We find that the best wood for shou sugi ban is Cryptomeria japonica, corroborating generations of practice. The common name is Japanese cypress, also called Japanese cedar or sugi. Cypress is straight-grained, fast-drying, flexible, tannin-rich, and strong. All desirable characteristics for siding. It has a thick, dense latewood growth ring, which burns to a more substantial, longer-lasting soot layer. Compared to other species, cypress' chemical properties respond well to fire. It becomes incredibly dimensionally stable when milled, dried, burned and quenched by traditional protocol. All other species we find to have a handicap such as too much pitch, poor weather durability, brittle grain or paper-thin latewood.