Lay Buddhism in the Eyes of the Beholders: Public Images of Okano Kimiko and Kōdō Kyōdan

This paper examines the public images of Okano Kimiko, the female founder of Kōdō Kyōdan—a lay Buddhist organization established in 1936 that is also categorized as a New Religious Movement—to explore how it positioned itself within the postwar Japanese religious landscape. Mass media’s stance on New Religious Movements has historically been negative, with news coverage often portraying their female founders as charismatically eccentric figures. Yet, the postwar media portrayals of Okano Kimiko, alongside those of Kōdō Kyōdan, present a curious case of a new religious organization that received neutral and even positive recognition. Through historical research on print media coverage at national, regional, and organizational levels, this paper highlights Kōdō Kyōdan’s unique position in both society and the Buddhist community. It argues that Okano Kimiko’s increasingly respectable media presence, reflected in Kōdō Kyōdan’s limited yet progressively positive postwar media representations, resulted from the reciprocal relationships its leaders built with various social, political, and religious actors—connections that ultimately facilitated the organization’s integration into the traditional Buddhist community. By investigating the critical yet underexplored sociopolitical and religious networks that the organization strategically engaged with, this paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the varied, deliberate, and successful efforts of New Religious Movements to shape their own media representations. 

Existing scholarship on media representations of New Religious Movements since the Meiji era notes the decisive role of mass media in shaping their public images. Mass media function as a double-edged sword in shaping the public images of new religions and reflect a contested process of negotiation among various social actors. On the one hand, since the twentieth century, New Religious Movements have commonly used print and broadcast media from their own publishing houses to preach and proselytize. On the other hand, mass media have generally taken a “watchdog” stance and often depicted these groups in a negative light. The relationship between new and established religions, moreover, is typically characterized as distant and oppositional, exemplified by tensions between Sōka Gakkai and Nichiren Shōshū. As such, female founders of New Religious Movements, such as those of Reiyūkai and Risshō Kōseikai, have frequently been portrayed as autocratic figures. In light of mass media’s general skepticism toward New Religious Movements, what does it mean for a lesser-known lay Buddhist group to navigate this postwar religious landscape? By examining Kōdō Kyōdan’s postwar media representations, particularly those of its female founder, and comparing them with other lay Buddhist organizations like Risshō Kōseikai, this paper explores the sociopolitical and cultural networks cultivated by Kōdō Kyōdan’s leadership that enabled the group to shape its own media presence effectively.

Founded in 1936 by the husband-and-wife team Okano Shōdō and Okano Kimiko as an offshoot of the Nichiren-derived lay Buddhist group Reiyūkai, Kōdō Kyōdan grew into a medium-sized organization with over 400,000 members by the late 1970s, marking the end of its founders’ leadership. The group’s central teaching, rooted in faith in the Lotus Sutra, advocates an inclusive understanding of filial piety that transcends biological ties. During wartime, like many other New Religious Movements, Kōdō Kyōdan was monitored by the Special Higher Police (tokubetsu kōtō keisatsu). A report in the police’s internal monthly newsletter, Tokkō Geppō, details Okano Kimiko’s detainment under allegations of deception and fraudulent acquisition of assets. Specifically, she was accused of conducting divine revelations to disclose a follower’s past life and was detained for ten days for misleading a sick follower. From 1930 to 1945, the Tokkō Geppō documented the Special Higher Police’s surveillance of and crackdowns on anti-war speech, activities, and ideologies that challenged the imperial regime. Although these reports were circulated internally, they reflect the broader tendency of prewar and wartime mass media to portray New Religious Movements as heretical and potentially subversive to the state. Despite the postwar constitution’s guarantee of religious freedom, mass media largely retained their skepticism toward new religions. For example, the female founders of Reiyūkai and Risshō Kōseikai were often subjected to critical media campaigns that left them in a position of being represented rather than speaking for themselves. Given Okano Kimiko’s sole yet negative appearance in the Tokkō Geppō, one might reasonably assume that the postwar media portrayals of Kōdō Kyōdan and her would similarly be unfavorable.

However, the postwar media representations of Okano Kimiko and Kōdō Kyōdan challenge this assumption. Instead, they present a rare case in which a female founder received increasingly respectable recognition, and a lay Buddhist organization established favorable ties with both mass media and the traditional Buddhist community. For example, Okano Kimiko was featured in a local newspaper as one of the women representatives recognized in various fields. Moreover, her passing in 1976 was lamented, and her religious achievements were praised in a commemorative report by representatives of the traditional Buddhist community. How did this shift in postwar media portrayals occur, and what does it reveal about Kōdō Kyōdan’s place in the religious landscape? To address this central question, this paper analyzes Okano Kimiko’s public images as represented in national, regional, and organizational print media, including the national daily Yomiuri Shinbun, the regional newspaper Kanagawa Shinbun, the religious newspaper Chūgai Nippō, and the Japan Buddhist Federation’s organizational newsletter Zenbutsu. By tracing the increasingly favorable media portrayals of Okano Kimiko, this study demonstrates Kōdō Kyōdan’s engagement in shaping its media presence and its integration into the traditional Buddhist community through strategic connections with various influential social, political, and religious actors. By examining the social and religious implications embedded in the public images of Kōdō Kyōdan’s female founder, this paper contributes to existing scholarship on the complex dynamics between New Religious Movements, mass media, and the broader religious community.