The 'Tanuki Bozu' (Raccoon Monk) incident by R. Boyce

2/10/99

"The following is from the February 1999 Living Buddhism, at p. 23, concerning the 1952 incident involving the Gakkai Youth Division and Rev. Jimon Ogasawara: "The youth division members met Ogasawara at one of the lodging temples on the head temple grounds and refuted his erroneous doctrine. Then they escorted him to the grave of Makiguchi where he wrote a letter of apology to the Daishonin for distorting the Daishonin's teachings. This is known as the Ogasawara incident."

What does it mean that Ogasawara was "escorted?" The following is a description of what actually happened from "Japan's New Buddhism" by Kiyoaki Murata, p. 96:

"On the eve of April 28, 1952, when Taiseki-ji held a major service to commemorate the founding of the Nichiren sect in 1253, Toda visited the temple with four thousand members of his Youth Division and assaulted Ogasawara. Toda felt justified in doing so to avenge his late teacher and demanded an apology from the octagenarian priest. When Ogasawara refused, the young men, who included Ikeda, later president of the Soka Gakkai, mobbed him and carried him on their shoulders, tagging him with a placard inscribed 'Tanuki Bozu' (Raccoon Monk). Ogasawara was taken to Makiguchi's grave, where he was forced to sign a statement of apology

Recalling this incident in an interview with the author [Murata] in July 1956, Toda admitted hitting the priest 'twice' and said that this was the cause of the extremely unfavorable press his organization then received -- which labeled Soka Gakkai as a 'violent religion.'"

The Living Buddhism article, concealing the violent nature of this incident, goes on to blame the Nichiren Shoshu priests who they claimed were upset, not by the priest's punishment but the fact that lay members were the agents of his punishment. However, it is obvious that they would have had legitimate concerns that several thousand goons had come to the head temple and employed violence during a major ceremony.

"Living Buddhism's" clearly disingenuous account of this incident undermines the credibility of SGI's ongoing series of revisionist history. Even when dealing with a known historical event, the Gakkai presents it in a distorted and dishonest manner."