‘Niwaki’ and ‘Bonsai’ are the principal Japanese arts of pruning.
These techniques have existed for over a thousand years, and aim to create an harmonious, balanced tree to its environment, and, in the process revealing the ‘essence of the tree’.
Niwaki and Bonsai practices work with trees which are trained from a young age into the desired shape and are only minimally pruned after the desired shape is achieved, when the tree is maturing.’
The most common Niwaki operation is known as ‘cloud pruning’ – the practice of trimming tree foliage at specific intervals to produce a distinctive, cultivated aesthetic that most people will recognize.
The philosophies that inform Japanese pruning can be applied to tree pruning to keep trees compliant to their environment, regardless of the cloud technique.
What to expect: this article will explain more about the Niwaki pruning process, how to perform it, philosophies behind the Japanese techniques of pruning and how Niwaki differs from other Japanese pruning techniques (Bonsai).
What Are the Principles Behind Niwaki Pruning?
Using a tree, or shrub, as a canvas, Niwaki pruning prunes the tree to accentuate and accent the most interesting and artistic parts of it.
Having evolved from a young tree, the tree is pruned to take on a form that accentuates its own most interesting attributes, and that works well with the setting in which it’s planted.
Often, it’s desirable to give the tree the illusory quality of being a full and mature tree while remaining on a smaller scale which complements the garden well.
Niwaki aims to exaggerate the natural beauty of the tree.
For example, a tree may have a very interesting branch angle on one side, but the angle of the branches on the other side not be appealing to the aesthetic.
With Niwaki pruning, you can favour the more aesthetically pleasing branches, develop those branches to accentuate their best feature, and control the orientation of the opposite branches while also removing branches that don’t fit the overall aesthetic.
Niwaki pruning can also be used to exaggerate the natural beauty of nature. A tree could be cultivated to look as if it has grown around a high wind or, say, to even suggest a tree that had been struck by lightning.
Your choice: the tree could be pruned to complement a waterfall in the garden, or to create a sense of balance in the garden.
What Are Cloud Trees?
Cloud trees have been pruned using the Niwaki technique so that the leaves have been sectioned so they look like a series of clouds.
The shape of the cloud formation may vary:
- The clouds could be clustered together up the centre of the trunk, as in the “ball” formation.
- Or the clouds could alternate height from side to side for a series of steps.
One trunk could be split into two, and clouds may run up each trunk, or the trunk may be trained to be bent and curvy with branches at alternate heights arranged on steps.
How Do I Cloud Prune?
Niwaki or cloud pruning should ideally start when the tree is young and is performed in a way that compliments the natural form of the tree.
Choose trees that already appear to have an interesting branching structure to work with, and then locate the tree in the right space in your garden.
After you have selected these things, you need to think about the shape you will be training your tree as, and make sure it fits the tree you selected.
From there, you need to plan out which branches you are going to keep and which branches you will let grow.
Using your pruning saw or secateurs:
- Trim the undesired branches
- And tidy up the area the branch has been trimmed from to allow for a smooth healed trunk over time as the tree develops.
You may want to leave the tips at the ends of the branches to promote the cloud shape style, and use some kind of rope or string with stones to train the branches and foliage to a contour that you want over the years.
How to I Maintain a Tree Pruned Using the Niwaki Method?
After your tree has been grown and formed into the Niwaki shape you desire, it is relatively easy to maintain both the tree and its shape.
It is traditional in Japan to prune a tree only 1-2x per year.
This depends on how fast your tree grows and whether you are pruning 2x per year, or whether you can maintain it with just an annual pruning.
In the interim- Japanese Niwaki practitioners will allow the small branches to grow, and then trim all small branches on the same day.
Are There Other Types of Japanese Pruning?
Cloud pruning represents one particular style of Japanese pruning, although there are also other styles that contain the same fundamental principles.
It may be the case that you do not prune in the exact shape of a cloud, but a general principle in Japanese gardening is to maintain trees in harmony with a garden around them, and to emphasize a few, beautifully pruned plants in lieu of many pruned plants.
Though Niwaki pruning differs from Bonsai cultivating, they often share similar pruning techniques.
The same concept of having the illusion of a beautifully managed full-sized tree but on a smaller scale is more exaggerated with Bonsai cultivating.
Keep this in mind: the other main difference is that Niwaki trees are in a garden, whereas Bonsai trees are kept in pots.
Conclusion
Japanese pruning is usually put into two categories, Niwaki or Bonsai, but the general technique can be applied for pruning the maintenance of trees and shrubs in a general way.
As with bonsai, the Niwaki technique requires some patience and attention, but it can create a nicely shaped tree that is both aesthetically pleasing and creates balance and harmony in the garden and will require less management when the tree is fully shaped.