by Masuo Nezu

"Do everything honestly, with your whole heart"

Special advisor and former Chief Director Motoyuki Naganuma, who acted as go-between for both President Niwano's daughters Kosho and Ryoko (now Yukako), later reminisced, saying to those around him in Rissho Kosei-kai with a bright smile, "The girls seemed quite pleased, as if to say, 'Look at the man I have chosen.'"

(Left to right) Munehiro Niwano, his bride Kosho, and Rev. Nikkyo Niwano. A commemorative photo taken at the Horin-kaku Guest Hall before the young couple's wedding on June 22, 1995.

Not just the present President Niwano and his wife, but Founder Niwano, too, was happy saying, "Bridegrooms become sons in deeply religious families." The daughters' new lives were launched with that powerful benediction.

The wedding of Kosho was held on June 22, 1995. By chance, that was the memorial day for the passing of Founder Niwano's mother. The wedding ceremony was performed in the Eijuden Hall on the seventh floor of the Great Sacred Hall, where many years earlier Kosho's parents, Nichiko and Yoshie, had also been wed. On this day--which marks the start of the new history of Rissho Kosei-kai--Kosho, with her husband, Munehiro, said from the platform in the main hall of the Great Sacred Hall to all the members gathered there, "Together the two of us pledge to serve others." She went on to say that their determination was derived from Founder Niwano's words: "All will be well if you seek to do everything honestly, and with your whole heart."

That sentiment had been expressed to them in recognition of the monumental future task of Kosho's becoming the third president of Rissho Kosei-kai.

The present President Niwano also said, on behalf of the two families, "Please lend your support and give encouragement to these two who are now about to take their first step together as one."

The wedding reception was held the next day in the main hall of Horin-kaku Guest Hall, in a relaxed atmosphere. Kosho said to the guests, "Though it might have been better to prepare a message, I simply asked Founder Niwano, 'What shall I say tomorrow?' He said to me, 'Don't worry about it; they're all your relatives."

Shortly before the reception ended, President Niwano stood up and said with a broad smile. "I have been giving a lot of thought to being sure that I said the right thing to the newlyweds today."

In his message of congratulations to the new couple that followed, he said, "So far, my immediate family has consisted of my wife and four daughters--five women and only one man! Now, with a strong new ally, my son-in-law, it's five against two. Together, we can stand up to these women." (Laughter)

"This will be great. When the groom returns home, I'll be able to enjoy drinking sake with him."

Later, the president's remarks took a more serious turn. He concluded, "They are walking the difficult path of inheriting the lamp of the Dharma. Both are still immature. Please give them your guidance--warmly, but firmly."

President Nichiko Niwano's second daughter, Ryoko, married Noriyuki Tanaka in October of 1996. She then became Yukako Tanaka. (That is, Yukako is her new Buddhist name.) When the parents of the two families met for the first time, something like the following occurred. After exchanging salutations, both sets of parents sat Japanese-style on the tatami mats. President Niwano said, "I like this way of sitting best; it is the most relaxing." So saying, he folded the seat cushion in two and sat on it with his legs crossed.

President Nichiko Niwano escorts his second daughter, Yukako, to the bridegroom's table at the reception following her wedding ceremony at a Tokyo hotel on October 10, 1996.

Both parents of the groom had been ardent members of Rissho Kosei-kai from their youth. Later, Noriyuki explained me what had happened in the day when the parents of both the bride and groom met. "My father is a man who never skips sutra chanting, even if it means doing so after he comes home late at night." Reflecting on events connected with their meeting with President Niwano, he said, "He and my mother were very ill-at-ease at that first meeting." With just a few thoughtful words from President Niwano the atmosphere became relaxed. Sake was served and the conversation drifted to the childhoods of the two young people.

The wedding took place on October 10. A book newly published that month, from Kosei Publishing Company, had arrived at the president's room in the Horin-kaku Guest Hall just a couple of days earlier. Rev. Niwano took it home and inscribed it with his writing-brush: "Congratulations to Yukako! October 10, 1996--Father Nichiko" and he presented it to Yukako.

In that book, commenting on a passage of the eminent 13th-century Buddhist priest Shinran, the author writes about the warm ties between parent and child and their deep sense of unity.

In the evening before the wedding day, Yukako saluted her parents. She later said, "My father bowed his head slightly and said nothing. Maybe he wasn't able to say anything. My mother said, 'Be good to your Tanaka parents and make yourself loved by them.'"

The bride and groom both wore Japanese attire throughout the wedding ceremony. However, for the reception that followed the bride wore a Western-style wedding dress. President Niwano took her arm and led her to the main table--escorting her as the father of the bride--and at the table, passed her on to the bridegroom. Founder Niwano looked on with warm emotion.

This series of articles was originally published in Japanese in 2000 under the title Kaiso Zuimonki: Egao no Ushirosugata.