The Peace Pagoda was offered to the people of London by the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Order as part of the 1984 Greater London Council (GLC) Peace Year.
Nipponzan Myohoji is a religious movement that emerged from the Nichiren sect of Japanese Buddhism. They have been constructing Peace Pagodas as the spiritual focus to unify the movement for peace since 1947. They exist all around the world – in Europe, Asia and the United States.
The pagoda in Battersea was built by monks, nuns and followers of Nipponzan Myōhōji at the behest of The Venerable Nichidatsu Fujii (1885–1985), founder of the organisation.