REIYU-KAI

(Japanese: Association of the Friends of the Spirit), Japanese lay religion based on the teachings of the Nichiren school of Buddhism. The Reiyu-kai was founded in 1925 by Kubo Kakutaro, a carpenter, and Kotani Kimi, who took over its leadership in 1944 on the death of Kubo. It achieved its peak of influence during the years before and after World War II and was the parent organization for seven new religions that subsequently split off from it, the most successful of these being the Rissho-Kosei-kai. The Reiyu-kai stresses devotion to ancestors and the efficacy of the honzon (the diagram of the name of the Lotus Sutra, the central scripture of Nichiren Buddhism). The Reiyu-kai has no clergy but relies on volunteer lay teachers who lead informal discussion groups (hoza) that meet in members' homes.