Jimon Ogasawara

Jimon Ogasawara (小笠原慈聞, ???-1955), a priest of the Nichiren Shoshu school of Buddhism, was a religious apologist for the pre-war and wartime Japanese military government. His collusion with the government, scholars claim, came close to destroying his sect during the war.

Ogasawara had served important roles within his school. He was the chief editor of Nichiren Shoshu's doctrinal magazine “Seikaino Nichiren” (Nichiren of the World) and was also the supervisor of proselytization for Nichiren Shoshu. Ogasawara used these roles to promote his version of syncretism—the attempted merging of Nichiren Buddhism and Shinto. Distinct from Honji suijaku which declared Kami as the manifestations and teaching mechanisms of the Buddha, Ogasawara proposed the theory “Shinto is Absolute; and the Buddha, Transient,” which held that Shinto deities are primary and the Buddha is secondary. For this reason he was described by the Japanese religious newspaper Chugai Nippo as a “venomous priest.”[1][2][3]

Ogasawara was active in directly colluding with the military government. He was a member of the Suigyo-kai (Fish and Water Society), a group of army, business and religious figures who attempted to promote national mobilization by unifying all Nichiren schools into one sect, regardless of their unique histories and doctrines.[4][5] On March 10, 1941, at a joint conference of Nichiren Shoshu priests and laymen, Ogasawara called for the immediate approval of the merger with other Nichiren sects but his resolution failed to carry.[6] A few months later he then pressured the executive leaders of Nichiren Shoshu to resign under the guise of sect reform[7] and encouraged governmental authorities to indict Nichiren Shoshu's then High Priest and Chief Administrator Nikkyo Suzuki and his administration for Lèse-majesté, the crime of dishonoring the emperor. He also instigated the imprisonment of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Josei Toda, the respective president and general director of what now is known as the Soka Gakkai.[8][9]

Ogasawara was surreptitiously reinstituted as a Nichiren Shoshu priest soon after the war in 1946 without having publicly denouncing his wartime theories; some allegations exist that he continued to expound them after the war.[10] His reappointment was hidden from the Soka Gakkai leadership and public announcement of his reinstatement and appointment to a high priestly ranking of dai-sozu[11] was not made until April 30, 1952.[5] This gap in communication led to the “Ogasawara Incident” of April 27, 1952, in which his presence at Taisekiji was uncovered by Soka Gakkai youth who severely reprimanded him and his theories. The aftershocks from this incident lasted for six months. On September 9, 1952, he was rebuked by the Nichiren Shoshu leadership and threatened with expulsion unless he fully and openly denounced his wartime theories. He also faced the loss of support from his own local temple's parishioners.[12] He capitulated to this demand on October 31, 1952.[13]

In the final years before his death, he reconciled with and supported Josei Toda and the Soka Gakkai. In 1954, when the Soka Gakkai had a dispute with a priest of Renge-ji temple in Osaka, Ogasawara voiced strong support for the former.[14] On May 25, 1955 Ogasawara wrote the book “Introduction to Nichiren Shoshu” (Nichiren Shoshu Nyumon) in which he acknowledged his mistaken doctrine of “Shinto is absolute; the Buddha, transient” and highly praised Josei Toda.[15][5]

Notes

1. Dumoulin, Heinrich; Maraldo, John C. (1976). Buddhism in the Modern World. The University of Virginia: Macmillan. p. 258.
2. "Editorial". Chugai Nippo. 30 January 1991. p. 9. Actually, there were monks who were able to achieve results in their instructional activities like Jimon Ogasawara. However, as explained below, this priest supervised the publication of the doctrinal magazine Seikaino Nichiren (Nichiren of the world) among other things. He also served as superintendent of proselytization for Nichiren Shoshu when the poisonous flower of Japanese imperialism was blooming most intensely during the militarism of the Showa era. He expounded on the theory of "Shinto deities as primary, and the Buddha as secondary….. He was an extraordinarily venomous priest who schemed to merge the various Nichiren schools.
3. Montgomery, Daniel B. (1991). Fire in the Lotus: The Dynamic Buddhism of Nichiren. Mandala. p. 182. ISBN 9781852740917. A leading priest of the sect, Jimon Ogasawara, published a journal in which he advocated a solution. The Original Buddha was not Shakyamuni but Myoho Renge Kyo, a manifestation of the god Ame-no-minakanushi-no-kami, a mythical ancestor of the Emperor. Thus Nichiren Shoshu did not worship the foreign deity, Shakyamuni Buddha, but the Emperor of Japan. What could be more patriotic?
4. Ikeda, Daisaku (2004). The human revolution (Abridged ed.). Santa Monica, Calif.: World Tribune Press. pp. 706, 744–745. ISBN 0915678772.
5. "The Significance of the Soka Gakkai's Emergence". A Jiyu Version: History of Nichiren Shoshu. [Ogasawara’s] lawyer was Shigeya Miyake, with whom he had been close to since wartime. During World War II, Miyake belonged to the Minobu school of Nichiren Shu. Together with Ogasawara, he worked aggressively behind the scenes to unite all Nichiren schools into one entity under the emperor-centered political system.
6. Ikeda, Daisaku (2004), p. 745.
7. "Shinto absolute, the Buddha, transient; or the Buddha absolute, Shinto, transient?: Doctrinal Issue To Be Made Public; Patriots Worried About Their School Arise To Reform Nichiren Shoshu". Chugai Nippo. 12 August 1942. I submitted to the high priest a written request that the highest executives assume the responsibility for this dishonor by resigning their offices as a way of apologizing to the State for their guilt.
8. "Editorial". Chugai Nippo. 30 January 1991. p. 9. At his most extreme, Ogasawara drove the imperialist authorities to commit great blasphemy by indicting High Priest and Chief Administrator Nikkyo Suzuki and his administration for lése majesté while instigating the imprisonment of President Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and General Director Josei Toda of what was then the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai (Value Creative Education Society).
9. Montgomery, Daniel B. (1991), p. 182. "The High Priest at Taiseki-ji and his assembled clergy were willing to accept this stratagem, but Makiguchi resolutely refused. He was summoned to Taiseki-ji and ordered to obey; still he refused. A few weeks later he and 20 leaders of his organization were arrested. Within a few days all recanted except two: Makiguchi and his faithful friend Josei Toda. They were incarcerated for the duration of the war."
10. Ikeda, D. (2004). p. 707
11. Roth, Louis Frédéric ; translated by Käthe (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap. p. 905. ISBN 9780674017535. Sozu, title given to high ranking Buddhist monks, heads of temples or monasteries. There were four classes: Dai sozu, Gondai sozu, Sho sozu, and Gonsho sozu.
12. Ikeda, Daisaku (2004), p. 792.
13. Ikeda, Daisaku (2004), p. 804.
14. Ikeda, Daisaku (1986). The Human Revolution. p. 298. Worthy of special praise was Jiko Kasahara [pseudonym for Ogasawara], the priest who had once opposed the Soka Gakkai but had since recanted. In spite of his old age and difficulty of walking, he traveled all the way from Gifu to Osaka to take his place in the forefront of the movement to expel S.
15. Ogasawara, Jimon (1955). Nichiren Shoshu Nyumon [An introduction to Nichiren Shoshu]. From around that time, Mr. Josei Toda was rebuilding the Soka Gakkai in Tokyo. He taught his fellow comrades the orthodoxy of our school’s traditions and the absolute power of the Gohonzon. It launched its activities with the energy of the rising sun, and with its irresistible force [literal: the force of shishi funjin] immediately overwhelmed the religious community in Tokyo. The strength of those believers and the greatness of their ambition breathed new vigor into our school which had sunk into a feeble state for many years. How can one not be impressed by the fact that there isn’t a place anywhere in the country where there aren’t Shoshu believers, and that the Soka Gakkai is serving as a forerunner for kosen rufu. I regret that for a time I had become corrupt and got carried away in causing an unfortunate dispute with the Gakkai. My turning point came when I suddenly and immediately came to [my senses] to realize my enlightenment, and since then I have come around to advocating for people belonging to the priesthood should by all means master the Gakkai spirit and make that their keynote in making advancement.