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The article is pretty light on details. Essentially, the tree is first pruned to create a wide and sturdy base; once that's stable, subsequent shoots from the branches are pruned to grow vertically. The technique relies on this particular variety of cedar which tends to grow vertically but can also be made to spread out a bit. It has some advantages in space-saving and efficiency but it's also very labor-intensive.
Isn't this just Pollarding and/or Coppicing, which have been practiced for at least 2000 years in Europe (and probably many other cultures as well), with a healthy dose of orientalism added on top?
Please link a photo of a coppice/pollard in Europe that's as straight as this, along with the location where I can see it.
If you do, I have got a great new travel destination. If you don't then everyone else (and hopefully you too) will understand why people think this is special enough to link beyond the fact that it happens to be in Japan.
Saw same argument play out with bonsai vs European espalier training in the 90s. Technique parity doesn't matter, marketing and centuries of documentation do.
Are coppicing and pollarding used at all to produce timber? I had the impression that it was done only to make firewood, and was cut repeatedly without letting it grow like described in the article.
Actually oak pollarding in England was used for shipbuilding timber, not just firewood. Coppicing though, yeah, mostly fuel and small poles. Different growth habits, different end uses.
In english this is called pollarding a tree. Historically it has been used for smaller wood pieces (firewood, etc). It's fuctionally different [from daisugi] because you don't get construction grade timber from it
When doing coppicing it's definitely something to be careful with. Once started, the trees needs to be cared for regularly. E.g. on the ash trees I have, it needs to be "harvested" every 8 to 9 years. If you fail to do that there's the risk of the tree splitting because of the weight but also branches breaking indeed in case of storms.
Pruned sugi like this on a coppice restoration job in Kyoto prefecture. The mother tree actually lives longer than unpruned ones nearby, less strain from its own canopy weight than you'd think.
Not sure that's entirely fair - openculture.com is usually pretty good, and the article draws on multiple sources. But I take your word for it that the twitter thread is good and have added it to the top text.
Calling this "just pollarding" misses the point. Pollarding's about regrowth for fuel or fodder, daisugi's shoots grow decades into straight, knot-free timber while the trunk stays put.
