NEW KOMEITO was previously known as The Komeito Party until 1998.
The Komeito Party was founded in 1964 and at that time, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was the ruling party. The LDP chiefly reflected the profit of capitalists while the biggest opposition party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was based on labor unions. At that time however, there were many people belonging to neither the capitalists class nor to labor unions. They were so called the masses.

At first The Komeito Party was mainly supported by the SOKA GAKKAI, a religious organization, that gradually became supported by the mass of the people. The purpose of The Komeito Party was to pursue peace and happiness for both the individuals and humankind. It's motto was: For the people, Of the people, and By the people.

From the 1990s' the Japanese political landscape underwent a major transformation. In 1994, the Members of the House of Representatives of The Komeito Party entered into the New Frontier Party. The Members of the House of Councillors and municipal and prefectural assembly members formed The Komei Party.

This transformation was in response to the era of two party-politics, the LDP and NFP. In 1994 the election system of the House of Representatives was reformed which resulted in the introduction of single-seat constituencies.
Due to this reform, several opposition parties joined the NFP.

However during the 1996 elections for the House of Representatives, the NFP wasn't able to gain enough seats which resulted in the disbanding of the NFP the following year. As a result, members of the former Komeito Party and Komei Party established the NEW KOMEITO party in 1997.

During the 1998 elections for the House of Councillors, the DPJ advanced leaving the LDP without a majority. In 1999, to prevent such situation from occurring again, the LDP, Liberal Party and NEW KOMEITO agreed to partner in a coalition government. Soon after, the Liberal Party led by Ichiro Ozawa seceded from the coalition government leading to a LDP-NEW KOMEITO coalition government.