True Crime-Paranormal-Conspiracy Theories Stories Part V #Wattys2023

Ho No Hana Sanpogyo

The Japanese sect Ho No HanaSanpogyo (法の華三法行 HōNo Hana Sanpōgyō) was a new religious movement founded by "HisHoliness" Hogen Fukunaga. The sect was found to have engagedin fortune telling fraud in Japan.

History

It is often called the "footreading cult", because its founder, Hogen Fukunaga, claimedhe could make a diagnosis by examining people's feet. He founded thegroup in 1987 after an alleged spiritual event where he claimed tohave realized he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and theBuddha. The group at one time claimed 30,000 members. However,Fukunaga charged $900 for the foot readings and a suspicion arosethat he used the money to benefit himself. He was accused ofswindling money from housewives and had to pay over a million dollarsin damages.

Fukunaga started preaching in 1980,claiming to be the world's final savior following Jesus Christ andthe Buddha. 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 sectgained official recognition as a religious corporation.

In a twist on palm reading, Fukunagaand other cult leaders read the soles of people's feet. They told thevictims, who visited the cult for counseling about physical or familyproblems, that their problems would worsen unless they attended acult seminar, which cost 2.25 million yen, or donated up to 14.3million yen to the cult. They used shocking words to fuel theirconcern, falsely claimed their diseases could be cured throughtraining in his cult, and swindled exorbitant amounts of money fromthem. They were urged to purchase high-priced scrolls and otherornaments that were said to ward off evil, cure illnesses, deliverfrom sin, and break family curses.

The intimidation was often accompaniedby a specific threat. A victim was coerced during a number of visitsby cult officials to shell out another $22,000 for a five-daytraining seminar at the cult's sprawling headquarters below MountFuji. The purpose, he said, was to "purify" his mindand body.

The leader set cult members strictrecruitment goals in a bid to swell the group's ranks. Separate goalswere set for each of the group's branch offices. When the cult's newfacility was being built, at a cost of 600 million yen, Fukunagareportedly ordered cult members to work toward an even harder goal.Staff members eagerly studied Fukunaga's methods of threateningpeople to make them enroll in special training sessions, the sourcessaid. At these meetings, Fukunaga repeatedly said that lying wasacceptable to lure people to enroll in the special training. "Youshould use your 'wisdom' and say things, even if they may notactually be true." He explained that lies were acceptable aspeople would learn reason once they began the special training. Thegroup prepared a manual to train people.

Fukunaga would wear $5,000 suits andcustom-made Italian shoes. His wife, according to senior cultmembers, regularly spent $6,000 to $7,000 a month shopping. Fukunagareportedly obtained 60 billion yen from more than 10,000 people overthe past 13 years, while he spent enormous amounts enhancing hisreputation as a religious leader by "buying"audiences with former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and PopeJohn Paul II, President Clinton, Mother Teresa, Margaret Thatcher,Sathya Sai Baba and celebrities.

According to a report by Christiannewsweekly World: "The Clinton White House fundraisingscandal",

In May 1996, a fundraisingdinner organized by Mr. Huang was held at the Sheraton Carlton Hotelin Washington, D.C. Yogesh Gandhi, a distant relative of MahatmaGandhi, 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 WorldPeace Award.") Mr. Fukunaga, leader of a Japanese religioussect known as Ho no Hana Sanpogyo, is a multimillionaire, while Mr.Gandhi, a naturalized American, is a man of little means, indeed a"pauper", according to papers filed in his recentdivorce case. After The Los Angeles Times reported in October thedetails of Mr. Gandhi's lowly economic status, the DNC concluded thatthe $325,000 he had donated probably never belonged to him andreturned "his" money.

The founder was sentenced to 12 yearsin prison for bilking his flock out of 150 million yen in the name ofreligious training. 15 senior cult members were charged with the massfraud. Nine of the 15 were given verdicts, with all of themconvicted. Prosecutors charged them with practicing medicine withouta license. Fukunaga might yet face manslaughter charges in the deathsof four recruits who died during rigorous initiation rites at MountFuji.

Legal experts say Japan's criminaljustice system is ill-equipped to combat the cult phenomenon.