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This week I'm going to recommend On Revolution by Hannah Arendt.

She is of course most famous for Eichmann in Jerusalem, but Hannah Arendt wrote a great deal

of philosophy, though apparently she herself rejected the term philosopher.

For my money, this is one of her most interesting and also one of her most straightforward pieces of writing, describing the relationship between revolution, violence, and political legitimacy.

Go to audible trial.com slash Japan to claim your copy. Hello and welcome to the history of Japan podcast, episode 360, A Nation in a Nation, Part 4.

By the 1970s, I think it's fair to say that Soka Gakai was firmly established as one of the most

powerful forces in Japanese Buddhism. I mean, they'd formed their own political party for crying

out loud, even if it's not officially a part of the group anymore. The fact that Soka Gakkai was a lay organization subordinate, theoretically,

to the overarching hierarchy of Nietzsche-Sho-Buddism,

seemed to be undercut by the raw number of followers the Gakkai had.

And frankly, as we covered last week,

the fact that Nichiren Shoshu literally dissolved another lay sect that was critical of Soka Gakai's theological interpretations,

does not scream clear hierarchy of leadership to me. The group enjoyed substantial organizational

independence.

Even Ikeda Daisaku's vision of Sokha Gakai, which he began to articulate more in the 70s,

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