A Field Report on Beauty, Power, and the Necessity of Vigilance

Note before reading: This post is based on lived experience and observation. It is written for education, prevention and ethical reflection on power structures in spiritual and ecological communities. The text contains descriptions of abuse of power and sexualised boundary violations. Please read only if you feel psychologically stable enough.

Sakura – Cherry Blossom Season

In spring 2025 I lived and worked for five weeks as a guest in the community Konohana Family in Fujinomiya, Japan, at the foot of Mt. Fuji. I arrived during Sakura, the cherry blossom season – a symbol of beauty, impermanence and renewal. “Konohana” is also the name of the Japanese cherry blossom goddess.

The Katakamuna Civilisation

Konohana Family was founded in 1994 by the Japanese entrepreneur and spiritual teacher known as “Jiji” (Japanese for grandfather). In 2025, the community comprised 84 members, including 24 children. It is based on a spiritual reinterpretation of the Katakamuna teachings, a prehistoric civilisation said to have existed more than 13,000 years ago. The existence of this “ancient civilisation” was postulated in the 1940s by the Japanese researcher Kogetsu Narasaki, who claimed to have discovered ancient documents (the Katakamuna texts) in the mountains near Kobe. In the interpretation of the now 75-year-old founder Jiji, environmental pollution and climate change are seen as signs of spiritual decline. A strictly communal, ecological and self-sufficient life at the foot of sacred Mt. Fuji is presented as the gateway into an imminent new, spiritually awakened age. Symbols derived from the Katakamuna texts are used in prayers and neo-religious ceremonies, such as the annual Fuji Sengen Konohana Festival or the Makamo ceremony involving the planting of wild rice, which I attended at the end of April.

Ecological Surface

Organisationally and ecologically, the community is impressive: near-complete self-sufficiency (around 89%) from organic agriculture, vegetarian nutrition, highly structured workflows and a strong collective identity. Children live in separate children’s groups; the “larger spiritual family” is valued above biological kinship. New members and newborns are explicitly welcomed. Guests are received warmly; music and dances are self-composed; festivals are aesthetically and emotionally powerful. The community runs greenhouses, fields, rice paddies, medicinal plant gardens, beekeeping, chickens for eggs, a soy factory with its own kooji for miso production, a communal kitchen with daily healthy buffets, a guesthouse, two cafés and two organic shops selling surplus produce. Members appear cheerful and smiling, children radiate happiness, and elderly people are well integrated. Many visitors – especially from the ecovillage movement – experience Konohana as a lived utopia and leave enthusiastic feedback on social media.

First Irritations

With increasing duration of stay, however, patterns emerged that I initially attributed to Japanese culture: extreme workloads, hardly any rest periods, and daily community meetings held late at night, while work resumed at 6 a.m. the next morning. During these nightly meetings there was little open dialogue. Instead, films and teachings were shown that reinforced the spiritual authority of the founder. Conflicts were framed as signs of insufficient spiritual development and were either individualised or “resolved” by Jiji himself. Criticism was not recognised as a legitimate element of healthy community building; concepts such as sociocracy were unknown.

Ideology and Dependency

Central to the community is the concept of a so-called “nature therapy” offered by Jiji, which he claims can heal psychological illness. According to my observations, several women suffering from severe depression, as well as one underage girl, entered the community directly from psychiatric care. Their “healing” took place through spiritual submission to the founder. I observed situations in which physical closeness between the 74-year-old founder and underage girls was displayed publicly and not marked as problematic. These observations caused significant inner alarm.

Corroboration and research

I subsequently researched external sources, including a [scientific paper ](#)(2022) classifying Konohana Family as a new religious movement and reporting brainwashing mechanisms and physical violence. Numerous reports by former members describing abuse of power and failed legal actions can also be found in Japanese-language sources.
Further confirmation came from an independent group of guests from Hong Kong, who made similar observations during my stay, as well as from a young guest with Canadian-Japanese background. She confided in me that Jiji had attempted to seduce her under the pretext of “sacred sexuality”. At her explicit request – and of course anonymised – I may report this here. Nothing happened to her, and she left the community in both physical and psychological health.

Escalation and confrontation

In several public talks, the founder was eventually confronted with criticism. A clear pattern became visible: critical individuals were invited into discussion rounds with several central members (an asymmetrical 1-to-6 setting). Their criticism was interpreted as a lack of spiritual maturity, and “therapy” was again offered. Sexual relationships between Jiji and various adult female community members were admitted; sexual boundary violations involving minors were linguistically reframed and denied. A distinction between “impure” and “sacred” sexuality was used as justification.

Consequences

I decided to leave the community after five weeks – earlier than planned – remaining in the role of an observing witness until my departure. After continuing my travels, I informed relevant networks. At that time, Konohana Family was part of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN). Due to multiple reports of violence and hierarchical abuse structures, its membership was terminated in summer 2025.

Reflection

My experience shows how easily ecological aesthetics, spiritual language and the longing for community can intertwine with abuse of power and dependency – particularly affecting women and girls. Not every community is dangerous.
But no community is inherently harmless simply because it calls itself spiritual or regenerative.

Why I founded Cherry Holistic

The experience at Konohana Family was one of the inner impulses that led me to found Cherry Holistic: an educational and experiential platform for women who do not delegate their health, spirituality or ecological responsibility to authorities, but live in an embodied, informed and discerning way. Sakura, the cherry blossom, teaches us not only about beauty. It also teaches us when to let go – the passing nature of all things. Impermanence remains, even when trauma occurs.