In 1884, Tanaka shifted his operations to Tokyo… . Once in Tokyo, he began to lecture frequently, sometimes twice a day, on topics then of great concern to Nichiren Buddhism, often exegeses of the Lotus Sutra, but also, and increasingly, on the life and doctrines of Nichiren himself. Symbolic of this shift was Tanaka’s decision in 1885 to rename his group the Risshō Ankokukai, the embodiment of Nichiren’s admonitions to the governemnt of Japan concerning the “establishment of righteousness” (risshō) and the “security of the country” (ankoku). Some of the lectures were delivered at temples, but as Tanaka became ever more outspoken in his denunciation of the established Nichiren order, his meetings were frequently held in rented halls. His audiences varied in size, but were often large, sometimes numbering over a thousand. And when a printing enterprise was begun in 1886, Tanaka’s fame spread beyond the immediate Tokyo area. September 1887 found him in Ibaraki prefecture, north of Tokyo, speaking on topics such as the stupidity of Amidism, the evils of Christianity, and the true faith of Nichiren. From then until 1893, Tanaka’s activities, while still based in Tokyo, spread throughout a good portion of the country, and long lecture tours became routine.

For reasons which remain somewhat obscure, Tanaka decided in 1893 to move his headquarters to Osaka. Perhaps the success of his meetings there and in cities such as Nagoya and Nara suggested a center closer at hand. By this time, furthermore, the Risshō Ankokukai was solidly established in Tokyo, and the districts west of the capital may have looked more challenging to this zealous evangelist. In any event, Tanaka moved to the Kansai area in late 1891, living first in Kyoto and later, from 1893 on, in Osaka.

For the next several years Tanaka’s activities were centered in Osaka, and they were, to say the least, prodigious. Speeches, often two hours or more in length, were almost daily occurrences, their themes increasingly concerned with what was to become Tanaka’s most important contribution to Japanese thought: the Buddhist-Shinto synthesis which provided a basis for nationalism. Publications, ranging from tracts to newspapers to full-length books, rolled off presses in Osaka and Tokyo, and, at least among the Buddhist reading public, Tanaka Chigaku became a well-known figure. …

He was constantly on the move. Lectures, ceremonial observances, instructional classes and the like took him back and forth from western to eastern Japan, until, every now and then, sheer exhaustion or illness would send him to bed. Eye trouble and neuralgia, bothersome since young manhood, became increasingly debilitating as Tanaka grew older, and from time to time he was forced to cease his travels and speech-making for periods of two or three months. Even so, he continued to write for his various publications at such times, and the result was an ever mounting bibliography of monographs and articles on Nichiren Buddhism and, increasingly, as time went on, on nationalistic themes as well. …

Advancing age slowed Tanaka down a little, but in the summer of 1935, at the invitation of the Commandant of the Kwantung Army, he embarked on a lecture tour of Manchukuo and Korea, his only journey overseas. Not long afterward, he fell ill. Able occasionally to give speeches and to write, he carried on reduced activity until the spring of 1938 when he suffered a stroke. Death came, finally, on 17 November 1939.