Privy Seal of Japan
Inoue was born Inoue Shirō (later adopting the name Akira and then Nisshō, lit. “Called by the Sun”) in Kawaba, Gunma Prefecture, in 1887, the son of a rural doctor. Educated at Toyo Cooperative (present-day Takushoku University), he abandoned his studies and traveled to Manchuria where he spent time as a vagabond and ultimately found employment from 1909-1920 with the South Manchuria Railway. Upon his return to Japan, he first studied to become a Zen priest but then became a follower of Nichiren Buddhism, a conversion that led him to relocate to Miho, Shizuoka Prefecture, in order to study under the Nichiren scholar and nationalist preacher Tanaka Chigaku at his "Kokuchukai" Academy. Inoue met Aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba during this time period. Inoue soon became disillusioned with Tanaka’s teachings, however, and in 1928 he relocated to Ōarai, Ibaraki, where he established his own temple, , which also served as a youth training center, advocating a militarist revolution in Japan. During this time, with the assistance of former Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan Mitsuaki Tanaka, he became acquainted with such right wing figures as Shūmei Ōkawa and Ikki Kita, and received enthusiastic support from the radicalized young officers of the nearby Tsuchiura Naval Base.