Aum Shinrikyo first emerged from a yoga and meditation class founded by Shoko Asahara. Asahara believed that he was the first "enlightened one" since Buddha and claimed that the apocalypse was coming and that only the followers of Aum Shinrikyo would survive. The apocalypse was to brought on by the United States when, supposedly, it would start World War III with Japan in 1995.
The second leader of Aum Shinrikyo, following the capture and sentence to death row of Shoko Asahara, is Fumihiro Joyu. Joyu wanted to steer Aum Shinrikyo away from the violence that Asahara had preached but he was met with opposition from the other members and decided to resign in 2007.