Makiguchi was born in the small village Arahama of Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, on 23 July 1871 (lunar calendar date 6 June).

In its 1933 re-edition, historian Brian Victoria points that "Makiguchi advocated the widely held proposition that loyal service to the emperor and state was of paramount importance" and supported Japan's expansion in Asia, claiming "that Korea, prior to being annexed by Japan in August 1910, had long been in a state of anarchy (...), the Chinese people presently found themselves in exactly the same situation."

[3] In June 1928, he became a religious convert and practitioner of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism, having been introduced by Tokyo business high school principal Sokei Mitani.

A few month later, they publish the first volume of Makiguchi's magnum opus on educational reform, Sōka Kyōikugaku Taikei (創価教育学体系, The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy).

"[8] In this work, Makiguchi also formulated the concept of humanitarian competition as an approach to international relations, writing that: "The important thing is the setting of a goal of well being and protection of all people, including oneself but not at the increase of self-interest alone.

"[12]: 2, 5, 6 The publisher of Makiguchi's Sōka Kyōikugaku Taikei, volume one, on 18 November 1930 was Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai (創 価 教 育 学 会; English: Value-Creation Education Society), a society of reform-minded educators and teachers that over the course of the 1930s grew more inclusive of broader social reform and became today's Soka Gakkai organization.

His gradual shift in focus from educational to religious means of social reform may be traced to several factors, including the personal tragedies of the deaths of four of his children and the increasing military dominance in every facet of society, in tandem with his embrace of Nichiren's philosophy.

[5]: 90–91 In Nichiren's teachings Makiguchi had found support for his theory of value-creation and a world view consistent with his aims of educational reform and social betterment centered on addressing the subjective realities of the individual.

Most of the other imprisoned members of Soka Kyoiku Gakkai caved to the extreme interrogation tactics, however Makiguchi never yielded, continuing to assert the value of freedom of religion as a fundamental human right.

The 1973 film Ningen kakumei (The Human Revolution), directed by Toshio Masuda, dramatizes the educational career of Makiguchi, his relationship with Josei Toda, and his WWII imprisonment for his beliefs during which he died.