Japan hanged Aum's founder in 2018, his daughters fought over his ashes, and the state refused to hand them over until a 2026 court order

Chizuo Matsumoto, known as Shoko Asahara, led Aum Shinrikyo, the group behind the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack^†. He was hanged in July 2018 with 12 other members. Sources close to the case said that just before the execution, when an official asked, he named his fourth daughter to receive his body. The government cremated him and kept the ashes and hair at the Tokyo Detention House. His wife, his second son and other children disputed the choice. In September 2020 the Tokyo Family Court named his second daughter, then 40, as the recipient. The Tokyo High Court agreed in March 2021. In July 2021 the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed appeals by the fourth daughter, the widow and the second son. The state still kept the remains. It argued that the successor group Aleph could make them objects of worship and that releasing them would harm public safety. The second daughter sued, and in 2024 the Tokyo District Court ordered the state to hand them over. The state appealed. On 5 February 2026 the Tokyo High Court dismissed the appeal; presiding judge Yasushi Kanokogi found her request was not an abuse of rights. She has said she will not give the remains to the successor group and will keep them in a home safe under a security contract. Whether the state took the case to the Supreme Court, and whether the remains have been handed over, was not found in the sources checked.