Will handing over of Japan’s Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara’s ashes to family lead to group’s comeback?

One year after the execution of the mastermind behind the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack in Tokyo, Asahara’s daughter is embroiled in a court fight with her family members for his ashes

But authorities fear giving the guru’s remains to relatives may lead to his veneration or spark a revival of the cult

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Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara. Photo: EPA

Published: 8:00am, 6 Jul 2019Updated: 10:11pm, 6 Jul 2019

On the anniversary of his execution, one of the daughters of the founder of Japan’s notorious Aum Shinrikyo cult is locked in a bitter legal battle with the rest of her family for his ashes.

Shoko Asahara, 63, was executed on July 6 last year, along with six other senior members of the cult, for a series of crimes, including the 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway trains, which killed 13 people.

Asahara’s body was cremated soon after he was hanged at the Tokyo Detention House but his ashes remain there because his family disagrees over what to do with them.

There is also concern that if the ashes are handed over to relatives who are still members of the cult, they might become a rallying point or an object of veneration for followers, who continue to adhere to Asahara’s teaching.

The fourth daughter of the group’s founder applied to the Tokyo Family Court in December to have her father’s remains handed to her, claiming that it was Asahara’s wish. The 29-year-old woman has been successful in petitioning previous court hearings to protect her privacy, with judges telling local media not to release her name.

The woman told the court, which is expected to issue a ruling soon, that she had renounced Aum Shinrikyo, was estranged from her mother and siblings and she wants to scatter her father's ashes from a boat in the Pacific Ocean, national broadcaster NHK reported.