Within Nichiren Shōshū, the Dai-Gohonzon is revered as the supreme object of worship, the ultimate mandala that embodies Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and the life of the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law. It is understood as the highest expression of the Buddha-nature revealed in the Lotus Sutra, and is regarded as the source from which all other Nichiren Shōshū Gohonzon are derived. According to the tradition, Nichiren Daishonin inscribed it on October 12, 1279, on a plank of Japanese camphor wood, giving concrete form to the Law he expounded. The mandala is written in Chinese and Sanskrit characters, with “Nam-myoho-renge-kyo” prominently inscribed at the center, surrounded by the names of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and protective deities. In this way, it functions not merely as an object of veneration, but as a visual and scriptural condensation of the entire teaching that practitioners chant to and contemplate.

In terms of its physical location, the Dai-Gohonzon is enshrined at Taisekiji, the head temple of Nichiren Shōshū, situated at the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan. Within the temple complex, it is housed in a dedicated hall, referred to as the Hoanden or Hoando, which serves as the treasure hall or reception hall for this great mandala. This setting underscores its status as the central focus of faith and practice for the school, a kind of spiritual axis around which the community’s devotional life turns. All other Gohonzon conferred upon practitioners are understood as transcriptions or emanations of this original Dai-Gohonzon, linking individual practice back to this singular source. Through this relationship, the tradition emphasizes both the transcendence of the Dai-Gohonzon as the ultimate object of devotion and its immanence in the daily practice of chanting before one’s own Gohonzon.