Sakaki - The Sacred Tree
The evergreen tree used in Shinto rituals as a symbol of enduring purity and divine presence.
Sakaki is the sacred evergreen whose branches are used in purification rites and as offerings. Its perpetual greenness symbolizes eternal life and purity. Sakaki branches adorned with paper streamers (tamagushi) are offered to the kami during worship.
The evergreen sakaki reminds us of the eternal purity of the kami.
Sakaki connects Shinto practice to the reverence for sacred trees found in ancient Japanese religion.
Kojiki
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- What Shinto says about beauty
Set against the cherry blossom, the sakaki. Its branches are used in offerings precisely because it stays green, so the tradition honours a beauty that holds still as well as one that vanishes.