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Memorial Held in Tokyo for Soka Gakkai Leader Daisaku Ikeda

The Yomiuri Shimbun
A memorial gathering held for Daisaku Ikeda, honorary president of lay Buddhist group Soka Gakkai at a hotel in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Jiji Press

17:20 JST, January 31, 2024

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — A memorial gathering has been held at a Tokyo hotel for Daisaku Ikeda, honorary president of lay Buddhist group Soka Gakkai, who died of old age in November last year.

About 2,600 people, including those from the business and academic communities as well as foreign ambassadors to Japan, participated in the event Tuesday.

Attendees offered white flowers on the altar at the venue, where panels featuring Ikeda’s life and the photographs he had taken were exhibited.

According to Soka Gakkai, similar events were held at facilities in the country’s remaining 46 prefectures.

Ikeda became the third president of Soka Gakkai in 1960, founded Komeito, currently the coalition partner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, in 1964 and served as honorary president from 1979.

He died Nov. 15 last year in Tokyo at age 95. For its members, Soka Gakkai held a memorial service Nov. 23.