Founder

Master Ryuho Okawa was born on July 7th, 1956 in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from The University of Tokyo, a prestigious university, he joined an international trading company based in Tokyo. While he worked at the company’s New York headquarter, he studied international finance at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

On March 23rd, 1981, Master Okawa attained Great Enlightenment and awakened to the hidden part of his consciousness, El Cantare, whose mission is to bring true happiness to all humanity.

In July 1986, Master Okawa renounced a promising career as a businessman. He decided to devote his life to spreading the Truth, and established Happy Science (Kofuku-no-Kagaku in Japanese), which was registered as a religious organization in 1991 in Japan.

Master Okawa’s first lecture took place on November 23rd, 1986. In 1987, the foundation of the teachings was laid out in his publications – The Laws of the Sun, The Golden Laws and Nine Dimension: Unveiling the Laws of Eternity.

On November 18th, 2007, Master Ryuho Okawa gave his first official overseas lecture in Hawaii, entitled “Be Positive.” This marked the beginning of Master Okawa’s world missionary tour, and he has given lectures in English in all of the five continents.

Since then, Master Okawa has been lecturing around the world as a World Teacher.

His teachings based on universal religious Truths expand to cover concrete proposals for resolving worldwide political and economic situations, and he has given over 3,500 lectures (of which more than 150 are in English and over 1,250 are spiritual messages and readings) in both Japanese and English.

His lectures have been published as books, and a number of them have become bestsellers. He has published more than 3,250 books (of which more than 600 are Spiritual Interview Series), including The Laws of the Sun, which sold a million copies. He has held numerous seminars and produced 28 films based on his teachings. In 2011, he recorded in the Guinness World Records as “the most books written in one year by an individual,” after publishing 52 books in 2010 alone. His publications continued to increase after that, and he published 161 books in 2014. Furthermore, his books have been translated into 42 languages, beginning with English, German, French, Portuguese, Chinese and Korean, and for the readers all over the world.

To date, Happy Science has produced 28 movies under the supervision of Okawa. He has given the original story and concept and is also the Executive Producer. He has also composed music and written lyrics of over 450 pieces.

Happy Science activities mainly take place at the branches, temples and the Shojas, on the content of education, politics, and making further publications to bring improvements to society.

He has also laid the foundation for ideal politics and education by establishing the Happiness Realization Party in 2009, and the Happy Science Academy – the Nasu Main Campus in 2010 and the Kansai Campus in 2013.

Additionally, he is also the founder of Happy Science University (HSU), which opened as an unaccredited institution of higher education in April 2015 and the founder of IRH Press Co., Ltd., and the Chairperson of New Star Production Co., Ltd. and ARI Production Co., Ltd.