| 1938 |
March 5: |
Rissho Kosei-kai is founded in Tokyo by Nikkyo
Niwano and Myoko Naganuma. |
 |
| March 20: | Nichiko Niwano is born, the first son of Nikkyo Niwano. |
| 1942 |
May 7: |
The former headquarters building is completed.
|
| 1945 |
November 15: |
At the headquarters Founder Niwano enshrines a plaque bearing the name of the Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni. |
| 1949 |
August 28: |
The Youth Division is established. |
| 1951 |
October 17: |
Shinshuren is established with Rissho Kosei-kai as a founding member. |
| 1952 |
August 5: |
Kosei General Hospital is completed. |
| 1955 |
January 11: |
Kosei-gakuen Girls' Junior and Senior High Schools and Kosei Kindergarten are established. |
| 1956 |
April 1 |
Kosei-gakuen Boys' Junior and Senior High Schools are established. |
| 1957 |
September 10 |
Myoko Naganuma dies. |
| 1958 |
January 1 |
Founder Niwano affirms to members that Rissho
Kosei-kai's sole proper focus of devotion is the Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni. |
| 1959 |
November 15 |
The Dissemination Area System is implemented. |
| 1962 |
June 1 |
The Members' Vow is adopted. |
| 1963 |
September 14--October 24 |
Founder Niwano travels in Europe and the United States as the sub-leader of the Peace Delegation of Religious Leaders for Banning Nuclear Weapons. |
 |
| 1964 |
May 15 |
The Great Sacred Hall is completed. |
| 1965 |
September 14--17 |
Founder Niwano attends the Second Vatican Council in Rome.
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| September 15 |
Founder Niwano is received by Pope Paul VI in a private audience. |
 |
| 1968 |
January 22 |
Founder Niwano attends the Japanese-American Inter-Religious Consultation on Peace in Kyoto. |
| 1969 |
April 27 |
The first conference to promote the Brighter Society
Movement is held in Takamatsu, Japan. |
| July 18--20 |
Founder Niwano attends the 20th World Congress of the IARF in Tokyo. |
| 1970 |
April 28 |
Fumon Hall is completed. |
| October 16--21 |
The first assembly of the WCRP is held in Kyoto with Founder Niwano as co-chairman. |
|
| 1973 |
February 5 |
The WCRP is affiliated with the UN as a nongovernmental organization. |
| 1974 |
August 28--September 3 |
Founder Niwano and Rissho Kosei-kai officials attend the second assembly of the WCRP in Louvain, Belgium. |
| 1975 |
March 5 |
Founder Niwano is awarded an honorary doctor of law degree by the Meadville/ Lombard Theological School, affiliated with the University of Chicago. |
| March 15 |
The first English translation of the Threefold Lotus Sutra is published by Kosei Publishing Co. |
| April 8 |
The Friendship Tower is completed in Bataan, Philippines. |
 |
| 1976 |
May 28 |
Founder Niwano is co-recipient of the first Uniquest Schweitzer Award, presented by the editorial board of Uniquest magazine. |
| November 25--30 |
Founder Niwano and Rissho Kosei-kai representatives attend the first assembly of the ACRP in Singapore. |
| 1977 |
April 7 |
Rissho Kosei-kai accepts its first group of Vietnamese refugees. |
| 1978 |
January 1 |
Rissho Kosei-kai announces on its fortieth anniversary that the Age of Unlimited Manifestation of Compassion has arrived. |
| June 12 |
Founder Niwano addresses the first Special Session of the UN General Assembly Devoted to Disarmament (SSD I). |
 |
| December 1 |
The Niwano Peace Foundation is established. |
| 1979 |
April 9 |
Founder Niwano receives the Templeton Foundation Prize for Progress in Religion. |
| August 29--September 7 |
Founder Niwano and representatives from Rissho Kosei-kai are present at the third assembly of the WCRP in Princeton, New Jersey. |
| October 2 |
Founder Niwano appeals for public support of the Donate a Meal Campaign. |
| 1981 |
July 28 |
Founder Niwano is elected president of the IARF at its 24th World Congress, in the Netherlands. |
| October 3 |
Assistance to Africa begins with a donation of 30 million yen from the Donate a Meal Campaign for the relief of African refugees. |
| November 7--11 |
Founder Niwano and Rissho Kosei-kai representatives attend the second assembly of the ACRP in New Delhi. |
| 1982 |
May 23 |
37 million signatures are collected on a petition for disarmament and the abolition of nuclear weapons for submission to the second Special Session of the UN General Assembly Devoted to Disarmament (SSD II). |
| June 24 |
Founder Niwano addresses SSD II as president of the IARF. |
| 1983 |
April 7 |
The Niwano Peace Foundation awards the first Niwano Peace Prize to Archbishop Helder P. Camara of the archdiocese of Olinda-Recife, Brazil. In May, Rissho Kosei-kai is granted consultative status by UNICEF. |
| November 4 |
Founder Niwano is awarded the Artisans of Peace Prize by the Youth Missionary Service, Italy. |
| 1984 |
July 27--August 1 |
Rissho Kosei-kai hosts the 25th World Congress of the IARF at its headquarters, in which many of its members take part. |
| August 23--31 |
Founder Niwano and representatives from Rissho Kosei-kai attend the fourth assembly of the WCRP in Nairobi. |
| December 15 |
The Campaign for Sharing Blankets with People in Africa is organized, sending 1.7 million blankets, including 430,000 collected by Rissho Kosei-kai members. |
| 1985 |
December 16 |
Founder Niwano speaks as a special guest at the opening of a symposium held by the UN Office at Geneva to commemorate the UN's fortieth anniversary. |
| 1986 |
March 20 |
President-designate Nichiko Niwano receives an honorary doctor of philosophy degree from the Salesian Pontifical University, the Vatican. |
| June 17--21 |
Founder Niwano and Rissho Kosei-kai representatives take part at the third assembly of the ACRP in Seoul. |
| October 27 |
A World Day of Prayer for Peace is observed in Assisi, Italy. President-designate Niwano attends as a representative from Japan. |
| 1987 |
July 31--August 6 |
The 26th World Congress of the IARF is held at Stanford University in California, attended by the chairperson of the board of directors, Motoyuki Naganuma, and other Rissho Kosei-kai representatives. |
| August 3 |
Founder Niwano and President-designate Niwano attend the Religious Summit on Mount Hiei in Japan. |
| 1988 |
March 5 |
Ceremonies and events celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Rissho Kosei-kai are held. |
| May 5 |
The Youth Division receives the UN Peace Award. |
| June 8 |
Founder Niwano addresses SSD III as president of Rissho Kosei-kai. |
| 1989 |
January 22--27 |
Founder Niwano and Rissho Kosei-kai representatives attend the fifth assembly of the WCRP held near Melbourne, Australia. |
| 1990 |
July 25--27 |
A conference of the World's Religions for the World's Children is chaired by Founder Niwano at the Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey. |
| 1991 |
October 29--November 2 |
Founder Niwano and Rissho Kosei-kai representatives attend the fourth assembly of the ACRP in Katmandu, Nepal. |
| November 15 |
Nichiko Niwano is inaugurated as Rissho Kosei-kai's second president in the ceremony of the Inheritance of the Lamp of the Dharma. |
 |
| 1992 |
June 7 |
President Niwano receives an honorary doctor of divinity degree from the Meadville/Lombard Theological School. |
| October 26 |
Founder Niwano is inaugurated as an honorary chairman of Shinshuren's board of directors and President Niwano as a vice-chairman. |
| November 6--9 |
Rissho Kosei-kai officials attend the conference on the Middle East in Tokyo and Kyoto sponsored by the Japanese Committee of the WCRP. |
| November 15 |
Founder Niwano is made Knight Commander with the Silver Star of the Order of St. Gregory the Great by the Vatican. |
| 1993 |
July 23--September 16 |
4,400 volunteers are dispatched to relieve earthquake victims in southwestern Hokkaido. |
| August 26 |
Founder Niwano receives the Centennial Award from the International Interfaith Organizations Coordinating Committee. |
| November 15 |
Founder Niwano receives the Interfaith Medallion from the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ). |
| 1994 |
January 8 |
Rissho Kosei-kai begins taking part in a relief project in the former Yugoslavia organized by Japan Emergency NGOs (JEN). |
| November 3--9 |
Founder Niwano presides with Pope John Paul II at the opening session of the sixth assembly of the WCRP, convened in Vatican City. |
| December (and February 1995) |
Some 57,000 Little Bags of Dreams are presented to children in the former Yugoslavia. |
| 1995 |
January 20--May 31 |
Rissho Kosei-kai sends relief supplies to victims of the earthquake in and around Kobe. |
| October 26 |
Rissho Kosei-kai receives the Prime Minister's Award for 17 years of accepting and helping Vietnamese refugees. |
| 1996 |
October 15--19 |
President Niwano and Rissho Kosei-kai representatives attend the fifth assembly of the ACRP in Ayutthaya, Thailand. |
| 1997 |
September 30--October 3 |
President Niwano visits Bosnia-Herzegovina and talks with the leaders of the four major religions there about peace. |
 |
| October 26--28 |
President Niwano attends the Third China--South Korea--Japan Buddhist Friendly Interaction Conference convened in Kyoto and Nara. |
| 1998 |
March 5 |
On its sixtieth anniversary Rissho Kosei-kai announces its new goal, "Cultivating the Fields in Our Hearts and Minds." |
| 1999 |
October 4 (Photo 7) |
Founder Niwano dies of natural causes at the age of 92. |
| 1999 |
November 25 |
President Niwano and representatives from Rissho Kosei-kai attend the seventh assembly of the WCRP in Amman, Jordan. |
| 2000 |
October 1 |
The Precious Stupa of the One Vehicle is completed to honor Founder Niwano. |
| 2000 |
November 28 |
President Niwano and Rissho Kosei-kai members take part in the thirtieth anniversary of the WCRP in Kyoto. |
