Komeito Party

Japanese: 公明党 - こうめいとう

A centrist political party supported by the Soka Gakkai, it advocates the realization of humanistic socialism.

[Tadashi Fujii and Hitoshi Igarashi]

History

In order to realize worldly benefits and to build a national ordination platform based on the sect's doctrine, Soka Gakkai has been represented in local assemblies and the House of Councilors since 1955, and after going through the Komeito Political League, formed the Komeito Party in 1964 and entered the House of Representatives. At this time, it changed its insistence on a national ordination platform, which conflicted with the constitution, to one built by the people. In 1970, Soka Gakkai was criticized for obstructing freedom of speech and publishing, and the challenge became to transform itself from a religious party into a national party. The decision to separate religion and state at this time, and its defeat in the Kyoto gubernatorial election that same year prompted a "leftward turn" in its policy, and it came to accept partial cooperation with the Communist Party. However, after the historic reconciliation between Soka Gakkai and the Communist Party (the so-called "Social-Communist Agreement") was overturned in 1975, it turned "rightward." He subsequently had a decisive influence in leading the Socialist Party to abandon its alliance with the Communist Party, and in the 1977 Nagoya mayoral election he joined forces with the Liberal Democratic Party for the first time. In the 1979 Tokyo gubernatorial election he supported former Vice Governor Suzuki Shunichi and defeated the progressive Tokyo government. Between 1978 and 1980 he almost completed policy changes (such as making the Self-Defense Forces constitutional) that allowed him to cooperate with the LDP.

When Morihiro Hosokawa's coalition government was established in 1993, the Komeito Party joined the eight-party coalition, and also joined the successor coalition government of Tsutomu Hata. Later, in 1994, when the LDP-Social Democratic Party-Sakigake coalition government led by Tomiichi Murayama was launched, the Komeito Party became an opposition party, and on December 5, just before the formation of the Shinshinto Party, it split into the "Komeito New Party" consisting of members of the House of Representatives and members of the House of Councillors up for re-election in 1995, and "Komeito" consisting of members of the House of Councillors and local assembly members not up for re-election, and the Komeito New Party merged with the Shinshinto Party, which was formed on December 10. The remaining Komeito Party was scheduled to eventually merge with the Shinshinto Party, but it withdrew its plan to merge with the Shinshinto Party, which was plagued by constant internal conflicts and was unpopular. For this reason, Ozawa Ichiro, then leader of the Shinshinto Party, who aimed for a "purification course," declared the dissolution of the party on December 27, 1997, and the following year, on January 4, 1998, the former Komeito group's House of Representatives members formed the "Shinto Heiwa" (New Party Peace), and the House of Councillors members formed the "Reimei Club." The latter subsequently merged with Komeito, which also had members in the House of Councillors, and Shinto Heiwa also made clear its intention to merge. Thus, on November 7, 1998, Shinto Heiwa was dissolved and merged with Komeito, and the Komeito Party was re-formed. This was the first revival of the Komeito Party in about four years since its split in December 1994. After the re-formation, the party strengthened its cooperation with the LDP and the Liberal Party (formed in 1998) over the bill related to the New Japan-US Guidelines, and with the cooperation of the LDP and the Komeito, it was able to distribute regional promotion coupons (gift certificates) worth 20,000 yen per share to recipients of old-age welfare pensions and heads of households with children under the age of 15. At an extraordinary party conference in July 1999, the LDP, Liberal Party, and Komeito formally decided to form a coalition government of the three parties, the LDP, Liberal Party, and Komeito, and on October 5 of the same year, the second cabinet reshuffle of the Obuchi Keizo cabinet was carried out, and the LDP, LDP, Komeito, and Komeito coalition government was formed. In April 2000, when Prime Minister Obuchi collapsed due to a cerebral infarction, the Mori Yoshiro cabinet was formed, but a coalition government of the three parties, the LDP, Komeito, and the Conservative Party (which split off from the Liberal Party), was also formed. In April 2001, the Junichiro Koizumi Cabinet was formed, and the LDP and the Conservatives (New Conservative Party from December 2002) formed a coalition government with the LDP. From the second Koizumi Cabinet in 2003 to the Taro Aso Cabinet in 2008, the LDP and the Conservatives formed a coalition government.

The coalition government of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito Party lost power as a result of the House of Representatives election held in August 2009, but was restored in the House of Representatives election held in December 2012.

[Tadashi Fujii and Hitoshi Igarashi]

Platform and Policies

The old platform at the time of the party's founding used unique terms such as "King and Buddha Myogo," "Buddhist democracy," and "global nationalism," but advocated realizing public welfare and eliminating corrupt elections, projecting a fresh and clean image. The new platform (adopted in June 1970) after the separation of religion and state eliminated religious terminology, and the party advocated a national party with "moderate respect for humanity" and "humanistic socialism," and clearly stated its commitment to protecting the Japanese Constitution. The party's policies changed from gradually dissolving the Japan-US Security Treaty to immediately abolishing it to maintaining it for the time being. It also showed a strong tendency toward realism in response to the state of public opinion, with support for the Self-Defense Forces, support for the establishment of the era name in law, a shift in policy toward South Korea, and wavering between support and opposition to emergency legislation, and there is considerable variation in its claims and policies.

[Tadashi Fujii and Hitoshi Igarashi]

Party Organization

Initially, the party had a unique set of rules, where the president of the Soka Gakkai nominated the committee chairperson and the central executive committee nominated by the chairman would decide on the delegates to the party convention, but this was improved in the new rules. However, the party's dual organizational structure with the Soka Gakkai remains unchanged even after the decision to separate church and state. As an urban political party whose main support base is unorganized workers and small self-employed people, the party is characterized by its daily community activities and active efforts to expand support in elections. The leadership has a strong desire to participate in the government.

The representative is Natsuo Yamaguchi, a member of the House of Councillors (since 2009). The party has 400,000 members, and its publications include the party newspaper, Komei Shimbun (daily circulation 800,000 copies).

[Tadashi Fujii and Hitoshi Igarashi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

創価学会を支持母体とした中道政党。人間性社会主義の実現を掲げている。

［藤井　正・五十嵐仁］

沿革

創価学会は現世的利益実現と、宗派の教義に基づく国立戒壇建立のため、1955年（昭和30）以来地方議会と参議院に進出、公明政治連盟を経て1964年公明党を結成、衆議院に進出した。この際、憲法に抵触する国立戒壇の主張は民衆立戒壇に切り替える。1970年創価学会の言論出版妨害事件で批判を浴び、宗教政党から国民政党への脱皮が課題となる。このときの政教分離決定と同年の京都府知事選敗北が路線の「左旋回」を促し、共産党とも部分的共闘を認めるようになった。だが1975年創価学会と共産党との歴史的和解（いわゆる「創共協定」）をくつがえしたころから「右旋回」に転じる。その後、社会党が共産党との共闘をとりやめるうえで決定的な影響を与え、1977年の名古屋市長選で初めて自由民主党と共闘し、1979年の都知事選では鈴木俊一元副知事を擁立して革新都政を倒すなど、1978～1980年には自民党とも連携できる政策変更（自衛隊合憲など）をほぼ完了した。

　1993年（平成5）の細川護熙(もりひろ)連立政権の樹立に際しては、公明党は8党派の連立に加わり、後継の羽田孜(はたつとむ)連立政権にも加わった。その後、1994年の村山富市(とみいち)率いる自民・社会・さきがけ連立政権の発足で野党となり、新進党結成直前の12月5日、衆院議員と1995年改選の参院議員で構成される「公明新党」と非改選の参院議員・地方議員が加わる「公明」とに分党し、公明新党は12月10日に結成された新進党に合流した。分党して残った公明も、やがては新進党に合流する予定であったが、内紛が絶えず人気の出ない新進党への合流方針を撤回した。このため、「純化路線」をめざした新進党党首（当時）小沢一郎は1997年12月27日に同党の解党を宣言し、翌1998年1月4日に旧公明党グループの衆院議員は「新党平和」、参院議員は「黎明クラブ」を結成した。その後、後者は同じ参院議員が加わっていた公明と合流し、また新党平和も合流方針を明らかにした。こうして、1998年11月7日に新党平和が解党して公明に合流し、公明党が再結成された。1994年12月の分党以来、約4年ぶりの公明党の復活であった。再結成後、同党は日米新ガイドライン関連法案をめぐり、自民党と自由党（1998年結成）との連携を深め、自公協力をテコに、老齢福祉年金の受給者や15歳以下の子どもをもつ世帯主への1口2万円の地域振興券（商品券）配布を実現させた。1999年7月の臨時党大会では自民・自由・公明3党による「自自公」連立を正式に決定し、同年10月5日小渕恵三(おぶちけいぞう)内閣の第二次内閣改造で自自公連立政権が発足した。2000年（平成12）4月、小渕首相が脳梗塞(のうこうそく)で倒れたことにより発足した森喜朗(もりよしろう)内閣でも、自民・公明・保守（自由党から分裂して結成）3党による連立政権が成立した。また、2001年4月発足の小泉純一郎内閣でも自民、保守（2002年12月より保守新党）とともに3党の連立政権に参加した。2003年発足の第二次小泉内閣以降、2008年発足の麻生太郎内閣までは、自民党と2党による連立政権となった。

　自民党と公明党の連立政権は、2009年8月に行われた衆議院選挙の結果、いったんその座を失ったが、2012年12月の衆議院選挙により復活した。

［藤井　正・五十嵐仁］

綱領・政策

結党時の旧綱領は王仏冥合(みょうごう)、仏法民主主義、地球民族主義など独特の用語を用いながら、大衆福祉実現・腐敗選挙追放を掲げ、新鮮で清潔なイメージを打ち出した。政教分離後の新綱領（1970年6月採択）では宗教的用語が消え、「人間性尊重の中道主義」「人間性社会主義」の国民政党を標榜(ひょうぼう)し、日本国憲法の擁護を明記した。政策は、日米安全保障条約について段階的解消→即時廃棄→当面存続と変化したほか、自衛隊認知、元号法制化賛成、対韓国政策の転換、有事立法に対し賛成と反対の間で動揺するなど、世論状況に対応した現実主義的傾向が強く、その主張や政策にはかなりの振幅がみられる。

［藤井　正・五十嵐仁］

党組織

当初は学会会長が委員長などを指名し、委員長が指名した中央幹部会が党大会代議員を決定するという独特の規約であったが、新規約でこの点は改善された。しかし党組織が学会との二重組織なのは政教分離決定後も変わっていない。未組織労働者、零細自営業者などを主要な支持基盤とした都市型政党であり、日常地域活動、選挙の活発な支持拡大活動が特徴的である。リーダー層には強烈な政権参加指向がみられる。

　代表は参議院議員山口那津男(なつお)（2009年～　）。党員数は40万人で、党の出版物には機関紙『公明新聞』（日刊80万部）がある。

［藤井　正・五十嵐仁］

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