3/7/96 Shukan Shincho

Nobuko Nobuhira (68), the former Hokkaido Joint Territory Vice Women’s Division Chief who has accused Soka Gakkai Honorary President Daisaku Ikeda (68) of raping her, was a female fighter for the Gakkai since she entered into the faith in 1956. She was called a “shakubuku fiend” and a “chairperson of elections.” As a top leader, Nobuhira lead the Hokkaido Soka Gakkai’s fierce election campaigns, and as such knows all the details about those insane activities. While admonishing herself for her past actions, she now exposes the absurd reality of the union of church and state behind those election campaigns.

Two weeks have elapsed since I first spoke of the disgrace I experienced, the disgrace which I had intended never to mention throughout my entire life. The response has been even more tremendous than I ever imagined it would be at the very beginning. I have received numerous words of encouragement from all directions. I am truly grateful for everyone’s encouraging words. I think those words of encouragement are now the fruits of my having made up my mind to speak the truth.

Most of all, I’m delighted by my sense that the Gohonzon understands how I feel. Henceforth, I wish to denounce Ikeda in a court of law for the atrocity he committed against me. His conduct towards me was worse than even that of a devil.

However, in spite of that, what is truly pitiful is the Seikyo Shinbun, which, through meandering false allegations, has carried out personal attacks against me. Just as I stated in last week’s issue of this magazine, all of its refutations are meant for internal consumption, so it’s only natural that they would lie about this. However, the level to which they have sunk in doing so is utterly pitiful.

Lo and behold, the words of my former junior, Michiko Ishida, a Hakodate Women’s Division Chief, appeared in the February 25th issue of the Seikyo Shinbun. The following is a summary of her remarks. “Nobuhira was not at the site where she says Ikeda raped her for the third time at around 7:30 a.m. on August 16, 1991. She arrived there at 9:30 a.m. This is according to the Women’s Division leader who functioned as Nobuhira’s driver at the time.”

“The pre-fab coffee shop ‘Royal,’ where Nobuhira says Ikeda raped her in 1983, did not exist at the time.”

Then, “At 9:00 p.m. on June 27, when she says she was first raped, Ikeda was not at that location, since he was still performing gongyo and carrying out discussions with area leaders.”

In short, she claims that Ikeda never raped me three times. However, this Women’s Division Chief Ishida was my junior and I know her well, so why would she end up prattling on about such transparent frame-ups? I feel pity for her rather than anger towards her.

In the first place, it was my husband who was conveyed by car to the Ounuma Training Center in the early morning of August 16. Just who in the world was it who “testified” that they transported me, and where are they?

What is more, the claim that the pre-fab coffee shop “Royal” did not exist in 1983 makes me laugh. I was responsible for the coffee shop, so I, better than anyone else, know full well that it existed in 1982.

Then she says that Ikeda was continuing informal talks with leaders at 9:00 p.m. on June 27, 1973. How would Ishida, who at that time had never even once visited the Ounuma Training Center, know this? Ikeda usually does not drink sake, and by 9:00 p.m. on that day Ikeda had already concluded the leaders’ meeting.

You, Michiko Ishida, have nothing with which to counter attack, but how could you make up such transparent lies? In the midst of those lies, you have spoken extremely ill of me, calling me “dishonest,” “a wicked woman” and “as odious as a snake.”

Do you truly believe this? I was your senior who fought together with you so much for the sake of kosen-rufu. Do you, in the depths of your heart, really believe that about me? Why did you lose your conscience and dignity as a human being rather than lose your loyalty to the Gakkai? Is this a dictum of your faith?

I guess you made that speech because of orders from above, but there is no reason to believe that I would remain silent in the face of you telling such lies. Please give precise proof in a court of law about what you have said. However much you smooth over those lies, I will be listening very closely. I intend to hold you criminally responsible for your statements.

I was in the Gakkai for many years as a leader, so I know the Gakkai’s methods better than anyone. I know full well that the Seikyo Shinbun has come to always ooze with lies. Ikeda’s speeches are always disjointed and rambling, but in the next day’s Seikyo Shinbun, for some reason his speeches have been altered into eloquent speeches citing the golden words and Gosho of Nichiren Daishonin, Since the Seikyo Shinbun has developed into a newspaper which fabricates a person’s speech to such an extant, it is not at all strange for fabricated reports to appear in it.

I am now convinced that the very existence itself of Soka Gakkai will bring about tremendous calamities to Japan in the future. I will devote the rest of my life to making the truth of this organization known to one and all. Toward that end, I would like to speak, based on my own experiences, about the false testimony President Akiya gave to the Diet on November 4th of last year concerning the separation of church and state.

Since entering into the faith in 1956, Nobuhira, together with her husband (73), who manages an electrical contracting firm, have actively participated in Gakkai activities as leaders from the earliest days of the Hokkaido Soka Gakkai. Celebrated as “Elections Nobuhira” and “Shakubuku Nobuhira” during elections, she received invitations to participate in local election activities not only from every corner of Hokkaido, but also from even the main island of Japan.

In December of last year, President Akiya was summoned as a witness to the Diet and made his appearance there in order to prevent the issuance of a summons for Ikeda to testify before the Diet. During his testimony, President Akiya successfully managed to shamelessly say, “In the Soka Gakkai, there is no union of church and state. Our election activities comprise only one portion of all of our activities, and more than 90% of our activities are religious in nature.”

Sitting in front of my television, I leapt up out of my chair. I imagine there are many Gakkai members now in active service who felt the same way I did. This is because everyone knows that Soka Gakkai does nothing but conduct election activities all year round. In short, there is absolutely no boundary between its religious activities and its election activities. It could well be said that Gakkai members are coerced 365 days a year into engaging in activities for the sake of elections.

For 21 years, from 1971 until 1992, I served as a Gakkai Headquarters Vice Women’s Division Chief, and from 1985 until 1992, I served as Hokkaido’s Women’s Division Joint Territory Chief. During that entire time, I continually led Gakkai elections, which are centered upon the Women’s Division. Based upon my experience, in a word, the Soka Gakkai e