Sakaki, whose botanical name is cleyera japonica, is a flowering evergreen tree native to warm regions of Japan, Taiwan, China, Myanmar, Nepal and northern India.
In Shintoism, this tree is considered sacred along with several others such as hinoki and kansugi.
The word sakaki in Japanese is written by combining the Chinese characters "ki" meaning "tree" and "kami" meaning "spirit".
Traditionally, shrines are surrounded by "sacred trees" consisting of "divine fences".
Ref:
 |  |