Editing Ho No Hana

{{More citations needed|date=August 2010}}

The Japanese sect '''Ho No Hana Sanpogyo''' (法の華三法行 ''Hō No Hana Sanpōgyō'') was a [[new religious movement]] founded by "His Holiness"<ref>Robert Pigott, [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3029183.stm "Rise of Japanese cults"], BBC News, 14 May 2003</ref> Hogen Fukunaga. The sect was found to have engaged in [[fortune telling fraud]] 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 [[Spirituality|spiritual]] event where he claimed to have realized he was the [[reincarnation]] of [[Jesus Christ]] and the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]]. 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.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1087178.stm "Foot-reader fined for fraud"], BBC, 25 December 2000</ref>

Fukunaga started preaching in 1980, claiming to be the world's final savior following Jesus Christ and the Buddha.<ref name="12 years">[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2005/07/16/national/honohana-foot-cult-guru-gets-12-years-for-fraud/ "Honohana foot-cult guru gets 12 years for fraud"], ''The Japan Times'', July 16, 2005</ref> 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 [[ghostwriter]]s. In 1987 the sect gained official recognition as a [[religious corporation]].<ref name="Supreme and ugly">[http://ftp.cultnews.net/group/1004-japanese-sects/10980-supreme-and-ugly-truths.html "Supreme and ugly truths"]{{dead link|date=June 2017}}, ''Asahi News'', May 7, 2000</ref>

In a twist on [[palm reading]], Fukunaga and other cult leaders read the soles of people's feet.<ref name=Mainichi>[http://www.apologeticsindex.org/news/an991205.html#12 "Police raid foot-reading cult"], ''Mainichi Daily News'', Dec. 2, 1999,</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2000/10/24/national/honohana-cultists-admit-to-fraud/ "Honohana cultists admit to fraud"], ''The Japan Times'', Oct. 24, 2000</ref> 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.<ref name="12 years"/> 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.<ref name=Mainichi/>

The intimidation was often accompanied by a specific threat.<ref name="Supreme and ugly"/> 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]]. The purpose, he said, was to "purify" his mind and body.<ref name=Tribune>Uli Schmetzer, [https://www.chicagotribune.com/2001/01/05/in-japan-spirituality-search-can-lead-to-cults/ "In Japan, Spirituality Search Can Lead to Cults"], ''Chicago Tribune'', January 5, 2001</ref>

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.<ref>"Cult leader set tough goals for followers", ''Yomiuri Shimbun'', December 4, 1999</ref>
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.<ref name=Apologetics>[http://www.apologeticsindex.org/news/an991205.html#13 "Sole man gladhanded rich and famous"], ''Mainichi Daily News'' (Japan), Dec. 3, 1999</ref>

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.<ref name=Tribune/> 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]] [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] and [[Pope John Paul II]],<ref name="Supreme and ugly"/> [[Bill Clinton|President Clinton]], [[Mother Teresa]],<ref name=Tribune/> [[Margaret Thatcher]], [[Sathya Sai Baba]] and celebrities.<ref name=Apologetics/>

According to a report by Christian newsweekly ''World'': "The Clinton [[White House]] fundraising scandal",

<blockquote>In May 1996, a [[fundraising]] dinner organized by Mr. Huang was held at the Sheraton Carlton Hotel in [[Washington, D.C.]] [[Yogesh Gandhi]], a distant relative of [[Mahatma Gandhi]], 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]].") Mr. Fukunaga, leader of a Japanese religious sect 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 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=The power of The purse|url=https://world.wng.org/1997/01/the_power_of_the_purse?|website=World Magazine|accessdate=9 June 2017|date=January 25, 1997}}</ref></blockquote>

The founder was sentenced to 12 years in prison for bilking his flock out of 150 million yen in the name of religious training.<ref name="12 years"/> 15 senior cult members were charged with the mass [[fraud]]. Nine of the 15 were given verdicts, with all of them convicted.<ref>[http://www.cesnur.org/2001/hono_dec01.htm "Japanese foot-reading cult's 2IC jailed for five years"], AFP, December 6, 2001</ref> Prosecutors charged them with practicing medicine without a license. Fukunaga might yet face [[manslaughter]] charges in the deaths of four recruits who died during rigorous initiation rites at Mount Fuji.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

Legal experts say Japan's criminal justice system is ill-equipped to combat the cult phenomenon.<ref name=Tribune/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.salon.com/travel/planet/2000/05/09/toes/ "Japanese court throws book at foot cult", Salon]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20020215205243/http://hss.fullerton.edu/comparative/Ho-no-hana_articles.htm "Edited articles on the "Foot Cult" of Japan", Fullerton]

{{Japanese new religions}}

[[Category:Religious organizations based in Japan]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in 1987]]
[[Category:Self-declared messiahs|Hana]]
[[Category:Buddhist new religious movements]]
[[Category:Christian new religious movements]]
[[Category:Confidence tricks]]
[[Category:Japanese new religions]]