TOKYO: Daisaku Ikeda, honorary president of lay Buddhist group Soka Gakkai and the founder of Komeito, the coalition partner of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, died of old age at a group facility in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward on Wednesday. He was 95.

The death of the longtime leader of the giant religious organization is likely to affect not only the group’s activities, but also the management of Komeito, pundits said.

Born in Tokyo’s Ota Ward in 1928, Ikeda joined Soka Gakkai at the age of 19 and demonstrated his ability in supporting the group’s operations under the late Josei Toda, the group’s second president. Ikeda became the third president of Soka Gakkai in 1960 at the age of 32.

After becoming president, he made efforts to expand the organization both in Japan and abroad, contributing to increasing the number of domestic member households from 750,000 to 8.27 million.

In 1975, he established Soka Gakkai International (SGI), which now has members in 192 countries and regions.

In 1964, Ikeda formed Komeito by spinning off Soka Gakkai’s political league. In the 1967 election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, Komeito won 25 seats.

Even after stepping down as Soka Gakkai president to become honorary president in 1979, Ikeda maintained his power in the group, visiting many countries as president of SGI.

In May 2008, Ikeda held talks with then Chinese President Hu Jintao, who visited Japan.

After attending a Soka Gakkai event in May 2010, Ikeda was not seen in public.

JIJI Press