Komeito, a once peace-oriented political party backed by the hugely influential lay Buddhist group Soka Gakkai, all but lost its bearings after becoming the junior member of the ruling coalition headed by the Liberal Democratic Party, say critics.

The party was founded six decades ago under the leadership of Daisaku Ikeda when he was president of the religious organization that claims 8.27 million households in Japan as members.

Ikeda wielded immense clout over Soka Gakkai for many years after he ceased to be president. He died Nov. 15 at age 95.

With monolithic backing from Soka Gakkai, Komeito espoused a strong pacifist stand but failed to rein in military expansion spearheaded by the LDP, with which it first formed a coalition government at the end of the 1990s.

“Ikeda organized disadvantaged sections of society and extended the influence of Soka Gakkai,” said critic Makoto Sataka, author of the book “Jiminto to Soka Gakkai” (The LDP and Soka Gakkai). “However, as he moved closer to power as head of the organization, pacifism and other ideals that defined Soka Gakkai seemed to have become secondary.”

Ikeda became the third president of Soka Gakkai in 1960 at the age of 32 and played a key role in the formation of the Political Federation for Clean Government the following year. He founded Komeito (Clean Government Party) in 1964.

Under his direction, Komeito entered national politics by contesting the Upper House election in 1965.

A primary reason was his view that few political parties were paying attention to low-income ordinary citizens.

Komeito’s founding spirit, “Speak with the masses, fight with the masses and die in the midst of the masses,” was born from Ikeda’s words.

At the same time, the party emphasized peace as its key principle.

Ikeda’s religious background lay in his aversion to war.

During World War II, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, the founding president of Soka Gakkai, died in prison following a crackdown for his opposition to the military.

“The only way to renounce war is to change distrust into trust and change hatred into friendship and build friendly relations with all nations, where war will never happen,” Ikeda said.

Ikeda’s judgment was always the guiding hand behind Komeito’s moves.

Many party members were his disciples. As Komeito’s influence grew, so did Ikeda’s presence in the political world.

In 1979, Ikeda resigned as president and took on the post of honorary president.

Komeito, which had adopted an anti-LDP stance for many years, joined a non-LDP coalition government headed by Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa in 1993.

The following year, it merged into Shinshinto (New Frontier Party), which was formed by non-LDP forces.

Former Komeito members established New Komeito in 1998 after Shinshinto was dissolved the previous year.

In 1999, New Komeito surprised the political world by joining a three-party coalition government led by the LDP, with which it was believed to be at loggerheads.

Ikeda continued to exert a powerful influence over Soka Gakkai even after he became honorary president.

His health became a source of concern after he all but disappeared from public view following his attendance at a ceremony in Tokyo in November 2010. 

Soka Gakkai has since gradually shifted to a collective leadership system.

Komeito’s slogan of peace that Ikeda espoused when the party was founded is largely gone.

It eventually towed the line with the LDP in July 2014 when the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approved changing the interpretation of the Constitution to allow Japan to partially exercise its right to collective self-defense.

In a statement issued in May that year, Soka Gakkai’s public relations office said the government, under normal circumstances, should resort to established constitutional amendment procedures, putting itself at odds with Komeito.

Komeito also approved the Kishida administration’s policy to acquire the capability to attack enemy bases.

A veteran lawmaker of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, who belonged to Shinshinto, recalled that Komeito had a particularly strong commitment to peace when the party participated in Shinshinto.

“The longer the party remained in the ruling coalition, the more it became a supplemental force to power,” the lawmaker said. “I imagine Ikeda must have felt a sense of frustration.”