The Niwano Peace Foundation, affiliated with Rissho Kosei-kai, was established in 1978 to stimulate work and research for world peace in a religious spirit, involving contemporary thought, culture, science, education, and related fields. Since 1979 the foundation has annually presented grants to assistance activities and research projects that are based on a religious spirit.

The founder of the Niwano Peace Foundation is Rev. Nikkyo Niwano, who established Rissho Kosei-kai in 1938 and was its first president. For decades he promoted interreligious cooperation both on the national and international levels for the common goals of human happiness and world peace. Rev. Niwano held the idea that people of faith are given the vital mission of cooperating to achieve these goals on the basis of mutual understanding.

Since 1983 the foundation has awarded the Niwano Peace Prize to honor distinguished individuals or groups that contribute to world peace through interreligious dialogue, disarmament, the defense of human rights, and conflict resolution. The Niwano Peace Prize is awarded annually on the basis of recommendations by over one thousand leading figures in more than one hundred countries, which are considered with strict impartiality by the Niwano Peace Prize Committee.

To learn more, visit https://www.npf.or.jp/english/.