Mahikari and AUM: In the Grip of the Black Hand

By Garry Greenwood

What connects Aum Shinrikyo's ranch in Australia, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the Tokyo subway gassing, the Star of David, Shintaro Ishihara and the Rape of Nanking in World War II? Mahikari, the Japanese new religion that proclaimed itself the leader of a Chosen People, that opened the gates of Western Australia to Aum who planned a coming global Armageddon. A former top sect leader from Canberra unravels the dark secrets of this mystery sect.

Canberra, Australia -- One by one, I pulled back the white sheets concealing the five crushed bodies of the deceased Sukyo Mahikari members as they lay there on their cold beds of stainless steel.

''Do you think you can recognise any of them?'' asked the police officer in charge of the small Australian country town's morgue. ''I've never experienced such a tragic car accident before. Who are these people? They're so young! Do you know anything about them?''

I certainly did. They were all members attached to my Sukyo Mahikari centre in Canberra, Australia. I had been one of their ''spiritual'' leaders for over 10 years. This was the second such incident in the past decade.

As I gazed down on what remained of their once youthful bodies something finally snapped inside me. Enough was enough! For the first time in more than a decade, ever since being recruited into the Japanese religious sect, Sukyo Mahikari, the first objective thoughts and questions began entering my mind. I thus resolved to uncover what could possibly be fuelling the actions which would result in such tragedies.

What sort of people were our ''masters,'' and what were their real motives?

Shortly after this tragedy I resigned my ministerial role, and not long after returned to the country of it's origin -- the land of the Gods, and the land of the Emperor -- Japan.

This time, though, I wasn't going for the purpose of worship. I was going to look behind my former master's chrysanthemum curtain. Unlike my previous seven visits to Japan, this time I refused to pay homage at Jesus Christ's purported burial site in the far north of Honshu, or at the grand Shinto shrines at Ise where I and all members had been led to believe the contents of the Ark of the Covenant were enshrined, nor at any other prescribed Sukyo Mahikari place of pilgrimage emblazoned with the Star of David - their star - the symbol of the chosen ones.

I travelled back to Japan to seek counsel of senior members of other Japanese groups who might be able to unravel some of the mystery. First, I needed to find out who really was Yoshikazu Okada, Mahikari's founder and guru, and what were his true aspirations?

Here, I learned how Okada was a lieutenant colonel and strategic planner in the Japanese attack against Nanking in 1937, after transferring from the Imperial Guards, or konohe, the Emperor's most fanatical division. This massacre became known to the world as the Rape of Nanking because 300,000 Chinese who surrendered were tortured and then killed, and some 20,000 captive women were raped.

The Subway Plan

Mahikari's Star of David emblazoned upon all their temples, and worn on the chests of members is testimony to the fact that the Chosen Ones have arrived and are poised ready to fulfil their god-ordained roles. But what exactly is their god-ordained role?

This began to be revealed to me on March 20, 1995, when the Aum Shinrikyo allegedly released deadly sarin gas inside the Tokyo subway. At the time, I had been struggling with certain passages of text meant exclusively for the eyes of ''advanced'' members contained in my Sukyo Mahikari text book.

It read in part: ''We have an awesome plan which will terrify the bravest hero; it is the subway. . . . and we will be able to destroy all the government institutions and their important papers.''

After a long search, I managed to trace those exact words to the last paragraph of Protocol No. 9 of the infamous manuscript, ''The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.'' (It was these protocols that led to Hitler's theory of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy, which resulted in the Holocaust. Most historians believe these documents were a forgery.)

Further study of the Protocols revealed a cunning and deceitful master plan for global supremacy by beckoning and awaiting the arrival of the new King of the world, who is to be aided in his quest by his Chosen Ones. Their symbol - The Star of David!

Was Sukyo Mahikari following this awesome blueprint - a plan that demands deception, cunning and ultra-nationalism? Had this plot been distilled and then further disguised in Old Testament terminology before being veiled in Oriental mysticism? Yes!

Could this also mean that Aum Shinrikyo and others were also receiving inspiration and revelation from the same source?

The Political Mastermind

According to former Liberal Democrat Diet member, Koichi Hamada, one of the Aum's sponsors was the influential LDP politician and author Shintaro Ishihara. His book ''The Japan That Can Say No,'' co-authored with the late Sony chairman Akio Morita, calls for a high-tech alliance with Russia. This was eventually implemented through a Russo-Japanese agreement on science and technology cooperation. It has become clear, in past issues of Archipelago Magazine, (http://www.pelago.com) how this alliance was used to covertly transfer Russian technology and high-tech weapons of mass destruction out of the crumbling, cash-strapped Soviet empire into Japan by Aum operatives.

In an official Japanese Sukyo Mahikari publication, ''Go Taidan Shu,'' more than 30 pages, including his photo, are dedicated to Ishihara and his quest to lead the ''new holy civilisation.'' Okada portrayed him as a high-level soul, an intimate friend and invited him and his close associates to attend a special Mahikari introductory initiation. Ishihara responded by claiming that Okada, too, has a very high spiritual level, filled with abundant positive yang (masculine) energy.

Ishihara again made international headlines in early May this year when he and his group of ultra-nationalists landed on the Chinese islet of Uotsuri (one of the Diaoyu-Senkaku islands), whereupon they raised the Japanese flag much to the indignation of China.

A quick glance through other Japanese Sukyo Mahikari propaganda shows at least 6 congratulatory messages from former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone - one including a photo opportunity accompanied by his two-page congratulatory speech. Among these pages are also found the late LDP king-maker Shin Kanemaru, who has been linked also to the Unification Church and who possessed unmarked gold ingots identical to the ones held by Aum.

In a recent personal interview with a high-ranking Mahikari official, a Mahikari friend asked: What was the role of the Emperor of Japan in their scheme of things? The reply was: ''The Emperor was originally the emperor of the whole world, a direct descendant of God and of the man who unified the whole world in ancient times. Okada said that during the time of the current spiritual leader (now) someone would appear who was to become the leader of the world. This is the Emperor of Japan.''

After many misguided years as a leader in the Mahikari sect, and though my recent study of the treacherous Protocols -- which promotes the advent of the new ''King of the World,'' bearing the six-pointed star during a man made Armageddon -- I realised that the sect was referring to none other than the Japanese Emperor. The Sukyo Mahikari symbol is the six-pointed star.

Aum's Banjawarn Property

At 23.03 hrs on May 28, 1993, a hugh fireball lit up the night sky for almost two hours in a remote part of the state of Western Australia. A loud explosion accompanied the fireball and the earth shook for miles around. The resultant 3.9 Richter earthquake was picked up by 23 seismic receivers around Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Australian geologist, Harry Mason, prepared a lengthy report (Nexus Vol 4 No 3 http://www.peg.apc.org/~nexus/) in which he concludes it was caused by ''a very advanced electromagnetic weapons system.''

The New York Times in a 21 Jan. 1997 science feature, also asks whether the mysterious event was caused by Aum terrorists using advanced Tesla seismic weaponry technology.

Seismic observatories in Australia located the site of the explosion to be immediately adjacent to, or within the Aum's 500,000-acre sheep grazing property, Banjawarn, approximately 400 miles north east of Perth.

A U.S. Senate committee set up an inquiry which still hasn't ruled out the possibility of foul play. It's most likely cause, they say, was a meteorite, but so far no crater or meteorite has been located. At the request of the Senate inquiry, the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) was called upon for assistance. They claim the blast was the equivalent of a nuclear explosion of 2,000 tons of high explosives with about one-seventh the destructive power of the atomic bomb that levelled Hiroshima.

The agreement regarding the sale of Banjawarn to the Aum operatives, Yoshihiro Inoue and Kiyohide Hayakawa, was completed on 23 April 1993, 35 days before the fireball event, thereby affording them occupation of the property by legally enforceable right. But in true civil service form the Western Australian Government Pastoral Board officially registered the change of ownership much later in the year - September 1993.

Mason's report states that by using multiple sight bearings given to him by several witnesses at different locations he was able to place ground zero at the boundary of the Banjawarn property.

Could this simply be a coincidence? According to witnesses, an hour after the event a further, this time smaller, explosion occurred in the same area. This second 'explosion' failed to register with seismic observatories.

Sensing foul play, Mason reported the events to Western Australian State Premier (Governor) Richard Court, only to be told: ''the Commissioner of Police has advised me that members of the Japanese Aum sect were not in Australia at the time of the recorded earthquake on 28 May 1993.... and the events of 28 May 1993 were a natural phenomenon.''

So if the recorded earthquake, caused by a bright light, a natural phenomenon, which is know to have happened on the 28 May 1993 (twice according to witnesses) was not caused by their hand, who then is behind it?

Aum-Mahikari Connection:

A feature in the Sydney Morning Herald on 29 May 1995, gives details of the Aum operatives' movements in Western Australia from late April 93, in their quest to purchase Banjawarn ''to conduct experiments for the benefit of mankind.''

Here, they were assisted in their purchase of Banjawarn, to satisfy governmental prerequisites regarding foreigners owning land in Australia, by a Japanese-born Australian citizen, Yasuko Shimada. Her name appears on the title of ownership together with the Aum's founder Asahara. Who was she?

Yasuko Shimada was also instrumental in establishing Mahikari in Australia around 1974.

I knew her well at the time since I became involved with Mahikari in 1976 when membership was relatively small. There are around 2,000,000 members globally now with around 2,000 active members in Australia alone.

Japanese investigative reporter Yoichi Shimazu, notes how Yasuko Shimada is remembered in Tokyo as a short-statured, vivacious middle-aged woman by Aum members who practiced ''muryo,'' or secret yoga teachings, at the Aum's Setagaya training centre in late summer 1993. Yasuko Shimada was authorised to receive ''fast-track'' initiation by Asahara over a period of a mere two weeks. By contrast, many other recruits trained for years before become monks or nuns. She is remembered as a very enthusiastic distributor of Aum literature, citing her more than 15 years of training as a Mahikari activist. A point to note is that Yasuko Shimada was ordained as a nun, after she cosigned the Banjawarn property papers and immediately before the Aum leadership toured Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that she was reputedly an orphan whose wealthy parents died when she was still young, and that she donated a gold ingot worth thousands of dollars to Asahara in order to join Aum.

In short, a veteran member of Mahikari was the key person who guided and aided Aum Shinrikyo in establishing their sheep station in Western Australia, the site of the huge mystery explosion and other experiments.

There are also other connections between Aum and Mahikari that are currently under investigation in Australia and Japan. One point of interest is that both sects believed that an Armageddon war was to soon annihilate Japan and much of the world, and that they needed to establish safe havens in the Southern Hemisphere, which is why they ventured to Australia.

Sukyo Mahikari obtained their safe haven - located in the far north of New South Wales some years earlier. I was taken there several times.

In keeping with true Mahikari form of establishing the right connections, and infiltrating into positions of influence, at least one extremely active Sukyo Mahikari member continues to work in a position of responsibility at the Japanese Consulate in Perth, a position she has held for around 5 years.

Have the fingers of the demented and deformed Japanese ''Black Hand'' managed to infiltrate Australian society in any other way? Yes, only one of which I will mention at this point in time.

At least four other "new religions" are now known to make up the Black Hand which is behind the creation and expansion of Aum Shinrykyo, especially its weapons-procurement activities. These are Soka Gakkai, involved in the purchase of the disputed Naminoson property in Kyushu and in spreading disinformation immediately after the Tokyo subway gassing; Agon-shu, where key leaders received their training, including guru Shoko Asahara, Dr. Ikuo Hayashi and Kazuaki Obazaki, the mysterious police informant in the Sakamoto murder; the Unification Church, from which a unit of 20-50 members joined Aum, including arms dealer Kiyohide Hayakawa; and Sukyo Mahikari.

According to a Canberra Times article of March 2, 1997, citizens of Australia's capital city, Canberra, were able to read of their local government's decision in December 1996 to donate to Sukyo Mahikari a one-hectare parcel of prime real estate in their quiet and leafy suburb of Holder, where they are to construct their new multimillion-dollar regional headquarters. The land is valued at around $700,000 for which Sukyo Mahikari had only to pay a variety of lease and administration fees.

This case, which partly demonstrates Australia's obsession with political correctness has paved the way for what is surely to be the Black Hand's new headquarters Down Under subsidised by the Australian taxpayer!

When it is completed, atop its highest point will be the Star of David for all to see as testimony to the arrival of those empowered by the demon who speaks through ''the Protocols'' - the Chosen Ones!

Copyright Garry Greenwood June 1997.

Extracted from Garry Greenwood's e-book, "All the Emperor's Men" available at: http://au.geocities.com/mahikari2002/index.html