Soka Gakkai-USA at 55

紙　版電子版

アメリカ創価学会（SGI-USA）の歴史と創価学会の海外布教の過程を、一次資料や関係者への現地調査をもとに、宗教社会学の視点から明らかにする。戦後、ヒッピー文化ただ中のアメリカにおいて、日蓮仏法はどのように受け入れられたのか。渡米し布教の中心的役割を担った日本人や日系人たちによって信仰はどのように伝えられていったのか。併せて高度成長期以降の日本における創価学会本体の変容も鳥瞰している。『アメリカ創価学会〈SGI-USA〉の55年』（2017年、新曜社）の英訳版。

The Soka Gakkai is the most well-known and the largest of new religious movements (NRMs) in Japan. This book analyzes the history of the SGI-USA(Soka Gakkai International-USA) and the Soka Gakkai’s evangelizing in the U.S. from a sociological perspective of religion. How did the Japanese Soka Gakkai come to be accepted by Americans and take root in American society in the U.S., a country with a very different culture and religion? How was Nichiren Buddhism accepted in the U.S. in the midst of the postwar hippie culture? How was the faith transmitted to the United States by the Japanese and Nikkei who played a central role in the missionary work? The authors’ 15 visits to the U.S., in which they participated in local events of the organization and interviewed more than 70 SGI members in the U.S., revealed these questions and provides a bird's-eye view of the transformation of the Soka Gakkai in Japan since the period of rapid growth. This book is the English translation of “America Soka Gakkai 〈SGI-USA〉 no 55 nen”(2017, Shinyosha Ltd.).

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 From Hawaii to the West Coast
1. Hawaii: The dawn of SGI
2. The first person who greeted the president outside of Japan
3. War brides
4. Living in America
5. Second generation Japanese-Americans
6. Developments in the 1960s: Japan and the US
7. The civil rights movement and the Vietnam War

CHAPTER 2 From the period of maturity into the period of stagnation
1. “Hippy to Happy”
2. Ethan Gelbaum
3. Signs of trials and tribulations
4. Shift of focus in the phase of maturity
5. Establishment of SGI
6. Blue Hawaii Convention
7. The second phase of kosen-rufu and Phase Two
8. Like wildfire
9. George M. Williams

CHAPTER 3 Across the ocean: US and Japan
1. A period of stagnation
2. The first priesthood issue
3. Chicago visit and Capture the Spirit Festival
4. Capture the Spirit Festival and World Peace Culture Festival
5. First SGI General Meeting
6. “Royal” at heart
7. Touring across the Northern Hemisphere to “establish the correct teaching for the peace and security of the world”
8. Spiritual independence

CHAPTER 4 Building a foundation for the next thousand tears
1. A seventeen-day stay in Los Angeles, February 1990: Part 1
2. A seventeen-day stay in Los Angeles, February 1990: Part 2
3. SGI-USA
4. Toward the establishment of “SGI Buddhism”
5. The 55th anniversary of the kosen-rufu movement in the US

CONCLUSION American society and Nichiren Buddhism: Affinity between them
1. Potential power of chanting
2. “Attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime”

Afterword

秋庭裕（アキバ ユタカ）

1958年　群馬県生まれ
1981年　同志社大学文学部卒業
1990年　大阪大学大学院博士課程後期単位修得退学
現　在　大阪公立大学現代システム科学研究科教授、博士（人間科学）
著　書　『生駒の神々』（共著、創元社、1985年）
　　　　『組織とネットワークの社会学』（共著、新曜社、1994年）
　　　　『霊能のリアリティへ―社会学、真如苑に入る』（川端亮と共著、新曜社、2004年）
　　　　『宗教を理解すること』（共著、創元社、2007年）
　　　　『アメリカ創価学会〈SGI-USA〉の55年』（新曜社、2017年）