Daisaku Ikeda
Daisaku Ikeda (池田 大作, Ikeda Daisaku, 2 January 1928 – 15 November 2023) was a Japanese Buddhist leader, author, and businessman. He served as the third president and then honorary president of the Soka Gakkai, the largest of Japan's new religious movements.: 5 At this time, he became a controversial leader, in Japan and abroad.
Daisaku Ikeda | |
|---|---|
Ikeda in 2010 | |
| Former President of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) | |
| In office 26 January 1975 – 15 November 2023 | |
| Former Honorary President of Soka Gakkai | |
| In office 24 April 1979 – 15 November 2023 | |
| 3rd President of Soka Gakkai | |
| In office 3 May 1960 – 24 April 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Jōsei Toda Tsunesaburō Makiguchi |
| Succeeded by | Hiroshi Hōjō (北条浩) Einosuke Akiya Minoru Harada |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 2 January 1928 Ōta, Tokyo, Japan |
| Died | 15 November 2023 (aged 95) Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan |
| Spouse | Kaneko Ikeda (池田香峯子) |
| Children | 3 (1 deceased) |
| Parents |
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| Residence(s) | Japan, Tokyo, Shinjuku-Ku, Shinanomachi (信濃町) |
| Alma mater | Fuji Junior College (present-day Tokyo Fuji University) |
| Website | daisakuikeda |
Ikeda is the founding president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), which claims to have approximately 12 million practitioners in 192 countries and territories, more than 1.5 million of whom reside outside of Japan as of 2012. But those numbers are controversial and impossible to verify.
In Japan, and many other countries, he has been described as a "controversial figure" over several decades from the 1970s. due to the ambivalent reputation of the Soka Gakkai— whose name has been linked to several political and financial scandals, cult of personality accusations, and his relation to the political party Kōmeitō, which he founded. He has been the subject of numerous articles, doubts and accusations in Japanese and international media.: 3 : 43 : 147 : 149