Tokyo High Court Upholds Unification Church Dissolution Order; Liquification Process to Begin

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:26 JST, March 4, 2026

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling that ordered the dissolution of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification — formerly known as the Unification Church — in a judgment that focused on the scale of the damage it inflicted by systematically and illegally soliciting donations.

With the latest ruling, the order has become effective, the church has lost its status as a religious corporation, and procedures to liquidate its assets will begin.

“The illegal acts committed by the followers of the church were extremely malicious in nature, and their consequences have been grave. The organization is not likely to voluntarily take effective countermeasures, leaving no choice but to dissolve it,” presiding Judge Motoko Miki said in the ruling.

There are two prior examples of Japanese religious groups being ordered to dissolve — the Aum Supreme Truth cult and the Myokakuji group. However, both of those groups were broken up due to suspected criminal violations by their leadership. The Unification Church ruling represents the first time that a dissolution order has been issued for a religious corporation for breaches of the Civil Code.

The Religious Corporations Law stipulates that a court can order a religious corporation to dissolve if it finds that “in violation of laws and regulations, the religious corporation commits an act which is clearly found to harm public welfare substantially.”

After the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022, attention was drawn to massive donations solicited by the church.

In October 2023, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry submitted a request for an order to dissolve the church. In March last year, the Tokyo District Court issued the requested order. The church immediately appealed the ruling.

In its ruling, the district court noted that, based on civil court rulings recognizing the organization’s liability for damages and out-of-court settlements reached between the victims and the church, the church had taken about ¥20.4 billion from victims over about a 40-year period from around 1980.

The district court said complaints of wrongdoing continued even after the church’s declaration of full compliance with relevant regulations in 2009, and that the risk remained that similar damage would continue to be inflicted.

During the high court hearing, the church criticized the lower court’s decision, insisting that the court had “inflated [their] illegal acts” because of the fact that, of the ¥20.4 billion figure, about ¥18.6 billion consisted of private and court-mediated settlements.

The organization noted that, since last autumn, it had reached mediation agreements with former church followers and others under which it agreed to pay more than ¥3.9 billion, and that a compensation committee composed of outside individuals, including lawyers, had been established to handle the matters. “There is no risk that [the organization] will commit any further donation-related misconduct, and there are no grounds for a dissolution order,” the church argued.

The high court decision rendered the dissolution order effective, stripping the church of its religious corporation status and its tax privileges.

A liquidator appointed by the district court will oversee dissolution procedures. The liquidator will manage the church’s assets, estimated at ¥118.1 billion as of the end of fiscal 2022, and use them to compensate its victims.

Even after the dissolution order, church followers will be able to continue their religious activities through means such as participating in private organizations.

Following the high court ruling, the church released a statement stating it was an “unjust ruling based on a predetermined conclusion, lacking factual and evidentiary support.”

“We will never accept this unjust judicial decision and will continue to fight, including by filing a special appeal, to defend our freedom of religion,” it said.

Even if the church files a special appeal against the ruling to the Supreme Court, the liquidation process will continue. However, if the dissolution order were to be overturned, the process would be halted, allowing the church to engage in activities as a religious corporation again.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a press conference on Wednesday, “We regard the ruling as meaning that the government’s position was accepted.” He also said that he had instructed relevant ministries and agencies to thoroughly implement measures to provide relief to victims.