delivered at Ruskin College in England
in 1909. This address was printed in Volume VI of Ward's
magnum opus, Glimpses of the Cosmos, pp. 337-340. It will
be more accessible to most readers in Lester Ward and the
ngfare State, ed. by Henry S. Commager (New YOfk: The
BObbs-Merrill Company, 1967), pp. 409-415. The other ref-
erence is Michael Harrington's Accidental Centugy (New
York: Macmillan, 1965). Harrington holds that during the
past century mankind has blindly stumbled through an "acci-
dental revolution." He contends that the only hOpe for
man's survival, as an individual with dignity and personal
worth, is to make this revolution conscious and democratic
rather than unconscious and accidental.

 

 

33This was the major import of Dewey's thought as
well as of Makiguchi's.

34The Progressive Education movement in America, for

instance, as indicated earlier, did not really deal with
the central issues in Dewey's thought.

147

Let me suggest what, in a conservative society (the
United States) intending to survive in a revolutionary
world by refusing to freeze into the reactionary pos-
ture, the value hierarchy of the schools should be.

The cultivation of intellect should come first, technic
second, and morality last.35

Wallace does not give reasons for listing technic above
morality. The main point, however, is his suggestion that
raising training in intellect to first priority may be so
important as to be a question of survival. Here Wallace is
in general agreement with the direction in which Soka

Gakkai seems to be going.

This to my mind is the kind of thing that intellect is
all about. Intellect is a cultural matter; it must be
learned; and, for survival, it must be used. Our
country's survival as a conservative society--or, in-
deed, as any kind Of society--depends radically upon
maintaining a system of schools which teaches the tra-
dition of intellect as its primary obligation.36

The carrying out within a society of such an order—
ing of priorities has been and is being called for by many.
other writers and educators. Mention can be made here of
only a few of these. No one has stated more clearly the

case for intellect than Arthur Koestler in his novel

 

35Wallace, "Schools in Revolutionary and Conserva-
tive Societies," p. 52.

36Ibid., pp. 53-54. It seems almost unnecessary to

point out at this point, but perhaps should be in order to
avoid any misunderstanding, that Wallace does not mean by
intellect the memorization of factual information unrelated
to the life of the learner. It does not even refer to the
acquiring of skills in the 3R's, although it does not ex-
clude those skills. It refers, rather, to a grasp or com-
prehension of the meaning of life lived in society. It re-
fers to the acquisition of skills in reasoning, analyzing,

 

148

Darkness at Noon. In a reflection on the plight of some of

his characters Koestler writes that

A peOple's capacity to govern itself democratically is
. . . prOportionate to the degree of its understanding

of the structure and functioning of the whole social
body.37

More recently Suzanne Keller has pointed out the dangers

inherent in an uninformed and socially incompetent and irre-

sponsible mass population:

A . . . graver danger lies in the informational gap be-
tween specialized leaders and the public, a gap that
nullifies many of the rights available to the public
on paper. Ignorance of the public Often encourages
leaders to resort to irrational methods of persuasion
and communication. In an age of mass communications,
the power of leaders to manipulate public opinion is
extraordinary. "The spectacle of an efficient elite
maintaining its authority and asserting its will over
the mass by the rationally calculated use of irrational
methods of persuasion is the most disturbing nightmare
of mass democracy." The best safeguard against this
danger is for the public to become literate, informed,
and thus potentially critical of decisions and pro-
posals made by leaders.38

C. Wright Mills called attention to the confusion and the

sense of being trapped felt by modern men. Ordinary men,

he wrote,

do not possess the quality of mind essential to grasp
the interplay of man and society, of biography and

 

comparing, questionning. It refers to "problem solving" as
Dewey used that concept.

37Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon (New York: The

New American Library, 1961), p. 1441

38Suzanne Keller, Beyond the Ruling Class (New

York: Random House, 1963), P. 264.

149

history, of self and world. They cannot cope with
their personal troulles in such ways as to control the

structural transformations that usually lie behind
them . . .

What they need, and what they feel they need, is a
quality of mind that will help them to use information
and to develOp reason in order to achieve lucid sum-
mations of what is going on in the world and what may
be happening within themselves.39

This capacity of an individual to understand himself in
relationship to his society, the capacity to locate oneself
within one's period of history, Mills refers to as the
"sociological imagination:"

What we experience in various and specific milieux, I
have noted, is Often caused by structural changes.
Accordingly, to understand the changes of many personal
milieux we are required to look beyond them. And the
number and variety of such structural changes increases
as the institutions within which we live become more
embracing and more intricately connected with one
another. To be aware of the idea of social structure
and to use it with sensibility is to be capable of
tracing such linkages among a great variety of milieux.
To be able to do that is to possess the sociological
imagination.4O

Several modern writers have insisted, with Makiguchi
and Dewey and Ikeda, that if man is to cope successfully
with the new world he has inherited he must give attention
to urgent needs in the field of education. Eleanor

Roosevelt, shortly before her death in November 1962, wrote

the following words:

 

39C. Wright Mills, The Sociological Imagination

(New York: Oxford University Press, 1959), pp. 4-5.

4°Ibid.. pp. 10—11.

150

If we are to cope successfully with our revolutions in
science, in the economy, in social areas, we must pre-
pare for the revolution in education that will be re-
quired to meet, to understand, and to master the new
conditions. Without a totally new approach to educa-
tion our young peOple are not going to be equipped to
c0pe with the world of the future. 1

William Drake has expressed a belief that the future
of our modern, technological society may well depend on the
development of the kind of awareness and understanding en-
visioned in the sociological imagination and the use of such
awareness and understanding in social engineering.42 How-
ever, he contends, individuals with such understanding and
the will to use it on behalf of a total society's welfare
can only be produced by certain kinds of educational ex-
periences. In Drake's view such educational experiences
must be characterized by dialogue. Because his conclusions
speak so directly to the issues involved in this study,
they are quoted at length:

In our analysis . . . we have been Operating on the
assumption that the growth of the thought processes was
at the heart of an educational program adequate to a
free society. It is our conviction that the history

of social thought and modern studies in child growth
support this assumption. In this respect the Socratic
(as contrasted with the catechetical method stands out
with striking superiority. In the development of the

human mind, man did not start with a catechism, but

with a dialogue of speech and gesture between mother
and child . . .

 

41Eleanor Roosevelt, Tomorrow is Now (New York:
Harper and Row, 1963), p. 66.

 

42William Drake, Intellectual Foundations of Modern
Education (Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill, 1967): P. 235.

 

151

The civilization of the dialogue lies at the heart of
the life of a free people, but to what extent do we
find the qualities necessary to carry on this demo-
cratic process in operation in the social and cultural
agencies of the United States today? . . . "Civiliza-
tion of the Dialogue" seems to have been first used by
Kierkegaard to characterize the growth Of parliamentary
democracy, but the idea is as old as ancient Greece and
was used by Homer in the debates between the gods and
the Athenians. Christian dogmatism (the catechism) and
the loss of a sense of creativity among men led to the
demise of the concept until modern times. . . .

Of prime and lasting significance to the upgrading of
the educative effort and to the endurance of a free
society is a deeper concern for and an implementation
of the "Civilization of the Dialogue."43

John Gardner has, perhaps better than any other

contemporary educator, pulled together the essential rela-

tionships between education and society here being dis-

cussed in his concept of the renewal of persons and of

societies. With language sounding very much like that of

Makiguchi Gardner notes that:

All too often we are giving our young peOple cut flowers
when we should be teaching them to grow their own
plants. We are stuffing their heads with the products
of earlier innovation rather than teaching them to inno-
vate. We think of the mind as a storehouse to be filled
when we should be thinking of it as an instrument to

be used.44

However, Gardner believes that we "are moving away from

teaching things that readily become outmoded, and toward

things that will have the greatest long-term effect on the

young person's capacity to understand and perform.

 

43Ibid., pp. 343-345.

44Gardner, Self Renewal, pp. 21«22.

 

152

Increasing emphasis is being given to instruction in
methods of analysis and modes of attack on problems."45
In the long run, Gardner concludes, the school system is
probably the most effective means of bringing about the
changes in our society which our time demands. Thus edu-
cation (formal schooling)
can lay a broad and firm base for a lifetime of
learning and growth. The individual who begins with
such a broad base will always have some capacity to
function as a generalist, no matter how deeply he
chooses to specialize. Education at its best will de-
velop the individual's inner resources to the point
where he can learn (and will want to learn) on his own.
It will equip him to cepe with unforeseen challenges
and to survive as a versatile individual in an unpre-
dictable world. Individuals so educated will kee the
society itself flexible, adaptive and innovative.

While Gardner does not use the terminology nor the
theoretical position discussed in this chapter, an analysis
of his writings readily suggests that his ordering of pri-
orities in the matters of learning is intellect, morality,
and technic. Making use of Gardner's concept of self-
renewal, we may state that a self-renewing society is one
which, by consciously assigning intellect first priority in
formal learning, is enabled to take charge of its own social
and cultural change processes. It is no longer driven by

forces and processes which it does not understand; it is no

longer blindly subject to those cyclical processes in which

 

451bid., pp. 22-23.

461bid., p. 26.

153

"any one society is apt to follow a roughly cyclical path
through revolution, conservatism, and reaction, over and
over again."47
What is being suggested by the writers whose works
have been referred to above is this: Because mind has
entered the evolutionary process, it is possible for human
beings to determine the nature and the bounds of their own
social and cultural order. The term "self-renewing" has
been suggested to describe the value orientation of such a
society. Just as there is associated with each of the tri—
partite value orientations in Wallace's theory, i.e.,
revolutionary, conservative, and reactionary, a philosophy
of schooling which characteristically assigns priorities
to the matters of learning in schools, so there is associ-
ated with the value orientation of the self-renewing society
a particular philosophy of schooling which assigns priori-

ties to the matters of learning. Thus, we may add to

Wallace's three societal types a fourth type:

INTELLECT
MORALITY

TECHNIC

Figure 3. Educational Priorities in a Self-Renewing Society

 

47Wallace, "Schools in Revolutionary and Conserva-
tive Societies," p. 40.

154

This ordering of priorities represents the condi-
tions upon which a society can take command of its own
future through continuous self-renewal. 'This is precisely
what Makiguchi was prOposing in his value creating peda-
gogy. Makiguchi's work is not unique, however, simply
because he proposed this approach to formal education and
social reform. His proposals, as suggested in Chapter IV,
are not greatly different from those of Dewey or from those
of a number of contemporary educators who are making similar
prOposals. Makiguchi's primary claim to uniqueness lies
in the fact that Ikeda and Soka Gakkai are now attempting
to implement his proposals, as Murata puts it, “on a grand

scale."48

Thus while the ideas of Dewey, for example, have
greatly influenced and challenged untold numbers of peOple
throughout the world and led to significant change upon the
part of individual teachers and educators and in sub-
systems within a society, no attempt at implementation of
proposals involving this ordering of priorities in the
matters of learning has been made, with the exception Of
Soka Gakkai, by a movement or organization possessing
potential to influence and change an entire society.
Certainly it is too early for any claim to be made

that Soka Gakkai has been successful in this effort. Some

informed observers wonder, for instance, if in the long run

 

48Murata, Japan's New Buddhism, p. 76.

155

the rank and file members of the organization will support
Ikeda in his elevation of intellect to first priority. It
is not clear, either, how or to what extent the organiza-
tion has been able to reconcile the relativistic and Open
stance toward which Ikeda is pointing with the absolutistic
views and orientation of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism. Another
question which many observers ask is whether Soka Gakkai,
if it does gain increased power in Japanese society, will be
able to remain true to its professed belief that power can
3e employed in the interests of the total society rather
than in the interests of specific classes or groups.49
These are questions about Soka Gakkai which cannot be
answered at the present time. Yet if Soka Gakkai does
succeed, even partially, in achieving its professed objec-
tives, the result may well be one of the significant educa-
tional and sociological phenomena of the twentieth century.

International educators should be aware of the possibilities

 

491t should be recognized that some people are con-

vinced that Soka Gakkai cannot be trusted with power.

Gross calls attention to arguments of some Japanese critics
who contend that Ikeda, as the preSident of Soka Gakkai, is
the highest authority in the organization and that he con-
trols the decision-making in both Soka Gakkai and Komeito.
Such power is dangerous according to these critics. Gross,
Sokagakkai and Education, pp. 72-73. Even more critical of
Soka Gakkai on this point is Hirotatsu Fujiwara, who in a
recent book, I Denounce Soka Gakkai (Tokyo: Nisshin Hodo
Company, 1970), pp. 78-87, 244-246, declares that Soka
Gakkai is a serious threat to democracy in Japan.

156

as well as the dangers in the kind of social engineering to
which Soka Gakkai is committed.
Makiguchi's Influence on
International Education

Three general observations concerning Makiguchi's
influence on education and educators are suggested by the
data of this study. It is clear, first of all, that
Makiguchi had very little influence on Japanese education
during his lifetime. As was noted in Chapter V, his edu-
cational ideas were largely rejected by his contemporaries.
Makiguchi was a man ahead of his time. The general climate
of Japanese society during the period in which he lived was
not right for the kind of educational and societal reforms
which he advocated. Neither on a theoretical nor on a
practical level can it be claimed that Makiguchi's educa—
tional ideas have taken over Japanese education. The fact
is that few teachers in Japan, even today, know who
Makiguchi was or what he stood for. On the other hand,
Makiguchi did influence Japanese education indirectly in
that both Toda and Ikeda picked up and rewrote his major
ideas and incorporated them into the thought and practice
of the Soka Gakkai organization. It can be said that‘
Makiguchi did influence Japanese education also in that
Soka Gakkai is today attempting to implement his ideas
through the establishment of formal educational institu-

tions based on those ideas. In addition, Makiguchi's

157

influence can be seen in Komeito's concern with educational
issues and problems. Evidence of Komeito's interest in and
involvement with educational matters is suggested by its
one hundred year grand plan for education. On the basis of
interviews with Komeito leaders in 1969 Gross concluded
.that the one hundred year grand plan involves two major
aims. These two aims are

(l) to have each individual establish a philosophy of
life, and (2) to elevate the standard of living, thereby
improving society. In order to achieve this, educa-
tional goals will have to create values and promote the
personality of each individual to the highest level.

To implement this, Komeito has suggested the establish-
ment of an Educational Planning Headquarters. This
institution would have the responsibility for establish-
ing long—range educational plans and policies. It
would also have the responsibility for designing means
to achieve these goals. This would be achieved by con-
ferences of peOple from many fields who are directly or
indirectly involved in the formal educational process.
This conference would be divided into small committees
to study the respective problems of education. Study
would not only be theoretical, but would include actual
proposals for the improvement of education. The final
result would be a set of policies and plans for educa-
tion with means of putting them into effect. In order
to avoid dictatorship, the decisions would be those of
the group. A further safeguard is suggested in-a
National Education Study Center, which would test the
plans of the Educational Planning Headquarters.5o

A second general observation is that what little
direct influence Makiguchi has had on education has been
,limited to Japan. A few non-Japanese have begun to pick up

and expose his ideas to the scrutiny of research, but those

 

50Gross, Sokagakkai and Education, pp. 48-49. See

also Draft for Komeito Educational Policy, No. 2, April
1970, Special Committee fOr University and High School
Affairs, Komeito, Tokyo.

 

158

ideas have as yet had little influence on the educational
thought and practice of other countries. This raises an
interesting question. If Makiguchi's educational ideas
were as advanced for his day and of the character which
this study suggests, why was he not reCOgnized by the edu-
cators of other countries? Makiguchi-was saying and ex—
pressing in his writing many of the same criticisms and
ideas about education that John Dewey was expressing at
roughly the same period. Yet Makiguchi remained unknown
whereas Dewey was recognized as a great educator and
honored in many countries of the world. Two factors may

be cited for this neglect of Makiguchi by world educators.
One is the simple fact that he was an Oriental. Educators
have traditionally looked to Western sources for new ideas
and insights. Until very recently the assumption of the
superiority of Western culture was unquestioned, even in
non-Western cultures. Thus in Makiguchi's day the idea that
a Japanese could contribute significant educational and
philOSOphical insights to international education would have
been quite unacceptable, not only to Westerners but to most
Japanese. A second factor in the neglect of Makiguchi by
international educators is that of language. Even if non-
Japanese educators had been predisposed to listen to
Makiguchi, they would have been faced with the practical
difficulty of their inability to communicate with him be-

cause of the nature of the Japanese language. Since

159

Makiguchi's writings were not available in translation and
since Makiguchi himself never mastered English, non-
Japanese educators did not have access to him or to his
ideas.

A third observation which may be made about
Makiguchi's influence on education is that although many of
his ideas were novel for his day, some of those ideas are
being recognized today as important aspects of effective
educational practice. Educational practice in the average
school, whether Japanese or non-Japanese, has changed
little since Makiguchi's day.51 Modern teachers and edu-
cators are becoming increasingly aware, however, of the
soundness and merit of the kinds of educational ideas which
Makiguchi advocated. Reference may be made, for example,
to his opposition to memorization, his emphasis on the
develOpment of the creative potential of every student, his
half-day school proposal with its implications not only for
economy but for the involvement of community people in the
educational process, and his concept of community study as
the basis of curriculum. These ideas, which were central
in Makiguchi's educational thought, are now coming to be
central in current thinking about and projections of the

education of the future. In the study of the works of such

 

51Evidence that this is the case in Japan is pro-
vided by a recent study which indicates that not more than
half of elementary and junior high school students under-
stand what teachers are attempting to teach them. Asahi
Newspaper, June 4, 1971, p. l.

 

160

prOphetic educators as Makiguchi, the contemporary educa-
tor can gain valuable insights and understandings which
will assist him in his efforts to provide effective edu-
cational eXperience for children and young people who are

and will be participants in a post-industrial, global

community.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Sources

 

Books

Ikeda, Daisaku. Complete Works. English translation.
Vol. I. Tokyo: Seikyo Press, 1968.

 

Guidance Memo. Tokyo: Seikyo Press, 1966.

 

Makiguchi, Tsunesaburo. Jinsei Chirigaku. Fuzanbo, Tokyo,
1903.

 

. The Philosgphy of Value. Tokyo: Seikyo Press,
1964.

 

. Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei. Vol. I. Fuzanbo,
Tokyo, 1930.

 

. Zenshu (Collected Works). Vols. I-V. Tozai
Tetsugaku Shoin, Tokyo, 1965.

 

The Nichiren Shoshu Sokagakkai. Tokyo: The Seikyo Press,
1966.

 

Toda, Josei. Lecture on the Sutra. Tokyo: Seikyo Press,
1968.

 

Articles, Pamphlets and Periodicals

Draft for Komeito Educational Policy. No. 2. April 1970.
SpeCial Committee for University and High School
Affairs, Komeito, Tokyo.

 

Ikeda, Daisaku. "Youth Let's Advance Toward a New Day."
Address given by President Ikeda at the 3lst General
Meeting of the Soka Gakkai, May 3, 1968.

Kachi Sozo. Soka Kyoiku Gakkai, Tokyo, 1941.

Kankyo. Jobundo, Tokyo, 1930.

161

 

162
Komeito. Eighth National Convention Program. Tokyo:
The Komeito Party PubIIShing Office, June 1970.
Makiguchi, Tsunesaburo. Practical Experimentation of Value
Creation Educational Methods Through Science and

Supreme Religion. Soka Kinku Gakkai,_Tokyo, 1937.

Soka University. The Soka University Preparatory Foundation
Sokagakkai, Tokyo, Japan.

Taizen Seikatsu Jishoroku. Nos. 4 and 5. Soka Kyoiku
Gakkai, Tokyo, 1942.

Todai. Todai Kanko Kai, Tokyo, March, 1971.
Unpublished Materials
Makiguchi, Tsunesaburo. Postcard messages written from

prison to daughter-in-law, Sadako.

Nakabayashi, Kozaburo. Unpublished manuscript.
Secondary Sources
Books
Anesaki, Masaharu. Nichiren, the Buddhist Prophet. Cam-

bridge: Harvard University Press, 1949.

Brameld, Theodore. The Climactic Decades. New York:
Praeger, 1970.

Brannen, Noah. Soka Gakkai: Japanfs Militant Buddhists.
Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1968.

Brown, George I. Human Teaching for Human Learning: An
Introduction to Confluent Education. New York:
Viking Press, 1971.

Childs, John L. Education andéthe Philosophy of Experi-
mentalism. New York: The Century Company, 1931.

Commager, Henry Steele, ed. Lester Ward and the Welfare
State. New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1967.

Dator, James A. Soka Gakkai: Builders of the Third Civili-

zation. Seattle: UniverSity of Washington Press,
1969.

163

Drake, William E. Intellectual Foundations of Modern Edu-

cation. Columbus, Ohio: Chafles E. MerriIl BoOks,
I965.

Fujiwara, Hirotatsu. I Denounce Soka Gakkai. Tokyo:
Nisshin Hodo Company, 1970.

Gardner, John. Self-Renewal. New York: Harper and Row,
1963.

Groch, Judith. The Right to Create. Boston: Little,
Brown and Company, 1969.

Gross, Carl H. Sokagakkai and Education. East Lansing,
Mich.: Michigan State University, Institute for
International Studies, 1970.

Harrington, Michael. Accidental Century, New York:
MacMillan, 1965.

Idditti, Shimosa. The Life of Marquis Shigenobu Okuma:
A Maker of New Japan. Tokyo: The Hokuseido Press,

 

1940.
Ikado, Fujio. "Trend and Problems of New Religions in Urban
Society." In Kiyomi Morioka and William H. Newell,

The Sociology of Japanese Religion. Leiden: E. J.
Brill, 1968. Pp. 101-117.

Ike, Nobutaka. The Beginnings of Political Democracy in
Ja an. Baltimore: JOhns H0pkins University Press,
1955.

Ikeda, Satoshi. Makiguchi Tsunesaburo. Nihon Sonoshobo,

Tokyo, 1969.

Keller, Suzanne. Beyond the Ruling Class. New York:
Random House, 1963.

Kobayashi, Victor. John Dewey in Japanese Educational
Thought. Ann Arbor, MiCh.: University of Michigan
School of Education, 1964.

Kodaira, Yoshihei. Soka Gakkai. Otari Shoin, Tokyo, 1962.

Koestler, Arthur. Darkness at Noon. New York: The New
American Library, 1961.

. The God That Failed. New York: Bantam Books,
1952}

164

Lane, Skelton T. Social Movements and Social Change: The
.Soka Gakkai of Japan. Ph.D. dissertation, Univer-
sity of California, Berkeley, 1968.

 

Lipset, Seymour M. Revolution and Counterrevolution. New
York: Basic Books, 1968.

McFarland, H. Neill. Rush Hour of the Gods. New York:
The MacMillan Company, 1967.

Mills, C. Wright. The Power Elite. London: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 1956.

 

. Sociology and Pragmatism: The Higher Learning
in Ameriba. New York: Paine-Whitman PubliShers,
1964.

. The Sociological Imagination. New YOIK: Oxford
UniverSity Press, 1959.

Murata, Kiyoaki. Japan's New Buddhism. New York and Tokyo:
John Weathefhill, Inc., i969.

 

Novak, Michael. The Experience of Nothingness. New York:
Harper and Row, 1970.

Passin, Herbert. Society and_Education in Japan. New York:
Columbia University, Teachers College, Bureau of
Publications, 1965.

Piovesana, Gino K. Recent Japanese Philosgphical Thought,
1862-1962. Tokyo: Enderle Bookstore, 1963.

Reischauer, Edwin 0. East Asia: The Modern Transformation.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965.

Roosevelt, Eleanor. Tomorrow is Now. New York: Harper
and Row, 1963.

Silberman, Charles. Crisis in the Classroom: The Remaking
of American Education. New York: Random House,
1970.

Smith, Thomas C. Political Change and Industrial Develope
ment in Japan: 'Government Enterprise, 1868-1880.
Stanford, Ca1if.: Stanford University Press, 1955.

Wallace, Anthony F. C. "Schools in Revolutionary and Con-
servative Societies." Anthropology and Education.
Edited by Frederick C. Gruber. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1961. Pp. 25-54.

165
Ward, Lester. Applied Sociology. New York: Ginn and
Company, 1906.

. Glimpses of the Cosmos. Vols. I-VI. New York:
G. P. Putnam‘s Sons, 1915.

White, James W. The Sokagakkai and Mass Society. Stanford,
Ca1if.: StanfOrd UniVersity Press, 1970.

Articles, Pamphlets and Periodicals

Asahi Newspaper. June 4, 1971. P. 1.

 

Bond, David J. "The Fact-Value Myth." Social Education,
XXXIV, No. 2 (February, 1970), 190.

 

Brannen, Noah S. "Soka Gakkai's Theory of Value." Con-
temporary Religions in Japan. International fasti-
tute for the Study of'Religions. Vol. V, No. 2
(June, 1964), 143.

Epp, Robert. "Japan's Century of Change: Intellectual
Aspects." Ja an Christian Quarterly, XXXV, No. 2
(Spring, 1969;, 72-74.

The Japan Times. May 28, 1971. P. 10.

 

Kasahara, Kazuo. "Soka Gakkai and Komeito: The Advance of
a New Religion into Politics." Japan Quarterly,
XIV, No. 3 (July-September, 1967), 313.

 

Morris, Van Cleve. "Crisis in the Classroom: The Remaking
of American Education.” Book review. Educational
Studies, II, Nos. 1 and 2 (Spring-Summer, 19715,

Newsweek. January 19, 1970. P. 46.

Wallace, Anthony, F. C. "Revitalization Movements.“
American Anthropologist, LVIII, No. 2 (April, 1956),
264-281.

'IICHIGQN STATE UNIV. LIBRARIES
llUIHIIIWIIIlllmillllllllllflllWIHI‘IIWIWHI
31293104407576