Pine pruning – Sukashi, Niban me, Ha mushiri, Mekiri, Mitsubushi

A lot of words connected to pine pruning we want to explore today!

While midoritsumi みどり摘み and momiage 揉み上げ are already well known when it comes to pine pruning, there is still so much more to explore, even beyond the terms I will explain today.

All techniques and examples I am showing, are applying either for Pinus densiflora (Akamatsu – Japanese Red Pine) or Pinus thunbergii (Kuromatsu – Japanese Black Pine). They have to be adjusted accordingly for other types of pines.

Sukashi 透かし is the work that will make the light shine through the canopy of the tree and has several functions: let the wind come through and cool the tree, destroy the cozy homes of non-beneficial insects, let light reach the lower branches.

Usually, the work begins from the top of the tree and the gardener works downwards.

First, all dead wood will be removed from one cloud, or box, or whatever you want to call the accumulation of small branches at one part of the tree.

Desired look of a branch

Now, the difficult part will begin: which small branch or shoot to keep and which to remove?
A master gardener is not thinking about every cut he/she makes but still following some rules. When internalizing these rules, the hands, and shears, as a unit, work just by themselves.

It is necessary to clean up the branches. This is called eda no sabaki kata 枝のさばき方.
Looking for:
karami eda からみ枝 – intertwined branches
mabikubeki eda 間引くべき枝 – branches that should be thinned out (same directions as other branches or when there is not enough space between branches)
tachi eda 立枝 – standing branches

All of these branches can be cut or, if there aren’t enough branches overall, trimmed and pushed in place.

In general, when pruning, the desired form for the branches is a Y shape. From one branch we want two new branches departing.

Sukashi is not the common yearly pruning to keep a tree in shape, it is often carried out when a tree wasn’t pruned for years or when it grew too big and has to be cut smaller again. If it has to be cut back a lot, it is also called “o-sukashi”.

Pruning a pine tree twice a year, midoritsumi in late spring, and momiage (which is similar to sukashi) in winter is very expensive. People now opt for only one trimming a year or even every second year. In this case, sukashi can become necessary too.

Shoot with three candles. The candles will grow into new shoots the next year.

While midoritsumi is often carried out by hand without using shears, sukashi can’t be done like this because the shoots already grew too hard.
New shoots are called „shinme“ 新芽 in Japanese. The shoot can contain one or more candles. When doing midoritsumi, all candles will be removed except for two (exceptions apply) to gain the desired Y shape. When the remaining candles are of different sizes, one will be shortened.

For more information on midoritsumi, see our post about momiage and midoritsumi.

When cutting a pine during sukashi, it is necessary to look for the oldest small shoot on a branch. If we cut further than the oldest small shoot, the branch will die in the next year, even when needles remained on the branch.

Branch looking not good after small branches broke off.

While cutting the newest shoots, it can happen that smaller shoots below the part we cut breakaway. If this happens, the overall form of the branch/cloud will change. The smaller branches will look as if standing upright and will become balder than desired.

Most texts, like this one here too, apply to trees growing in the Kanto area of Japan (Tokyo and around). In other areas like Shikoku or Hokkaido, pruning is carried out differently. In Hokkaido, all works are carried out a bit earlier. When it comes to Akamatsu, only the two-year-old needles (in Kanto also the ones from the last year) will be removed during momiage (and sukashi) because the trees need more protection against the cold in winter.
Removing the old needles (momiage) is also called ha mushiri 葉むしり, especially in Kyoto. This work is carried out by hand.

On Kyushu or Shikoku, we often find mitsubushi 芽つぶし or mekiri 芽切りas a pruning technique. In summer, all new candles will be removed by using shears. A bit later, the second shoots of the year will come in. These are called nibanme 二番目. Nibanme are usually shorter than the first shoots which will give the trees a more compact appearance. It is also a technique often used for bonsai (not only pine tees). It can still happen that the balance is not good with the nibanme shoots. Then, chu-mekiri 中芽切り can be carried out. However, this also usually applies to bonsai only. Here, if branches grew too long, they are cut off.

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Interesting reads: (Links are tied to the Amazon associates program)

Niwaki: Pruning, Training and Shaping Trees the Japanese Way (Probably the best known work about how to prune the Japanese way)

Author: Jake Hobson
Price: ~$24.98
Click to see more details

Senkichi SGFP-3 Fiberglass Pruning Shears 8.5 inches (215 mm)

Brand: Senkichi
Price: ~¥1500
Click to see more details

Flower scissors AType Long No.200

Brand: Okatsune
Price: ~$54.80
Click to see more details

Okatsune 103 Bypass Pruners General Purpose Medium

Brand: Okatsune
Price: ~$49.99
Click to see more details

Gomtaro 240 (actually the saw I am using for everything in the garden – including root cutting)

Brand: Silky
Price: ~¥2829
Click to see more details

Felco 2 (My universal garden shears I am using for almost everything – a bit pricey in Japan but not available at American Amazon at the moment)

Brand: Felco
Price: ~¥9270
Click to see more details

An Illustrated Guide to Pruning 3rd Edition (not for Japanese style pruning but it can help to understand the basics in the first place. This book is going VERY much into detail and since the print quality might be poor, it can be worth looking into the digital version)

Author: Edward F.Gilman
Price: ~$90.24
Click to see more details

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If you click on a link tied to the Amazon associates program and buy, we will get a small percentage of the price while you will not pay more. The orders are absolutely anonymous, we don’t see what was ordered and who ordered.