Jomon Sugi cedar of Yakushima Coloring Pages

A Giant Cedar in the Forest of Yakushima

The Jomon Sugi cedar of Yakushima is a huge cedar tree growing deep in the mountains of Yakushima in Kagoshima Prefecture.
It is about 25 meters tall and about 16 meters around the trunk!
The trunk is so thick that it takes about 10 adults holding hands to reach all the way around it.
People think it is anywhere between 2,000 and 7,200 years old.
No one knows for sure, but it is a tree that has lived for a very long time.

Japan's First World Natural Heritage Site

Yakushima was chosen as a World Heritage Site in 1993.
Together with the Shirakami Sanchi mountains chosen in the same year, it became Japan's very first World Natural Heritage Site.
Yakushima is warm near the ocean, but the high mountaintops are cold enough for snow.
On just one island, plants from warm southern places all the way to cold northern places grow in order as you go up the mountains.

A Rugged Trunk

The first coloring page shows just the Jomon Sugi cedar of Yakushima.
Its trunk has many bumps and grooves, and it looks twisted.
This shape shows how it has stood strong against wind and rain for many years.
High up, thick branches spread out with lots of green leaves.

The Jomon Sugi cedar of Yakushima in the Forest, and a Mossy Forest

The second coloring page shows the Jomon Sugi cedar of Yakushima standing in the forest.
You can really see how thick its trunk is when you compare it to the trees around it.
The third coloring page shows a moss-covered forest in a place on Yakushima called Shiratani Unsuikyo Ravine.
The rocks and fallen trees are completely covered in green moss.
Clean water flows between the rocks like small waterfalls.
Color in the different greens of the forest and feel like you are visiting Yakushima!

Trees Called Yaku Cedar

Among the cedar trees growing in the mountains of Yakushima, those over 1,000 years old are called Yaku Cedar.
Yakushima gets a lot of rain and has rocky land with little soil, so the cedars grow very, very slowly.
Trees that grow slowly hold a lot of oil (resin) inside, which keeps them from rotting.
That is why Yaku Cedars are said to live for such a long time.
The Jomon Sugi cedar of Yakushima is the most famous tree of all the Yaku Cedars.
Yakushima has many other large trees and stumps with names, such as the Daio Cedar and Wilson Stump.

Mix Brown and Gray for the Trunk

The trunk of the Jomon Sugi cedar of Yakushima is reddish brown and grayish brown.
After you color it brown, leave the bumpy parts light. Then, add dark brown inside the grooves.
If you add light green here and there, it will look just like moss on the trunk!

Use Different Greens for the Leaves

The green of the forest is not just one color.
Try coloring each bunch of leaves with dark green, green, and yellow-green.
If you make the top part light green where the light hits, and the bottom shade dark green, the tree will look big and full!

Moss is Yellow-Green, Water is White and Light Blue

For the moss on the third coloring page, layer yellow-green and green to make it look soft and fluffy.
If you color the rocks without moss in gray, the green will really stand out!
Here is a trick for the running water: leave most of it white, and add just a little bit of light blue on the edges.
Put it next to the Shiretoko Goko Lakes coloring page and compare Japan's Natural World Heritage sites!

Make Faraway Trees Light and Nearby Trees Dark

For the forest on the second coloring page, try coloring the grass and low trees in front with dark green, and the trees in the back with light green or bluish green.
Doing this gives the forest depth and makes the big size of the Jomon Sugi cedar of Yakushima stand out!
If you color the sky between the trees white or light blue, you can feel the moist air inside the forest.

Use Brown and Green for Fallen Trees

For the fallen tree trunk on the third coloring page, color it dark brown, and then layer yellow-green on the top to make it look like moss is growing.
In the forest of Yakushima, new tree sprouts sometimes grow right on top of fallen trees!

Does it rain 35 days a month?

Yakushima is an island in Japan where it rains a whole lot.
People even say, "It rains 35 days a month!"
Of course, it cannot really rain for 35 days, but it means that it rains just that much.
All this rain helps moss and big trees grow big and strong.

To see Jomon Sugi cedar of Yakushima, you walk a long mountain path

Because Jomon Sugi cedar of Yakushima is deep in the mountains, you have to walk for about 10 hours round trip to go see it.
Along the way, you even walk on trolley tracks that were used to carry wood long ago.
Now, to protect the tree, you look at it from a viewing deck.

Where the name comes from

They say it got the name Jomon Sugi cedar of Yakushima because people thought it might have been alive since the Jomon period.
It was discovered around the middle of the Showa period.

The moss forest is always nice and moist

The third page shows Shiratani Unsuikyo, where it gets lots of rain and fog, so it is always nice and moist.
Thanks to that, the rocks and trees are covered with many kinds of moss.
They say that about 600 kinds of moss have been found on Yakushima!