Namu Daishi Henjo Kongo

Namu Daishi Henjō Kongō (南無大師遍照金剛) is a sacred chant found on much of the Shikoku pilgrim's gear. It is a devotional mantra (naiten) of Shingon Buddhism honoring its founder Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi). Let us look at its meaning:

南無 Namu is an expression of deep reverence, akin to Ave in Latin or Amen in Christian tradition, originating from Sanskrit Namas.

大師 Daishi is the posthumous title given to Kūkai, meaning Great Master in the sense of one who has attained supreme knowledge and shares it.

遍照 Henjō signifies universal illumination in the Buddhist sense, designating a being who has attained awakening and sheds light everywhere.

金剛 Kongō can be translated as diamond, but in its Sanskrit sense (vajra), it represents that which is indestructible and eternal. It is the Buddhist symbol of indestructible truth.

Miyata Taisen, a specialist in the Shikoku pilgrimage and Shingon Buddhism, offers this translation:

Homage to the Savior [Kōbō] Daishi, the awakened and eternal one.

Since the 16th century. Pilgrims were already writing this phrase on the walls of the Sanuki Kokubun-ji (temple 80) in 1513, and at temple 49, Jōdo-ji, in 1527. For historians, it shows that the circuit of Shikoku had by then become a pilgrimage centered on Kōbō Daishi.