 Asahara was born on March 2, 1955 into a large, poor family of tatami-mat-makers in Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture.He had infantile glaucoma from birth, which made him lose all sight in his left eye and go partially blind in his right eye at a young age, and was thus enrolled in a school for the blind.Asahara was known to be a bully at the school, taking advantage of the other students by beating them and extorting money from them.