, or Reiyūkai Shakaden, is a Japanese Buddhist new religious movement founded in 1919 by Kakutarō Kubo (1892-1944) and Kimi Kotani (1901-1971). It is a lay organization (there are no priests) inspired by Nichiren Buddhism, but not affiliated to any particular sect.
Reiyūkai considers itself the grandfather of lay-based new religions devoted to the Lotus Sutra and ancestor veneration. Reiyūkai membership currently stands at 5.14 million members, with the majority living in Japan.
History
In 1920s, during the crisis after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake and the following economic depression, Kakutaro Kubo begins formulating his philosophy for what is now Reiyūkai. He compiled and published The Blue Sutra (a collection of texts from the Threefold Lotus Sutra), used by members for recitation practice.
In 1930, Reiyūkai was formally inaugurated, Kakutaro Kubo became Chairman of the Board of Directors and Kimi Kotani becomes President. In 1937, headquarters were established the Iikura area, Tokyo. In 1954, the Reiyūkai Youth Group was inaugurated.
In 1971 Kimi Kotani died and Tsugunari Kubo became president. The next year, a Reiyūkai Centre was established in the United States. It was followed by centers in Brazil and Canada (1975); the Philippines (1976); Mexico, Italy, and Taiwan (1977); United Kingdom (1978, closed as of March 1998); Peru, Thailand, and France (1979); India, Nepal, and Paraguay (1983); Spain (1984); Korea (1988); Bolivia (1996) and Sri Lanka (1999). In 1980, the Reiyūkai’s Inner Self Development campaign began.
In 1978, Statistic public body counts in Japan 2,838,000 members, that is 2,46% of total population
In 1985, representatives from 14 countries participated in a Youth Speech Festival in commemoration of United Nations International Youth Year. Since then, national festivals are held annually throughout the world and international festivals are held in the Asian, American and European regions on a regular basis.
In 1990, the Sixth International Youth Year Speech Festival was held in Osaka, Japan, as part of the International Garden and Greenery Expo ’90. Representatives from 17 countries attended.
In 1992, Reiyūkai International Operation for Cambodian Relief (RIOCR) opened its office in Cambodia. The next year, Reiyūkai International Committee was inaugurated.
In 1994, the Tenth International Youth Year Speech Festival was held in Kathmandu, Nepal. In 1996 Tsugunari Kubo resigned as President of Reiyūkai and Yae Hamaguchi became her successor. The Reiyūkai-sponsored Lumbini International Research Institute (LIRI) was inaugurated in Nepal and the International College for Advance Buddhist Studies (ICABS) was established in Tokyo. The First Reiyūkai Supervisory Council was inaugurated.
In 1999, Reiyūkai established Japanese and English homepages on the Internet. In 2000, the 4th Reiyūkai International Conference was held in Tokyo. Yae Hamaguchi died, and Ichitaro Ohgata succeeded as President, Yushun Masunaga and Hiromichi Hirakawa as Vice Presidents.
In August 2004, the Reiyūkai sponsored, together with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the UN World Food Program and the Nikkei newspaper, the World Youth Peace Summit (WYPS) Japan conference, as a direct outcome of the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference. It was held at the United Nations University in Tokyo. Over 400 youth delegates engaged in lively discussion and decided to mark the date, August 5th, as International Youth Peace Day and will organize an event on that day each year. The summit was broadcast by the Japanese national broadcaster, NHK, on its BS Forum.
In 2007, thanks to the contribution of members of Reiyukai Eurasia community, as an NGO committed to rural development acting in India and Nepal, a new eye hospital, the Reiyukai Eiko Masunaga Eye Hospital, was established in Nepal.
From April 8, 2013, Masaharu Sueyoshi is currently the Reiyūkai International President.
Reiyukai France is member of the European Buddhist Union (EBU) since 1997.