Japanese police stamp on foot fetish cult

Japanese police yesterday swooped on a cult guru accused of a bizarre foot-reading swindle that has netted its practitioners £500m.

Hogen Fukunaga, the self-proclaimed reincarnation of Buddha and Christ, was arrested with 11 acolytes and charged with defrauding five women of 25m yen (£150,000).

His detention marks the climax of a four-year investigation into the Ho-no-Hana Sanpogyo cult, which attracts followers by offering to diagnose their spiritual and mental health through an examination of their soles and toes.

The followers paid 100,000 yen (£600 ) to have their feet stroked and scrutinised by Mr Fukunaga and other senior acolytes who claimed their powers were granted by a voice from heaven.

Based on the colour of the skin and marks on the toes, the foot readers predicted that the victims would suffer such fates as dying from Aids or falling into debt, or that their children would commit suicide.

A blemish on the big toe was said to indicate that the problem derived from the parents, on the second toe it was the grandparents and this pattern ran down to the little toe, where a mark indicated that today's problems could be traced to the follower's great-great-great grandparents.

Almost every diagnosis pin pointed anguish and suffering, which was hardly surprising as the followers had to write down their problems before each consultation with the sole-readers.

According to police, the sole-readers also followed a manual instructing them to make apocalyptic predictions that could only be averted by enrolling on three-day lecture sessions costing £15,000 or by purchasing expensive religious scrolls or a pinch of Buddha's ashes for £120,000.

"I was told that if I did nothing I would die of cancer, but if I followed the voice of heaven, then I would be cured," one victim told police.

Mr Fukunaga and his acolytes are believed to have taken in more than 22,000 people with the scam, netting themselves about 87bn yen (£512m) since the group was founded in 1987.

The arrest appears to mark the end for the 55-year-old Mr Fukunaga, a former electrical engineer who liked to mix with the rich and famous.

Ho-no-Hana's publications show the guru shaking hands with the Pope, Mother Teresa and Margaret Thatcher.

Mr Fukunaga denied fraud, saying he was no longer responsible because he had given up his position as head of the cult in January.

"I was just obeying the voices of heaven, but now I cannot remember what they told me," he said.

However, the arrest should not concern him too much - he has predicted that human beings will disappear from the Earth next January.

Groups that prey on members

Thanks to liberal religious beliefs and generous tax incentives, Japan is home to more than 20,000 new religions, several of which have recently been exposed as dangerous frauds or expensive gambles

Life Space has 150 members. It came into the spotlight in November when members were found trying to heal a decaying corpse that had been left in a hotel room for months. The cult's leader, accountant-turned-guru Koji Takahashi, who was paid to carry out the "treatment", said that the changing colour of the corpse was proof that the man was still alive

Kaedajuku has under 50 members. The group is led by management consultant Ju nichiro Higashi, who was found in January with two mummified children. He told police he was trying to revive the corpses with his energy, having charged the parents about 1m yen for the treatment

Myokaku-ji Leaders of this buddhist group swindled followers out of 19.8bn yen (£115m) in 1996. One of the group's tactics was to demand fees to exorcise the spirits of aborted foetuses from women who were guilt-stricken

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