Seattle Incident | Conspiracy allegations | Split and Timeline The personal nature of the conflict | The Temple Issue


Hiroe Clowe

Hiroe Clowe was a Japanese born leader of the Sokagakkai of the SGI-USA. She had married an American Serviceman and moved to the USA sometime in the late fifties/early sixties. By the 1960's she had received enough benefit from her practice to become one of the pioneering members in the Seattle Area.

Like most of the Japanese Fujimbu leaders she was self effacing and content to be "behind the scenes of the organization. She was among the "Mothers" who spent much time helping create and develop NSA and mentoring the young men and women who joined it. She was also one of the leaders who made sure that dignitaries and top leaders and priests were protected from harm or from bad publicity during their visits. Frequently when important people came to visit, entire armies of such leaders would be marshalled to "take care of them.

Involvement in Events of the sixties

In 1963 she was among the first of the American members to receive a visit by President Ikeda and various other leaders and priests of the then Nichiren Shoshu of America, which was a subgroup of the Sokagakkai but at that time still part of the Nichiren Shoshu. This was a joyous ocassion for the members, as it was the first time a priest was able to come to the country in order to grant Gohonzon to the members who had been shakubukued (converted) in the USA by these pioneers from Japan. If you read the publications from that time you can see the great joy that all the members were feeling.

Because this was such an honor, Nittatsu Shonin sent one of his most senior priests. This man was a middle aged senior priest named Nikken Abe. Reverend Abe had the honor of performing the first "Gojukai"(conferal of Gohonzon) ceremonies on USA members. Not just in Seattle, but across the country. Mr Williams and other leaders accompanied him to all of these places along with a small army of an entourage. He stayed in nice hotels everywhere he went.

Ms. Clow and the Seattle incident

There was one incident though, which seems to have occured during this visit that later would come back to haunt everyone involved. This incident is what later came to be known as the "Seattle Incident." Supposedly he left his apartment. Supposedly he was sleeping.

Ms. Clowe, would probably have retained in obscurity, perhaps remembered fondly by those whom she had "raised" and her own family, but completely anonymous, had it not been for an essay she submitted years later about her experience with then Study Department Chief Nikken Abe during his 1963 visit to Seattle. In that essay she claimed to have had to prevent his arrest and deportation after two officers were called to mediate an alteration with two prostitutes in Seattle's then red light district. It was her job, so she admitted herself, to cover up any such indiscretions, and either she had done such a good job that little evidence remained of what happened.

This essay was published around 1991. It was one of many essays alleging abuse by the priesthood of their authority as priests. These essays were meant to "prove" that priests were evil, and that therefore their doctrines did not have to be followed by the SGI, which had just become embroiled in a dispute with Nichiren Shoshu -- on the surface -- over some unfortunate remarks made by President Ikeda at a leaders meeting he had attended -- But realy a result of years of accumulated and hidden tensions between the priests and layfolks of Nichiren Shoshu and the Sokagakkai. This essay might not have been so important except for one important fact. In the meantime Nikken Abe had become the next high priest of Nichiren Shoshu. That made it very important.

Lawsuits, Countersuits, and Big Stinks

Naturally he denied everything. Even trotting out a diary that didn't really prove anything. He also hired lawyers to defame her, discredit her testimony, and make sure that anything that was proved would be "spinned" in such a way so that believers could keep "believing" that High Priest Nikken hadn't done anything wrong.

And naturally the Gakkai hired lawyers and the results ended up in the courts.

She tried to sue him (for libel) in American Courts, but the courts turned her down for jurisdictional (and timeliness) reasons. The whole thing was just an incident in the US but it was big news in Japan. In Japan Nikken sued her for libel and she countersued. The whole mess became a protracted court and tabloid battle. It was one of many personal and tabloid style accusations that flew around directed either at Ikeda himself, or at the priests.

Resolution?

She died on March 23 1996, while the trial (suit by Nikken) was still underway. The suspicious Nichiren Shoshu lawyers had her body examined thoroughly and made dark intimations that she was murdered. Her daughter, Judy Clowe, later complained about the rudeness and harrassing behavior of the Japanese lawyers representing Nichiren Shoshu towards her and her mother. Eventually her trial was won by her codefendents, at least to the point of proving that something had happened in Seattle. At every turn, you saw reports sent to Nichiren Shoshu members that insisted that they had won the lawsuits, that Nikken was innocent, and that she had written this essay to "get him." Maybe that was part of it. Eventually both sides were forbidden to libel one another. And both sides called that a victory for their own side. The Japanese members really did treat this as a war. For a timeline of the incident and more details visit:

seattle.html.

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