松の枝配りとは──段をつくり、枝を水平に保つ庭師の手入れ(Edakubari: Shaping Japanese Pine Branches into Tiers and Horizontal Pads)

Edakubari: Shaping Japanese Pine Branches into Tiers and Horizontal Pads

Edakubari (枝配り, “distributing the branches”) is the Japanese gardener’s work of dividing a pine’s branches into tiers, spreading them horizontally, and opening paths for light and air between one tier and the next. In ten illustrations, this article shows why pine buds form only at the shoot tips, how upward and downward branches are removed, how shoot tips are reduced to a two-way fork, and how rope and bamboo are used to keep branches level.

This article is part of our series on the pruning techniques of Japanese gardeners (niwashi, ueki-ya). Autumn and winter are the season for pine care, and earlier we covered momiage, the plucking of old needles. This time the subject is the arrangement of the branches themselves, which is done in the same season.

What edakubari is: dividing a pine’s branches into tiers and spreading them level

In the trained pines of Japanese gardens, temples and shrines, branches emerge from the trunk alternately to left and right, each forming a flat layer of foliage, stacked in tier after tier. The lower tiers are longer, and the tiers grow smaller toward the top. Between the tiers there are gaps you can see through. Deciding which branches to keep, which way to point them and how far to spread them, so as to create and maintain this form, is the work that gardeners have called edakubari.

枝配りでつくる仕立て松の段。下の段ほど長く、上ほど小さく、段と段の間にすき間(点線)がある

Seen from above, a single tier is a thick branch that divides in two, whose ends divide in two again, spreading flat like an open hand. A tier is not a mass of needles but a collection of branches that have forked over many years.

1つの段を真上から見た図。二叉の分かれをくり返した枝が、手のひら状に平らに広がっている

The idea appears in public documents too. The Ministry of the Environment’s special specification for pine maintenance in the Kokyo Gaien National Garden calls for removing unwanted branches such as upright, crossing and overlapping branches, and for shaping the trees so that the number of buds increases and the branches fill out year by year. In the year-end care at Kyoto Gyoen, branches growing upward and branches hanging downward are dealt with to keep the form. Remove the branches that go up and down, grow the branches that spread sideways: this is the framework of edakubari.

A pine’s buds are only at the shoot tips: why the cutting points are limited

The first thing to keep in mind for edakubari is the pine’s biology. A pine forms buds only at the tips of the current year’s shoots, and new shoots grow from those buds once a year. University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension notes that pines do not produce new shoots from the older wood further back, so they should not be cut back into old wood. A booklet from the Sapporo Park and Greenery Association likewise says that pines do not produce shoots from adventitious buds, so the timing and position of cuts need care, and that when cutting where there are no buds, needles must always be left.

On a cherry or a zelkova, a branch cut partway along will send out shoots from nearby buds. A pine will not. Cut where there are neither needles nor buds, and the remaining branch simply dies back. So pine branches are cut at the fork of a young branch that carries needles. The principle of the cutting position is the same as in our article on cutting at the branch base; on pines there is one more condition: needles must remain on the side you keep. The Sapporo booklet also notes that Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora) sprouts less readily than Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii) and should not be cut hard.

左は葉の付いた枝の分かれ目で切る正しい切り方。右は葉の無い古い所で切った例で、残った部分が枯れ込む

A branch once cut does not come back. The Royal Horticultural Society’s guide to cloud pruning also says that a branch, once removed, takes a very long time to replace. From our field experience, edakubari is work in which you decide what to keep before you decide what to cut.

How a tier is made: remove the branches that go up and down, fork the tips in two

Tiers are finished one at a time, from the top down. First, within the tier, branches standing upward and branches hanging downward are removed at their base. The Sapporo booklet says that where branches above and below grow in the same direction, the upper one is cut so that sunlight falls evenly, though depending on the branch structure the lower one may be cut instead. Crowded and dead branches are removed at this stage too.

Next come the shoot tips. A pine shoot tip sends out several shoots radiating from one point (a whorl). Among gardeners, the basic practice has been to keep the two that open horizontally to left and right, remove the ones pointing straight up and down at their base, and so reduce the tip to a two-way fork. The beginner’s training text of the Japan Federation of Landscape Contractors (Zoen-ren) says that in spring candle pinching, when there are many new shoots at one point, about three are kept and the rest are pinched off at the base. Reduce the number in spring, settle it into a fork in autumn and winter: through this back-and-forth the shoot tips take shape.

枝先の1か所から4本出た枝(左)の、上へ立つ枝と下へ垂れる枝を付け根で抜き、左右に開く2本の二叉に整える(右)

Repeat the fork every year and the tips multiply from two to four to eight, spreading flat to become a single tier. A tier is not made in one year.

二叉をくり返して、枝先が2本、4本、8本と増え、数年かけて平たい段ができる

The branches kept and removed within a tier can be summarized as follows.

Sources: Ministry of the Environment, Kokyo Gaien special specification; National Gardens Association, Kyoto Gyoen; Sapporo Park and Greenery Association, Sukusuku Midori No. 21; University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension, Pruning Evergreens. Keeping two branches to left and right is gardeners’ practice.

Keeping branches level: with rope and bamboo, little by little

Edakubari does not end with cutting. Branches that rise at a steep angle, or that wave up and down, are led gradually toward the horizontal with rope and bamboo. Among gardeners, two methods have been handed down: hooking a hemp-palm (shuro) rope over a rising branch, drawing it down and tying it to a stake in the ground or a thick branch below to lower its angle; and laying a straight bamboo pole along a branch and tying the two together at several points to straighten its line. The RHS guide also notes that branches in cloud pruning can be shaped with supports or weights.

斜め上へ立った枝(点線)に縄を掛けて杭に結び、少しずつ水平へ下げる。縄が掛かる所には当て物をする

くねる枝に竹を添え、数か所を縄で結んで、枝の線を水平に整える

A branch’s angle also shifts the tree’s vigor. The Sapporo booklet says that an upward-pointing branch grows strongly from its tip bud, and that as a branch is brought closer to the horizontal, the buds nearer the trunk become stronger than the tip bud. Lay a rising branch down and the vigor rushing to its tip settles, making it easier for buds to grow inside the tier.

There are two cautions. One is not to force a bend. From our field experience, it is soft young branches that bend; thick branches are changed in angle little by little over several years. The other is not to leave the rope on. Branches thicken every year, and a rope left tight cuts into the bark and weakens everything beyond it. Padding goes under the rope, and the tension is checked and the rope retied at every inspection. Virginia Cooperative Extension says that a splint used to re-establish the leader of a conifer is removed after one growing season. Rope and bamboo, too, come off once the shape has set.

左は当て物の上から縄を結んだ例。右は縄を掛けたままにして、太った枝に縄が食い込んだ例

Arranging by hand and eye: the craftsman’s sense, and ten years of work

There is no set drawing for edakubari. The gardener reaches into the tier and decides which branches to keep while feeling the tension and direction of each branch with the fingers. Supporting a branch by hand tells you how far it will drop and which way it wants to grow. From our field experience, branches chosen by touch make next year’s buds easier to read than branches chosen by eye alone.

三脚脚立から段に両手を入れ、枝先の分かれ目を指で確かめながら枝を配る

Taste in the finished form differs by region and school. A survey by Minoru Maeda (1966) names miyama-sukashi, saga-sukashi and yamato-sukashi as styles close to the natural form. Gosho-sukashi, the thinning of pines at Kyoto Gyoen, finishes the trees without stopping the tips of the small branches, so that the branches hang naturally. The Zoen-ren text also notes that pine care has regional character: north of the Kanto region it is usual to reduce the number of buds and show the small branches, while in Kyushu buds are encouraged to grow densely and are thinned in winter, and in the snowy north dense branches break under snow. How thick the tiers are and how wide the gaps are is something each garden and each climate has decided.

And edakubari is work done over time. Choosing the branches to keep on a young pine, forking them again and again and adjusting their angles with rope, it takes years before the tiers are in order. The garden newsletter of Murin-an in Kyoto writes that caring for the single pine in front of the tea house takes a skilled gardener about four days. A pine with well-ordered tiers exists only at the end of years of care, added up one year at a time.

若い松(左)の残す枝を決め、数年で段ができはじめ(中)、10年ほどで段が整う(右)。点線は抜く枝

Timing, and not overdoing it

Edakubari is done together with momiage in autumn and winter. Maeda’s survey says that autumn care begins by thinning the crowded parts with cuts and then plucking the old needles, from September to December. The Nagano Prefectural Forestry Research Center likewise says that dead and crowded branches are cut at the time of the autumn needle plucking. The gosho-sukashi care at Kyoto Gyoen runs from December to mid-February. Once the old needles are pulled, the way the branches divide becomes visible, which makes it easier to decide which branches to keep. The USDA Forest Service pruning guide notes that conifers cut during dormancy bleed less sap and resin.

Overdoing it must be avoided. A tier thinned too hard takes years to regain its former depth. On pines with declining vigor or recently transplanted pines, edakubari is kept restrained. The Zoen-ren text also lists pines among the species whose branches break easily and asks that, in the tree, the feet be placed as near the base of branches as possible. We covered how to set up a ladder in our tripod ladder article.

Abroad, the tiers of the Japanese pine are known as niwaki or cloud pruning. Knowing the mechanism of how pine buds form, deciding the branches to keep before cutting, and leading the form over time with rope and bamboo: scientific knowledge and a craftsman’s handwork meet on a single pine.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What is edakubari on pines?

A. It is the care that divides the branches of a trained pine into tiers, spreads them horizontally and opens paths for light and air between the tiers. It decides which branches to keep, which way to point them and how far to spread them; it removes branches pointing up and down, reduces the shoot tips to two-way forks, and where needed guides the branch angles with rope and bamboo.

Q2. Where should pine branches be cut?

A. At the fork of a young branch that carries needles. Pines form buds only at the tips of the current year’s shoots and do not produce new shoots from old wood without needles or buds, so a cut where there are no needles leaves the remaining branch to die back. When cutting where there are no buds, always leave needles.

Q3. When is edakubari done?

A. In autumn and winter, in the same season as momiage. Minoru Maeda’s 1966 survey gives September to December, and the gosho-sukashi care at Kyoto Gyoen runs from December to mid-February. Thinning the branches first and then plucking the old needles makes the work easier to carry out.

Q4. How are pine branches kept level?

A. Branches pointing up and down are removed at their base and the branches opening to left and right are kept; rising branches are drawn down little by little with rope, and wavy branches are tied to a bamboo pole. Bending is limited to soft young branches, padding goes under the rope, the rope is retied before the branch thickens, and it is removed once the shape has set.

Q5. How long does it take to form a pine tier?

A. It cannot be done in one year. Reducing the tips to two-way forks is repeated every year, the tips multiply from two to four to eight, and over several years they become a tier. For a young pine to reach a form with well-ordered tiers takes about ten years of accumulated care.

Sources

– Ministry of the Environment, Kokyo Gaien National Garden Office. Special Specification, Fiscal 2023 Kokyo Gaien Pine Maintenance Works.
– National Gardens Association, Kyoto Gyoen. “Pine momiage and pruning: toward the year’s end.” 19 December 2018.
– Sapporo Park and Greenery Association. Sukusuku Midori No. 21: Growing healthy garden trees — training and pruning.
– Japan Federation of Landscape Contractors. Zoen shokyu gino no tebiki (Guide to basic landscaping skills), revised edition. March 2015.
– Maeda, M. “On the training and pruning of pine trees.” Journal of the Japanese Institute of Landscape Architects 29(4): 2–5, 1966. doi:10.5632/jila1934.29.4_2
– Ihara, Y. “The character of the national garden Kyoto Gyoen and the gosho-sukashi of its pines.” Journal of the Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture 64(5): 441–446.
– Murin-an (Kyoto). Garden newsletter “Sarasara”, October–November 2019, “The gardener’s eye”.
– Nagano Prefectural Forestry Research Center. Mini Technical Note No. 11, “Pruning Pines”. May 1999.
– Jull, L. Pruning Evergreens. University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension, revised 2012.
– Virginia Cooperative Extension. A Guide to Successful Pruning, Pruning Evergreen Trees. Publication 430-457, 2022.
– Bedker, P.J., O’Brien, J.G., Mielke, M.E. How to Prune Trees. USDA Forest Service, NA-FR-01-95, 1995 (revised 2012).
– Royal Horticultural Society. Cloud Pruning: Japanese Garden Style.

Masatoshi Nakamura
Jumokui (Tree Doctor), Toshi Landscape Co., Ltd., Tokyo