The Japanese sect Ho No Hana Sanpogyo (法の華三法行 ''Hō No Hana Sanpōgyō'') was a
new religious movement
A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...
founded by "His Holiness" Hogen Fukunaga. The sect was found to have engaged in
fortune telling fraud
Fortune telling fraud, also called the bujo or egg curse scam, is a type of confidence trick, based on a claim of secret or occult information. The basic feature of the scam involves diagnosing the victim (the "mark") with some sort of secret p ...
in Japan.
History
It is often called the "
foot reading cult", because its founder, Hogen Fukunaga, claimed he could make a diagnosis by examining people's feet. He founded the group in 1987 after an alleged
spiritual event where he claimed to have realized he was the
reincarnation
Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is a ...
of
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
and the
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...
. The group at one time claimed 30,000 members. However, Fukunaga charged $900 for the foot readings and a suspicion arose that he used the money to benefit himself. He was accused of swindling money from housewives and had to pay over a million dollars in damages.
Fukunaga started preaching in 1980, claiming to be the world's final savior following Jesus Christ and the Buddha.
["Honohana foot-cult guru gets 12 years for fraud"](_blank)
''The Japan Times'', July 16, 2005 He was then 34 and saddled with 500 million yen of debt. Soon he became a household name through the publication of texts (nearly 70 at latest count) penned by
ghostwriters. In 1987 the sect gained official recognition as a
religious corporation.
["Supreme and ugly truths"](_blank)
''Asahi News'', May 7, 2000
In a twist on
palm reading
Palmistry is the pseudoscientific practice of fortune-telling through the study of the palm. Also known as palm reading, chiromancy, chirology or cheirology, the practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those who ...
, Fukunaga and other cult leaders read the soles of people's feet.
["Police raid foot-reading cult"]
''Mainichi Daily News'', Dec. 2, 1999, They told the victims, who visited the cult for counseling about physical or family problems, that their problems would worsen unless they attended a cult seminar, which cost 2.25 million yen, or donated up to 14.3 million yen to the cult. They used shocking words to fuel their concern, falsely claimed their diseases could be cured through training in his cult, and swindled exorbitant amounts of money from them.
They were urged to purchase high-priced scrolls and other ornaments that were said to ward off evil, cure illnesses, deliver from sin, and break family curses.
[
The intimidation was often accompanied by a specific threat.] A victim was coerced during a number of visits by cult officials to shell out another $22,000 for a five-day training seminar at the cult's sprawling headquarters below Mount Fuji
, or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest p ...
. The purpose, he said, was to "purify" his mind and body.[Uli Schmetzer]
"In Japan, Spirituality Search Can Lead to Cults"
''Chicago Tribune'', January 5, 2001
The leader set cult members strict recruitment goals in a bid to swell the group's ranks. Separate goals were set for each of the group's branch offices. When the cult's new facility was being built, at a cost of 600 million yen, Fukunaga reportedly ordered cult members to work toward an even harder goal.
Staff members eagerly studied Fukunaga's methods of threatening people to make them enroll in special training sessions, the sources said. At these meetings, Fukunaga repeatedly said that lying was acceptable to lure people to enroll in the special training. "You should use your 'wisdom' and say things, even if they may not actually be true." He explained that lies were acceptable as people would learn reason once they began the special training. The group prepared a manual to train people.
''Mainichi Daily News'' (Japan), Dec. 3, 1999
Fukunaga would wear $5,000 suits and custom-made Italian shoes. His wife, according to senior cult members, regularly spent $6,000 to $7,000 a month shopping.[ Fukunaga reportedly obtained 60 billion yen from more than 10,000 people over the past 13 years, while he spent enormous amounts enhancing his reputation as a religious leader by "buying" audiences with former ]Soviet President
The president of the Soviet Union (russian: Президент Советского Союза, Prezident Sovetskogo Soyuza), officially the president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (), abbreviated as president of the USSR (), was ...
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
and Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
, President Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
, Mother Teresa
Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was bo ...
,[ ]Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
, Sathya Sai Baba
Sathya Sai Baba (born Ratnakaram Sathyanarayana Raju; 23 November 192624 April 2011) was an Indian guru. At the age of fourteen he claimed that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, and left his home to serve his devotees.
Sai Baba's b ...
and celebrities.[
According to a report by Christian newsweekly ''World'': "The Clinton ]White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
fundraising scandal",
In May 1996, a fundraising
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...
dinner organized by Mr. Huang was held at the Sheraton Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Yogesh Gandhi
Gandhi Memorial International Foundation, also known as the Mahatma Gandhi International Foundation, was a controversial non-profit organization run by Yogesh K. Gandhi, born Yogesh Kathari,"Investigation of Illegal or Improper Activities in Connec ...
, a distant relative of Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
, paid for his ticket and that of a friend, Dr. Hogen Fukunaga, with a $325,000 contribution. (At the dinner, Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Fukunaga presented Mr. Clinton the 1996 "Mahatma Gandhi World Peace Award
Gandhi Memorial International Foundation, also known as the Mahatma Gandhi International Foundation, was a controversial non-profit organization run by Yogesh K. Gandhi, born Yogesh Kathari,"Investigation of Illegal or Improper Activities in Connec ...
.") Mr. Fukunaga, leader of a Japanese religious sect known as Ho no Hana Sanpogyo, is a multimillionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. In countries that use the short scal ...
, while Mr. Gandhi, a naturalized American, is a man of little means, indeed a "pauper", according to papers filed in his recent divorce case. After ''The Los Angeles Times'' reported in October the details of Mr. Gandhi's lowly economic status, the DNC concluded that the $325,000 he had donated probably never belonged to him and returned "his" money.
The founder was sentenced to 12 years in prison for bilking his flock out of 150 million yen in the name of religious training. 15 senior cult members were charged with the mass fraud
In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
. Nine of the 15 were given verdicts, with all of them convicted."Japanese foot-reading cult's 2IC jailed for five years"
AFP, December 6, 2001 Prosecutors charged them with practicing medicine without a license. Fukunaga might yet face manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...
charges in the deaths of four recruits who died during rigorous initiation rites at Mount Fuji.
Legal experts say Japan's criminal justice system is ill-equipped to combat the cult phenomenon.[
]
References
{{reflist
External links
"Japanese court throws book at foot cult", Salon
Religious organizations based in Japan
Religious organizations established in 1987
Hana
Hana or HANA may refer to:
Places Europe
* Haná, an ethnic region in Moravia, Czech Republic
* Traianoupoli, Greece, called Hana during the Ottoman period
* Hana, Norway, a borough in the city of Sandnes, Norway
West Asia
* Hana, Iran, a city ...
Buddhist new religious movements
Christian new religious movements
Confidence tricks
Japanese new religions
Cults