枝抜き剪定とは──枝を付け根から抜く、庭師の基本の切り方|樹木医が図解(Eda-nuki: Removal Cuts at the Point of Origin)

English: Eda-nuki — Removal Cuts at the Point of Origin in Japanese Pruning

Eda-nuki sentei (枝抜き剪定) is the pruning method in which crowded branches and branches that spoil a tree’s form are taken out at their point of origin, instead of being cut partway along their length. In this illustrated article, a Jumokui (tree doctor) explains this cut, which underlies the everyday work of Japanese gardeners (niwashi and uekiya): how it differs from heading back, how to choose the branches to remove, and how much to remove and when, with reference to Japanese public pruning standards and sources from abroad.

This is the fourth article in our series on the pruning techniques of Japanese gardeners. In the article on sukashi (thinning) I wrote about the idea of opening up the inside of a tree, and in the article on imi-eda about how to identify the branches to remove. This time the subject is the cut itself: how those branches are actually taken out.

What eda-nuki is: removing a branch at its origin, not cutting it partway

Broadly speaking, there are only two kinds of pruning cut. Either a branch is taken off where it begins, or it is cut somewhere along its length.

Taking it off where it begins is eda-nuki sentei, literally “branch-pulling pruning”, also called mabiki sentei (“thinning-out pruning”) or eda-sukashi sentei (“branch-thinning pruning”) depending on the region and the document. Unwanted or crowded branches are cut where they divide from the parent branch or trunk; the framework of the tree, made up of main scaffold branches, secondary scaffolds and laterals, is left as it is, and only the amount and density of the branches and foliage are adjusted. The City of Yokohama’s street tree specification calls this the most basic pruning method.

Cutting partway along a branch is kiritsume sentei (shortening). A young shoot is cut back above a bud, and the shoots that grow from there rebuild the form. Clipping hedges and rounded shrubs is a kind of kiritsume. There is also kirikaeshi sentei (cutting back), in which a long branch is cut back to a thinner branch that divides from it partway along; this is used to make the crown smaller.

Watching a Japanese gardener from outside, you might think the shears are making many small snips. But in the care of trees grown in a natural form, most of the cuts are made at this point of origin.

Cut at the origin, and the tree responds quietly

Why remove a branch at its origin rather than cutting it partway? The main reason is that the tree responds differently afterward.

When a branch is cut partway, the buds near the cut start to grow all at once, and several vigorous shoots grow straight up (tocho-shi, water sprouts). The branch that was supposed to have been shortened stands up as a bundle the next year and is more crowded than before. This is why public pruning standards in Japan say that butsu-giri, “chopping” branches off at arbitrary points, which causes adventitious buds, should not be done as a rule. Long horizontal branches that are cut partway are also more likely to die back and fall a few years later.

Where a branch has been removed at its origin, hardly any new shoots appear. If the cut is made leaving the swelling at the base of the branch (the branch collar), the wound closes as new wood rolls in from around its edges. To the eye, there is simply one branch fewer, and that much more light and air coming through.

From our experience in the field, the harder a tree has been headed back, the heavier the work the following year; a tree thinned at the branch origins needs about the same amount of work the next year. I think of eda-nuki as a cut that considers not only how the tree looks this year, but how it will be feeling next year.

Which branches to remove: decide first which to keep

The branches removed are mainly those described in the imi-eda article: branches heading into the inside of the crown, crossing branches, branches overlapping in parallel, branches standing straight up, and several branches arising from one point.

Among gardeners, however, it is said that you decide which branches to keep before deciding which to remove. Which are the main branches that form this tree’s framework? On those main branches, which branches grow outward naturally and will take up the space in the future? Once the branches to keep are decided, the ones getting in their way stand out by themselves as the branches to remove. If you start by looking for branches to cut, it is easy to lose sight of the tree’s form as you go.

The hard choice comes when two branches divide from the same place and neither is a bad branch. I decide by thickness, direction of growth and the space around each. Between a branch growing outward and one standing up toward the inside, I keep the outward one. If they differ in thickness, in most cases I keep the thicker one as part of the framework. There is also the option of removing the thicker one and letting the thinner one carry on (kirikaeshi), but the branch that remains should be at least one-third the diameter of the branch removed (NILIM guide). If a thinner branch is left to carry on, water sprouts tend to burst out near the cut.

How to remove a branch: read the origin, and leave no stub

The cut is made just outside the swelling at the base of the branch (the branch collar): without cutting into the swelling, and without leaving a stub. The reasoning behind this position is explained in detail in our article on cutting at the branch collar, so here I will focus on how a Japanese gardener uses the tools.

As a guide in our own work, branches up to about the thickness of a pencil are removed with ueki-basami (Japanese garden scissors). The tips of the blades are set snugly against the origin of the branch, taking care not to pinch the parent branch. For branches thicker than a thumb, we switch to secateurs or a saw. From our experience in the field, forcing scissors through a thick branch tends to crush the cut or tear the bark at the base. A heavy branch is not cut at its origin straight away: it is first shortened to take off the weight, and the final cut is then made at the origin (the three-cut method for large limbs will be covered in another article in this series).

How much and when

Eda-nuki is a gentle way of cutting, but removing more is not better. The USDA Forest Service guide states that no more than one-quarter of the living crown should be removed at a time, and that removing too much leads to heavy production of epicormic sprouts on the trunk and branches. When the small interior branches are stripped out and foliage is left only at the branch tips, the result is called a lion’s tail and is regarded as a form to avoid. From our experience in the field, such branches carry their weight at the tips and bend widely in the wind.

As for timing, the right season for deciduous trees is around November to February, after leaf fall, and for evergreen trees early autumn, around September to October, or the rainy season in early summer (City of Yokohama specification). Cherries and flowering dogwoods form the next year’s flower buds in summer, so winter thinning on them is kept light. Evergreens from warmer regions, such as camphor trees, are sensitive to cold, so pruning in midwinter is avoided. When evergreens are thinned while in leaf, the amount removed is kept to one-third of the whole or less (Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Street Tree Maintenance Plan). Now, in October, is a good time for thinning evergreen trees.

The craft: thinning so well that no one notices the cuts

Among Japanese gardeners it is said that good eda-nuki leaves no sign of having been cut. The outline of the tree has hardly changed; the wind simply passes through, and light reaches the inside. Come closer and look up, and the sky shows between the branches. The cuts sit in the shadow of branches, out of sight from where the tree is viewed. A craftsman pays as much attention to how the traces of removal are hidden as to which branches are removed.

The handling of a branch after it is cut also shows the difference that handwork makes. If a branch severed at its origin is dragged roughly out of the crown, it breaks the buds and leaves of branches that were meant to stay. From our experience in the field, a cut branch is held in the hand and drawn out quietly, finding a path where it will not catch on other branches. As the word eda-nuki, “pulling out a branch”, says, the work is finished only when the branch has been pulled out.

Not finishing in one go is also part of the craftsman’s sense. Trying to bring a crowded tree to its ideal form in a single year inevitably means removing too much. NILIM’s Guide to Street Tree Regeneration includes a case in which street trees that had been cut back were rebuilt to the target form through eda-nuki pruning over four to five years. With garden trees too, branches are removed while looking several years ahead: this far this year, that branch next year. Not hurrying, and matching the work to the tree’s own time, lies at the root of the Japanese gardener’s care, I believe.

How eda-nuki corresponds to the removal cut: for readers outside Japan

Eda-nuki corresponds to the removal cut in arboriculture. The American pruning standard ANSI A300 (2001 edition) requires that a cut removing a branch at its point of origin be made close to the trunk or parent limb, without cutting into the branch bark ridge or collar, and without leaving a stub. Penn State Extension calls this a branch removal cut, noting that it was previously termed a thinning cut.

The terms need care. The Japanese kirikaeshi, cutting a long branch back to a thinner branch at a fork, corresponds to the reduction cut in English. What is closest to the heading cut, made between nodes or above a bud, is the Japanese kiritsume. Colorado State University Extension notes that removal cuts reduce canopy density but have little influence on height, and that a cut leaving too small a branch behind behaves like a heading cut and invites water sprouts. This is almost the same view as in Japanese public standards.

One of the pillars of our approach, GREEN MANAGEMENT, is the integration of scientific knowledge (arboriculture) with field experience. Where to cut is decided by how the tree works; which branch to remove is decided by the gardener’s eye. Eda-nuki, I believe, is a technique in which the two meet in a single cut.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What is eda-nuki pruning?

A. It is pruning in which crowded branches and branches that spoil the tree’s form are cut off at their origin, where they divide from the parent branch or trunk, rather than partway along. It is also called mabiki (thinning-out) or eda-sukashi (branch thinning). Because the tree’s framework is left as it is and only the amount and density of branches and foliage are adjusted, it helps keep a natural form.

Q2. How does eda-nuki differ from kiritsume (heading)?

A. Eda-nuki removes a branch at its origin; kiritsume cuts a branch partway along (above a bud) to shorten it. A partway cut can produce several water sprouts near the cut and leave the tree more crowded the next year. Where a branch has been removed at its origin, hardly any new shoots appear, so the form is less likely to break down.

Q3. When should eda-nuki be done?

A. For deciduous trees, around November to February after leaf fall; for evergreen trees, early autumn (around September to October) or the rainy season. On cherries and flowering dogwoods, winter thinning is kept light to keep the flower buds, and evergreens from warmer regions, such as camphor trees, are not pruned in midwinter.

Q4. How much can be removed at one time?

A. For evergreen trees in leaf, the amount removed is kept to one-third of the whole or less. The USDA Forest Service guide states that no more than one-quarter of the living crown should be removed at a time. A crowded tree is not finished in one year; branches are removed over several years.

Q5. Are eda-nuki and sukashi the same?

A. The two are used almost interchangeably. Some Japanese public documents call eda-nuki “eda-sukashi” (branch thinning). In our explanations, we use sukashi for the idea of opening up the inside of a tree to let light and air through, and eda-nuki for the cut that removes branches at their origin to achieve it.

Sources

– Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Bureau of Construction. Street Tree Maintenance Plan. December 2021.
– Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Bureau of Construction. Standard Specification for Street Tree Maintenance (Green Space Management). April 2013.
– City of Yokohama, Road and Highway Bureau. Common Specification for Street Tree Maintenance Contracts. February 2026.
– National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management (NILIM). Guide to Preventing Street Tree Failure, 2nd edition. Technical Note No. 1059, 2019.
– NILIM. Guide to Street Tree Regeneration. Technical Note No. 885, March 2016.
– Saitama Prefecture, Road Environment Division. Street Tree Pruning Manual. December 2020.
– American National Standards Institute. ANSI A300 (Part 1)-2001 Pruning. 2001.
– Bedker, P.J., O’Brien, J.G., Mielke, M.E. How to Prune Trees. USDA Forest Service, NA-FR-01-95, 1995 (revised 2012).
– Schieffer, J., Elmendorf, W. Pruning Landscape Trees. Penn State Extension, updated 5 November 2021.
– Colorado State University Extension. CMG GardenNotes: Pruning.

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