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Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the educational role of a manga about the founder of the Japanese new religious organization Risshō Kōseikai and argues that the manga reveals multiple voices of interest within the group to recreate its founder to educate its younger generations about his legacy.

Paper long abstract:

Four years after the passing of Niwano Nikkyō (1906-1999), the founder of the Japanese lay Buddhist organization Risshō Kōseikai, a five-volume manga named "Manga ichijō no hohoemi" was published in 2003. Founded in 1938, Risshō Kōseikai is the second-largest new religious organization in Japan with over 2.3 million members. The publication of the manga, which is adapted from Niwano's autobiography published in 1976, represents the group's significant effort to teach its younger generations about Niwano's life in a new light.

This paper explores the role of this five-volume manga in educating Risshō Kōseikai's young members through its rendition of Niwano's life in the context of the group's history. Despite a growing body of literature on the interplay of religion and popular culture, the manga and anime commissioned by religious organizations are often viewed to convey their teachings from a single source of authorial authority. This paper examines aspects such as the narrative focus, character development, and visual techniques that are unique to this manga in comparison with Niwano's autobiography, with references to the group's other publications about its history and its mass media representations. This paper argues that the manga serves as an educational medium that not only makes Niwano more accessible to the younger generations to inspire them to carry on his legacy in the engaged practice of helping others in society. It further demonstrates the negotiation of multiple voices of interest within Risshō Kōseikai in recreating Niwano as a leader bound to both religious missions and familial ties against the backdrop of the group's development into the 21st century. This paper will contribute to the study of religion's modern self-representation through forms of popular culture.