Ikeda Research Institute for Soka Education
Issue 15/ January 18, 2024

Report onIkeda Studies in Education
PurposeNews Update

The Report on Ikeda Studies in Education iscompiled and circulated by the Ikeda ResearchInstitute for Soka Education (IRISE) of Soka
University. The Report serves as an informationsharing tool for scholars and researchers of this fieldof study, with the aim of facilitating on a global basis,
further advances in the research of and activities
relevant to Ikeda studies in education.

Paraguayan University Confers Honorary
Doctorate upon President Ikeda
On December 13, 2023, a ceremony was held for theconferment of an honorary doctorate upon Daisaku
Ikeda by the Ibero-American University of Paraguay(UNIBE) in recognition of his contributions toeducation and the culture of peace. The doctorate’sconferment was decided in March. UNIBE Rector
Sanie Romero de Velázquez and Postgraduate
Director Mgs. Eduardo Velázquez attended theaward ceremony held at Soka University in Japan.
Executive Advisor to Soka University in Japan
Hiromasa Ikeda received the degree on behalf of hislate-father. This is the 409th academic honorawarded to Mr. Ikeda.

Announcement:Daisaku Ikeda passes away atage 95
Soka University founder Daisaku Ikeda passed away
at the age of 95 from natural causes on November 15.
All of us at Soka are deeply sadden by his loss andoffer our heartfelt condolences.
Mr. Ikeda dedicated his adult life to theadvancement of education, establishing numerous
schools and universities worldwide, with Soka
International School Malaysia opening just threemonths before his passing. He carried forward thespirit and insights of Soka value-creating pedagogy
from Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Josei Toda, whom
he honored as his mentors in life, further developing
its philosophy and objectives to where it is now not
only being studied but applied globally as well.
Soka University and the Ikeda ResearchInstitute for Soka Education (IRISE) pledge tocontinue Mr. Ikeda’s work, hopefully for an everexpanding audience. Toward this end, we look tocooperate even closer with the contributors andreaders of this Report going forward.
Junichi Kanzaka
Director, IRISE

Soka Gakkai Spain holds symposium withspeakers from IEDDAI and other schools
On October 21, 2023, Soka Gakkai Spain held its
11th symposium on education, which featured
speakers from the Daisaku Ikeda Research Institutefor Education and Development (IEDDAI) at theUniversity of Alcalá and the Autonomous Universityof Madrid. The symposium took place at a Soka
Gakkai Spain culture center and linked online toother facilities in the country.
Soka Gakkai Spain General Director
Enrique Caputo delivered the opening statement,followed by speeches from Autonomous Universityof Madrid, Faculty of Pedagogy Prof. Ana BelénBayón, IEDDAI Director Dr. Alejandro Iborra
Cuéllar and Vice Director Dr. Ana Belén GarciaVarela. The speakers shared insights on empathy andcaring from the perspective of their respective fieldsof expertise.

University of Guelph-Humber’s SERC-GC holds
annual special lecture
On November 16, 2023, the Soka Education
Research Centre on Global Citizenship (SERC-GC)
of Canada’s University of Guelph-Humber held its
annual special lecture online. Following greetingsfrom SERC-GC Director Dr. Paul Sherman, Soka
University Prof. of Leadership Studies Maria
Guajardo delivered a lecture entitled, “Dialogic
Learning and Global Citizenship Education,” inwhich she examines the capacity of dialogue to learn
more about others and to effect transformativechange in oneself.
The annual special lecture was first held inNovember 2018 to commemorate the publication ofTsunesaburo Makiguchi’s seminal work, The Systemof Value-Creating Pedagogy, on November 18, 1930.
Originally established in 2017 as an initiative of theuniversity and renamed SERC-GC two years later
when it became an official University of GuelphHumber research centre, the Centre conducts
academic inquiries into the educational philosophyof the three founding presidents of the Soka Gakkai.

works and related research papers to this day.

Chinese Culture University’s IRC holds
international youth forum on Ikeda studies
On December 16, 2023, the Ikeda Research Center(IRC) of Chinese Culture University in Taiwan held
its ninth international youth forum on Ikeda studies
at its Taipei campus. Twelve researchers took part,
including those from the National Taiwan University,
Tokyo Institute of Technology and Soka University.
Ritsuko Akasu of DePaul University, visiting
researcher at Soka University’s Ikeda ResearchInstitute for Soka Education (IRISE), made apresentation entitled, “Enacting Ikeda’s Educational
Philosophy: Analysis of Teacher Accounts on
Practicing Human Education for Peace.”
Following the presentations, former
Chinese Culture University president Lin Tsai Mei,
who also served as the first director of IRC, provided
a prepared critique. In it, she underscored the needfor a human-centric education based on thephilosophy of life’s fundamental sanctity that
Daisaku Ikeda persisted in advocating, a perspectivethat educators worldwide should embrace infostering young people in order to realize global
peace and human happiness.
IRC was established in September 2003 as
the first academic body engaged in Ikeda studies inTaiwan, publishing Chinese translations of Ikeda’s

Daisaku Ikeda on Education

Soka University holds Goethe exhibition
The “Soka University Collection—Goethe TreasuresExhibition” opened at the university’s Central
Education Building in December 2023. It was heldin commemoration of the 20th anniversary ofDaisaku Ikeda’s lecture at Soka on March 10, 2003,
the first in his special series entitled “Goethe theMan.”
The Soka University founder admired
Goethe for his humanistic endeavors and constantstriving toward noble ideals. Goethe scholar
Manfred Osten described him as “one of his mostloyal friends of Goethe” in 2009, when Ikeda waspresented with a special commendation from theGoethe Society in Germany that same year.
Among the collectibles the “GoetheTreasures Exhibition” featured were a number offirst edition works of the 19th-century German writer,
playwright and poet, along with nine original
missives. The exhibition closed on December 22,2023.

Teachers of My Childhood(From the book One by One, published in 2004)

This Issue’s Selected Writing
Goulah, J. (2020). Human education: Daisaku
Ikeda’s philosophy and practice of ningen kyōiku.
Schools: Studies in Education, 17(1), 153-170.

Postscript⚫

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We welcome comments regarding this Reportas well as suggestions on specific material
that it should feature in future issues. Contact:
Ikeda Research Institute for Soka Education(IRISE) of Soka University (IRISEaccess@soka.ac.jp)
This Report is issued on a bimonthly basis,
with the next release tentatively scheduled forMarch 18, 2024.