Aum Shinrikyo (Shoko Asahara)
Japanese new religious movement founded by Chizuo Matsumoto (Shoko Asahara) in 1984. Combined Buddhist, Hindu, and Christian apocalyptic elements with paramilitary training. Perpetrated the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack; Asahara and 12 others executed in 2018.
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
0 — at ceiling; perpetrators of the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack killing 13 and injuring thousands.
In context
Aum Shinrikyo's transformation from a yoga group into an apocalyptic terror organisation is one of the most heavily documented cases in NRM studies. By the early 1990s the group had recruited highly educated chemists and engineers, manufactured chemical weapons, and conducted multiple attacks before the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack killed 13 and injured thousands. The Aleph and Hikari no Wa successor organisations remain under Japanese police surveillance.
Key control doctrines
- Asahara as Christ-figure / 'final liberated being'
- Apocalyptic Armageddon scenario
- Initiations involving electroshock helmets and LSD
- Severance from family ('total renunciation')
Notable public ex-members
- Multiple ex-members documented in Murakami's 'Underground'
Legal cases & controversies
- 1995 subway sarin attack
- Matsumoto sarin attack 1994
- Japanese Public Security Intelligence Agency surveillance of successor groups
Timeline
- 1984Asahara founds Aum Shinsen no Kai
- 1989Murder of Sakamoto family (anti-cult lawyer)
- 1994Matsumoto sarin attack kills 8
- 1995-03-20Tokyo subway sarin attack kills 13, injures thousands
- 2018Asahara and 12 others executed
Sources
- Robert Lifton, 'Destroying the World to Save It' (1999)
- Haruki Murakami, 'Underground' (1997)
- Japanese court records
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Search the source title plus the group name to find the original.