Shoko Asahara

Shoko Asahara is the founder of the cult Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese cult famous for a sarin gas attack in 1995.

Early Years
Shoko Asahara was born on March 2nd 1955, and his name at that time was Chizuo Matsumoto. He came from a large and very poor family of mat-makers. He suffered from partial blindness do to glaucoma and had to enter a school for the blind. Though he lost most of his sight he could still see better then most of the other children, which allowed him to bully them into doing whatever he wanted. As an adult, he applied to a prestigious university in Tokyo but was rejected. Instead he used his knowledge of acupuncture and yoga to become an instructor in these arts. During his meditations, Matsumoto began to have strange visions, one of which he believed he was a "light god". He founded his cult Aum Shinrikyo, which translated in English means "Supreme Truth", and changed his name to Shoko Asahara.

Aum Shinrikyo and the Sarin Gas attacks.
Asahara's following was somewhere around 5,000 members, most of which were scientists and engineers. They had a similar goal of seeking deeper meaning in their lives and joined Aum Shinrikyo to do it. Asahara taught that the end of the world was coming by referencing religions like Buddhism, Confucianism, and the writing of Nostradamus. He had his followers produce weapons of mass destruction that were supposedly needed to bring about the end of this world so that a new one can take its place. In 1995, the group used the nerve gas called Sarin on the Tokyo subways killing 12 people and injuring over 1,000. Aum Shinrikyo was quickly pinpointed as the cause and Asahara fled. he was eventually captured and sentenced to death. He currently awaits execution. His group still exists in Japan, though greatly diminished, under the name of Aleph.