Tree Quiz

Japanese Cedar

Growing tall and straight and green all year, you reshape yourself into whatever form is asked for and put it to good use.

Green all yearGrow down deepTakes many shapes

Japanese cedar — sugi — is an evergreen conifer native to Japan that grows tall and straight; despite the name, it isn't a true cedar. On Yakushima, an island off the southern tip of Kyushu, there are cedars said to be several thousand years old. The wood is soft and light, and it has been worked into all sorts of forms: pillars, boards, disposable chopsticks, sake barrels and more.

Japanese cedar is said to root deeply, and cedars planted on mountainsides are tended for decades before they're ready to become lumber. You think ahead and prepare in advance, and you keep going at the same pace regardless of the season or your mood.

And just as soft cedar wood takes on whatever shape its user needs, you can rework your approach to fit what you've been asked to do. But when you keep fitting in with others for a long stretch, you may never quite get around to saying what you'd really like to do.

Strengths

You can see what's coming and get ready early
You can keep up daily routines at a steady pace
You can rework how you do things to fit what people ask of you

Where you may stumble

While answering all sorts of requests, your own errands get pushed to the back
Until everything's ready, you hesitate to take the first step
After going along with others for so long, you're stuck when someone asks what you'd prefer

Sounds familiar, Japanese Cedar?

Before you buy something, you check whether it's built to last for decades
A month before a trip, you're already looking up what the weather tends to be like
How formally you talk shifts on its own, depending on who you're talking to

Where you shine

Preparing for an event, or being the one who pulls together what lots of people want. This is where your habit of looking ahead while fitting in with requests really comes alive.

Tips for “Japanese Cedar”

Before taking on a request, finish one of your own errands first
Once you're 80 percent ready, decide to sort out the rest as you go
Before saying “Either is fine,” add a word about what you'd prefer

Matches

See every match in the Tree Quiz compatibility chart →

Easy together

Ginkgo — The Ginkgo also roots deeply and has soft wood. Watching it drop its leaves in winter and rest properly, the Japanese Cedar, who tends to keep going without a break, finds it easier to make time for a breather too.

Easy together

Palm Tree — The Palm Tree is also green all year, and its fruit, leaves and trunk have all been put to everyday use in many forms. Teamed up with the Palm, who moves nimbly in the moment, the Cedar's careful preparations quickly turn into something useful.

May clash

Japanese Maple — The Japanese Maple changes its colors with the seasons, puts down roots wherever its seed lands and keeps its own shape with its hard wood. With the Cedar, who prepares ahead, keeps a steady pace and fits in with others, their ways of getting things done tend to clash.