Who Is Shoko Asahara? Age, Biography, and Wiki
Shoko Asahara was born on March 2, 1955, in Kumamoto, Japan. Originally named Chizuo Matsumoto, he later adopted the name Shoko Asahara after founding the religious cult Aum Shinrikyo in 1984. Known for its blend of Buddhism and apocalyptic beliefs, Aum Shinrikyo gained international notoriety for its criminal activities, including the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack that left 13 people dead and over 5,000 injured. Asahara was executed on July 6, 2018, for his role in these crimes. As of 2025, his legacy continues to spark discussions about cults and extremism.
| Occupation | Religious Leader |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | |
| Age | 70 Years |
| Birth Place | N/A |
| Horoscope | |
| Country |
Popularity
Shoko Asahara's Popularity over time
Height, Weight & Measurements
While precise details regarding Shoko Asahara's physical stature remain obscure, it is generally reported that he stood at approximately 5 feet 3 inches (160 cm) tall. His weight fluctuated throughout his life, often associated with health issues, particularly in his later years. Asahara was not known for a significant public presence concerning body measurements, and thus specific details are not widely documented.
At the end of 1994, the cult broke into the Hiroshima factory of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, in an attempt to steal technical documents on military weapons such as tanks and artillery. In December 1994 and January 1995, Masami Tsuchiya of Aum Shinrikyo synthesized 100 to 200 grams of VX which was used to attack three people.
On December 2, Noboru Mizuno was attacked with syringes containing VX nerve agent, leaving him in a serious condition. The VX victim, who Asahara had suspected was a spy, was attacked at 7:00 a.m. on December 12, 1994, on a street in Osaka by Tomomitsu Niimi and another Aum member, who sprinkled the nerve agent on his neck.
He chased them for about 100 yd before collapsing, dying ten days later without coming out of a deep coma. Doctors in the hospital suspected at the time he had been poisoned with an organophosphate pesticide.
But the cause of death was pinned down only after cult members were arrested for the subway attack in Tokyo in March 1995 confessed to the killing.
Family, Dating & Relationship Status
Shoko Asahara was married to a woman named Tomoko Matsumoto. Together, they had several children. His family life was marked by secrecy, as many of his followers were devoted to the cult's ideologies. In 2025, while Asahara himself is deceased, the legacy of his family and their relationship with followers and society continues to be a matter of interest, reflecting the complex dynamics surrounding Aum Shinrikyo.
Starting in 1984, Asahara made several pilgrimages to India, where he met Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. Asahara later claimed to his followers that he managed to achieve Enlightenment, met Shiva, and was given a "special mission" to preach "real Buddhism" in Japan.
The Dalai Lama later distanced himself from Asahara and said that he had met "a strange Japanese man", but denied having any significant relationship with him.
Asahara returned permanently to Japan in 1987 and assumed the title sonshi meaning "guru" before stating that he had mastered meditation to such an extent that he could lift himself with his mind.
He promoted this achievement with pamphlets produced by his own publishing company, but outside a few Japanese periodicals with an occult subject, little publicity was achieved.
Net Worth and Salary
Shoko Asahara's net worth during his lifetime has been a topic of speculation. It is believed that his wealth stemmed from the financial contributions of his followers to Aum Shinrikyo. In 2025, his financial legacy is clouded by his controversial history, with followers often facing scrutiny over the wealth amassed by the cult prior to its dissolution. Exact figures regarding his net worth have remained undisclosed and are mostly inconclusive due to the cult's secretive financial operations.
The cult started attracting controversy in the late-1980s with accusations of deception of recruits, holding cult members against their will, forcing members to donate money and murdering a cult member who tried to leave in February 1989. Kaplan and Marshall alleged in their book that Aum was also connected with such activities as extortion.
The group, authors report, "commonly took patients into its hospitals and then forced them to pay exorbitant medical bills".
Career, Business, and Investments
Asahara's career began as a yoga instructor and later turned into the creation of Aum Shinrikyo. The organization offered a mix of spiritual teachings, medical practices, and apocalyptic predictions, which attracted a dedicated following. By the 1990s, the cult had transitioned into various business ventures, including the production of its own goods and services. The 1995 sarin gas attack, however, signaled the downfall of both Asahara and the organization, leading to numerous arrests and legal trials. In 2025, the remnants of Aum Shinrikyo continue to be a subject of study concerning the intersection of religion and criminality.
On the night of June 27, 1994, the cult carried out a chemical weapons attack against civilians when they released sarin in the central Japanese city of Matsumoto, Nagano.
When carrying out the attack, Aum Shinrikyo had two goals; to attack three judges who were expected to rule against the cult in a lawsuit concerning a real estate dispute, and to test the efficacy of its sarin—which the cult was manufacturing at one of its facilities—as a weapon of mass murder.
Residents of Matsumoto had also angered Asahara by vigorously opposing his plan to set up an office and factory in the city's southern area. Opponents of the plan gathered 140,000 signatures on an anti-Aum petition, equivalent to 70 percent of Matsumoto's population at the time.
Social Network
Asahara’s public presence was largely limited to his role as a cult leader rather than an individual active on social media. After his arrest, much discourse surrounding him took place on various online platforms and forums discussing cult behavior and ideologies. In 2025, his name remains often referenced in discussions as an example of the dangers of radical belief systems, making him a significant figure in sociological studies.
Aum's original plan to release the aerosol into the Matsumoto courthouse was altered when the cult members arrived in the city after the courthouse had closed. They decided to instead target a three-story apartment building where the city's judges resided.
At 10:40 pm, members of Aum used a converted refrigerator truck to release a cloud of sarin which floated near the home of the judges. The truck's cargo space held "a heating contraption that had been specifically designed to turn "twelve litres of liquid sarin into an aerosol, and fans to diffuse the aerosol into the neighbourhood".
At 11:30 pm, Matsumoto police received an urgent report from paramedics that casualties were being transported to hospital. The patients were suffering from darkened vision, eye pain, headaches, nausea, diarrhea, miosis (constricted pupils), and numbness in their hands.
Some victims described having seen a fog with a pungent and irritating smell floating by. A total of 274 people were treated. Five dead residents were discovered in their apartments, and two died in hospital immediately after admission. An eighth victim, Sumiko Kono, remained in a coma for fourteen years and died in 2008.
The fatalities also included Yutaka Kobayashi, a 23-year-old salaryman, and Mii Yasumoto, a 29-year-old medical school student.
Education
Shoko Asahara’s educational background includes attending a partial schooling in Japan. However, as primarily noted in his pursuit of spirituality and alternative healing practices, he exhibited little formal academic achievement. Instead, his teachings often drew from various religious doctrines and esoteric knowledge rather than conventional education systems.
He had infantile glaucoma from birth, which made him lose all sight in his left eye and go partially blind in his right eye at a young age. He was enrolled in a school for the blind when he was 6 years old since he could not continue the family trade. He never lived with his family again.
