A 70-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly slashing his son with a samurai sword in Gifu Prefecture, the police said Saturday.

Kiyohide Nakata, a former member of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, was arrested on the spot Friday on suspicion of attempting to murder his 40-year-old son at their house in Takayama.

Nakata admitted to the attack but denied he intended to murder him.

"It's true I caused injuries but I didn't mean to kill him," he was quoted as telling the police.

Nakata was drunk when he hacked his son's arm and thigh with the 50-cm katana at around 9:50 p.m. Friday, the police said.

Nakata belonged to a gang before joining Aum as a security officer. The cult was behind the deadly 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system.