Particulars

Arboretum name: Suki: Japanese Cedar
Japanese name: Sugi
Species / Family: Cryptomeria japonica(L.f.) D. Don/Taxodiaceae
Okinawan name: Shiji, Shigi

Plant Characteristics

Believed to be native to Japan and China, Sugi, or Cryptomeria japonica is an evergreen tree that has been cultivated widely throughout Japan as a major forestry species. The Japanese name Sugi means 'a tree that grows upright'. Yamato Honzo, an old but comprehensive book on botany, explains that the name Sugi refers to a phrase “Ki (tree) Suku-naru (grows upright).” The Sugi is the largest coniferous tree of its kind in Japan with the trunk growing 3–8 meters in diameter, and there are 50-meter-high Sugi in existence. They produce monoecious flowers, bearing a spike of rectangular male flowers and one globular female flower, both at the top of each branch.

Uses

Wood: Building Materials for Shrines, Temples and Houses, Furniture, Instruments, Construction Materials, Materials for Boats and Ships, Masts, Tubs, Wine-Barrels
Bark: Roofs　
Leaves: Fire, Ingredients for Incense, Medicines for burns and scratches
Trees: Landscaping

Calendar of best viewing periods

• 
• 
•