The Church of Perfect Liberty -- known in Japan as PL Kyodan -- was founded in 1924 by Tokuharu Miki, a former Zen Buddhist priest who believed that all human expression is a form of art and that living artfully is the path to spiritual peace. The religion now claims over one million followers spread across more than ten countries, with its Grand Main Office headquartered in Tondabayashi, a city in Osaka Prefecture about 30 kilometers southeast of central Osaka. The movement operates hospitals, schools, and golf courses. PL Gakuen, the church's school, is famous in Japan for its baseball team, a regular contender at the National High School Baseball Championship at Koshien Stadium. The peace tower rises from the center of this religious campus, dominating the skyline of an otherwise quiet residential area at the foot of the Kongo mountain range.

The tower's full official name translates roughly to 'Super-Sectarian International War Victim Memorial Great Peace Prayer Tower' -- a title as sprawling as its ambition. Completed in August 1970, just twenty-five years after the end of World War II, the cenotaph was designed by Tokuchika Miki, the second leader of PL Kyodan and son of the founder. Nikken Sekkei, one of Japan's largest architectural firms, oversaw the engineering, while Tokyu Construction handled the build. The structure combines expanded clay and concrete for earthquake resistance -- a departure from the original terracotta plan. The dedication is strikingly universal: the tower honors the souls of all war victims regardless of race, ethnic group, sovereign state, border, religion, or denomination. Remains of unidentified war victims are interred within. Each year on August 1, a memorial ceremony is held where participants pray for world peace.

The August 1 ceremony is not merely solemn. It culminates in the PL Art of Fireworks, one of the largest fireworks displays in Japan. Approximately 25,000 shells light up the sky above the tower, drawing enormous crowds to the surrounding hillsides and rooftops. The display commemorates the founders of PL Kyodan and is considered a form of artistic expression consistent with the religion's central tenet. The juxtaposition is striking: a cenotaph for the war dead, illuminated by explosions of color and sound that echo, however distantly, the violence it memorializes. For the people of Tondabayashi and the broader Osaka region, the fireworks have become a beloved summer tradition -- one of those rare events where religious observance, civic celebration, and spectacle converge into a single evening.

What makes the Dai Heiwa Kinen To remarkable is not just its size but its obscurity. A 2020 article described the tower as 'easily seen but seldom discussed.' It does not appear on most tourist itineraries. The interior is largely closed to the public, with occasional access granted to the second-floor prayer temple. A first-floor observatory that once welcomed visitors appears to have been shuttered. The tower's unconventional form -- variously compared to a finger pointing skyward and to the organic shapes of Antoni Gaudi -- makes it unmistakable from the air or the highway, yet most guidebooks skip it entirely. For pilots approaching from the south toward Osaka, the white column is one of the first vertical landmarks to appear against the green foothills, a silent gesture toward a peace that its builders believed could embrace the whole of humanity.