Tsunesaburo Makiguchi

Who was Tsunesaburo Makiguchi?

Tsunesaburō Makiguchi was a Japanese educator who founded and became the first president of Soka Gakkai.

He was born in Kashiwazaki, a small village in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, on June 6, 1871. Adopted by the Makiguchi family, he moved to Hokkaidō, Japan's northernmost island, at the age of 14. Working his way through school, he graduated from Sapporo Normal School. 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 the 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. 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.