Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1992 19/4 The Dispute Between the Soka Gakkai and the Nichiren Shoshu Priesthood: A Lay Revolution Against a Conservative Clergy

The recent confrontation between the Soka Gakkai，Japan’s largest, lay Buddhist organization, and the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood that erupted in 1990 revealed an interesting contrast between a reformist lay Buddhist movement and a conservative priesthood that claims the man tle of orthodoxy. The dispute also raises some meaningful questions concerning the state of religion and society in Japan. Can a lay Buddhist movement survive on its own in an increasingly secular industrial soci ety without the active support and legitimization of a priesthood? What is the future of a priestly order that bases its authority on centuries-old traditions in a rapidly changing Japan? An even broader question con cerns the role a lay Buddhist group in modern Japanese society can play and the adaptations that it must, make to grow. Nichiren Shoshu and the Soka Gakkai share a common religious foundation that links them to Nichiren 日蓮（1222-1282)，founder of the Nichiren school of Japanese Buddhism. Nichiren Shoshu 日蓮正宗， which is one of several sects that makes up the Nichiren school, was founded when one of Nichiren’s disciples, Nikko 日興（1246—1333) built the sect’s head temple, 丁aiseki-ji 大石寺，near Mount Fuji. The current head priest, Abe Nikken 阿部日顕，believes that spiritual and administra tive authority over Nichiren Shoshu was passed down to him through a succession of head priests datingback to Nikko. Somejapanese religious scholars view his stance as a parallel to the Roman Catholic Church’s view of the Pope as the legitimate disciple of Jesus Christ. The Soka Gak kai was founded in the 1930s and erew rapidly after 1945 as a lay reli gious movement dedicated to the propagation of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism throughout Japan and the rest of the world. Its pantheon o