Influential Japanese religious leader dies at 95

Daisaku Ikeda, who headed Soka Gakkai, a Japanese Buddhist organization, attends a meeting at a hotel in Tokyo, May 2008. Ikeda has died, the Japanese religious organization said Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023. He was 95. - (Kyodo News via AP)

TOKYO (AFP): Daisaku Ikeda, a former leader of Soka Gakkai, one of Japan's largest and most politically influential religious groups, has died aged 95, the lay Buddhist organisation said on Saturday.

Ikeda expanded Soka Gakkai's following in Japan and internationally and in 1964 founded Komeito, a junior coalition partner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.