Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō is a mantra

Mantra

A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation"...

 that is chanted as the central practice of all forms of Nichiren Buddhism

Nichiren Buddhism

Nichiren Buddhism is a branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monk Nichiren...

. The mantra is referred to as Daimoku (題目, title; also, in some schools, O-daimoku: お題目) and was first revealed by the Japanese Buddhist teacher Nichiren

Nichiren

Nichiren was a Buddhist monk who lived during the Kamakura period in Japan. Nichiren taught devotion to the Lotus Sutra, entitled Myōhō-Renge-Kyō in Japanese, as the exclusive means to attain enlightenment and the chanting of Nam-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō as the essential practice of the teaching...

 on the 28th day of the fourth lunar month of AD 1253 at Seichō-ji (also called Kiyosumi-dera) near Kominato in current-day Chiba

Chiba Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region and the Greater Tokyo Area. Its capital is Chiba City.- History :Chiba Prefecture was established on June 15, 1873 with the merger of Kisarazu Prefecture and Inba Prefecture...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.