Tsunesaburō Makiguchi

Tsunesaburō Makiguchi
1st President of Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai
In office
18 November 1930 - 18 November 1944
Succeeded by Jōsei Toda (removed Kyōiku from the organization's name)
Personal details
Born 23 July 1871 (6 June is based on Lunar calendar)
Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, Japan
Died 18 November 1944 (aged 73)
Sugamo Prison (present-day Toda Memorial Auditorium), Toshima, Tokyo, Japan
Alma mater

Tsunesaburō Makiguchi (牧口 常三郎, Makiguchi Tsunesaburō 1871–1944) was a Japanese educator who founded and became the first president of the Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai (Value-Creating Education Society), the predecessor of today's Soka Gakkai.

Early life and career

Makiguchi was born in the small village of Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, in 23 July 1871 (6 June is based on Lunar calendar). Adopted by the Makiguchi family, he moved to Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island, at the age of 14. Working his way through school, he graduated from Sapporo Normal School (today's Hokkaido University of Education). First employed as an assistant teacher at a primary school affiliated with his alma mater, he later taught high school and served as a dormitory superintendent.

Although he was recognized as an able teacher, Makiguchi’s uncompromising attitude toward authorities created problems. His clashes with officials of the Ministry of Education, school inspectors, ward assemblymen, city councilmen, and top officials of the city of Tokyo were frequent and resulted in his frequent transfers from one school to another.[1] After moving to Tokyo, he served as principal in a succession of six primary schools, from 1913 to 1932.

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

Educational reformer

Typical of his work is his first book, Jinsei Chirigaku ('A Geography of Human Life'), published in 1903. In it, he developed unique and progressive ideas on the relationship between people's lives and their geographic location. Makiguchi’s work on geography was remarkable in that he was interested primarily in the relationship between nature and man. Japanese geographers of the time were chiefly concerned with describing the physical features of the earth.[2] In Makiguchi’s words, “it is through our spiritual interaction with the earth that the characteristics that we think of as human are ignited and nurtured within us.”[3] In this work, Makiguchi also formulated the concept of humanitarian competition as an approach to international relations, writing that: “The important thing is the setting of a goal of well being and protection of all people, including oneself but not at the increase of self-interest alone. In other words, the aim is the betterment of others and in doing so, one chooses ways that will yield personal benefit as well as benefits to others. It is a conscious effort to create a more harmonious community life.”[4]

In response to problems throughout the education system that resulted from the Meiji government’s adoption of the Imperial Rescript, Makiguchi published the first volume of Sōka Kyōikugaku Taikei (The System of Value-Creation Pedagogy) together with his close friend and disciple Jōsei Toda on November 18, 1930.[5] The date was later adopted as the Founding Day of Sōka Gakkai. The four-volume work, published over a period of five years, sets forth his thoughts on education and proposals for systemic reform. Rather than education serving the state, as embodied in the Imperial Rescript on Education, Makiguchi proposed a student-centered education with the purpose of ensuring the happiness of the learner.[6]

He also proposed the creation of an educational system comprising a partnership of school, home and community. In this system, a child would spend half a day in school and the other half in apprenticeships and other types of work activities at home and in the community befitting the nature and needs of the child. Makiguchi felt that implementing such a system would change bored, apathetic learners into eager, self-directed students.

"Makiguchi developed a theory of value that combined the idea of happiness as the goal of life with that of value as something that can be created. ... In value-creating pedagogy the main point of education is to aim for a happy life and develop the ability and attitude required to create value."[7]

Nichiren Buddhism

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

Wartime arrest

During World War II, he opposed Japan's military government's attempts to impose the doctrine of State Shinto through strict control of religions and thoughts inimical to its war effort. While there is some debate as to whether Makiguchi’s actions were in direct opposition to the war, it is clear that “his outspoken criticism of the prevailing belief system represents an implicit and explicit protest against an extreme abuse of the educational process for militarist purposes.”[8]

In 1943, due to his refusal to accept the talisman and support the war, he was arrested and imprisoned as a "thought criminal" together with Jōsei Toda and 20 senior leaders of Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai for violating the Peace Preservation Law revised in 1941 and under which tens of thousands were arrested. Yet, in spite of being subjected to harsh interrogations, he never retreated from his beliefs; the 72-year-old former principal continued to assert the value of freedom of religion as a fundamental human right. On November 18, 1944, he died in prison of extreme malnutrition. His remains were laid to rest at Taiseki-ji, the head temple of Nichiren Shōshū.[9][10]

Legacy

Makiguchi is remembered to this day by members of the Soka Gakkai in Japan and the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) around the world. During morning and evening prayers, members take a moment to express gratitude to the first three presidents of Soka Gakkai: Tsunesaburō Makiguchi (president from 1930-1944), Jōsei Toda (president from 1951–1958), and Daisaku Ikeda (president from 1960–1979, honorary president from 1979 to the present and president of SGI from 1975 to the present).

A secular network of Soka schools around the world, including several independent secondary schools, and two universities (Soka University of Japan and Soka University of America) were established by Daisaku Ikeda based on Makiguchi's pedagogy.

Makiguchi's value-creating system of education has attracted the attention of educators around the world. His Sōka Kyōikugaku Taikei has been translated into English, Portuguese, French and Vietnamese. In Brazil, Makiguchi’s theory of education based on value-creation has been sponsored in 55 schools and introduced in 1,103 classrooms to more than 340,000 students.[11]

Other viewpoints

There are views that question whether Makiguchi's opposition to the Japanese regime was religiously rather than politically motivated.[12] Though, as Soka Gakkai does not draw a distinction between the spiritual and the temporal, this may be a moot point.[13]

Books

See also

References

  1. ↑ Murata, Kiyoaki. Japan’s New Buddhism: An Objective Account of Soka Gakkai. New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1969. pp. 73-74
  2. ↑ Murata, p72
  3. ↑ Makiguchi, Tsunesaburo. A Geography of Human Life. Ed. by Dayle M. Bethel. Caddo Gap Press, 2002, p25
  4. ↑ Makiguchi. A Geography of Human Life. p.286
  5. ↑ Kumagaki, Kazunori. “Value-Creating Pedagogy and Japanese Education in the Modern Era,” The Journal of Oriental Studies, vol. 10 (2000) Special Issue, p31
  6. ↑ Kumagai, pp32-34
  7. ↑ Kumagai, p41
  8. ↑ Ito, Takao. "Reading Resistance: The Record of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi’s Interrogation by Wartime Japan’s ‘Thought Police’". Educational Studies. 45 (2): 133–145. doi:10.1080/00131940902762169.
  9. ↑ Daniel B. Montgomery: Fire in the Lotus, Mandala 1991, S. 186-187
  10. ↑ http://www.wrs.vcu.edu/profiles/SokaGakkai.htm
  11. ↑ de Melo Silva, Dilma, “Makiguchi Project in Action—Enhancing Education for Peace,” The Journal of Oriental Studies, vol. 10 (2000), p62
  12. ↑ Brian Daizen Victoria, Senior Lecturer Centre for Asian Studies, University of Adelaide, Engaged Buddhism: A Skeleton in the Closet?
  13. ↑ "Buddhism Equals Daily Life | SGI UK". www.sgi-uk.org. Retrieved 2016-05-19.

Bibliography

Ikeda, Daisaku. "John Dewey and Tsunesaburo Makiguchi: Confluences of Thought and Action." 2001. In Soka Education: For the Happiness of the Individual, 1-32. Santa Monica, CA: Middleway Press, 2010.

Preceded by
new office		 1st President of Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai
18 November 1930 – 18 November 1944 		Succeeded by
Jōsei Toda
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