Garden Feature – Sculpted Pines 庭木

The Cultural Importance of Pines in Japanese Gardens

Several species of pine trees, or matsu (松), are native to Japan, and have long been established in the country’s culture. In particular, these trees have been a common subject of Japanese art across a variety of mediums, including sculpted trees in Japanese gardens, bonsai, or woodblock prints. The oldest forms of nature scenes in art often depict evergreen trees in a stylized or symbolic way, though it wouldn’t be until the 12th century that pines would be depicted clearly, particularly in emakimono (絵巻物, narrative picture scrolls), which became popular in the Heian and Kamakura periods. Genji Monogatari Emaki (源氏物語絵巻, the artistic scroll of The Tale of Genji) is an excellent and well-known example of emakimono, and pines are used as backdrops to signify themes including longevity, loyalty, and the passage of time.

Eventually, pines would become the featured subject of Japanese art. One of the earliest and most well-known examples of pine used in this way would be the Shōrin-zu Byōbu (松林図屏風, Pine Trees screen), completed in the late Momoyama period (around 1595) by Hasegawa Tōhaku, the founder of the Hasegawa school of Japanese art. This pair of six-panel folding screens were designated a National Treasure of Japan in 1952.

 Shōrin-zu Byōbu (松林図屏風, Pine Trees screen)

Concurrently with their rising prominence in Japanese art, pines were also gaining popularity in Japanese gardens. Drawing from both Shinto reverence for evergreens and Chinese associations with immortality, they were integral to Heian-era landscapes, often paired with white sand to evoke celebrated coastal scenes from poetry. In the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, Zen-inspired gardens featured pines pruned to suggest windblown shores or distant mountains, embodying the wabi-sabi ideals of simplicity and impermanence.

During the Edo period (1603–1868), pines reached a new height of prominence in Japanese gardens, becoming both aesthetic focal points and symbols of refined taste. Gardeners perfected niwaki techniques, meticulously training black pine (kuro-matsu, 黒松, Pinus thunbergii) and red pine (aka-matsu, 赤松, Pinus densiflora) into elegant, stylized forms that complemented the era’s strolling gardens, tea gardens, and villa landscapes. Pines were often placed to frame key views, serve as visual anchors near water, or evoke celebrated scenic locations, such as the pine-clad shores of Amanohashidate. In tea gardens, smaller, subtly shaped pines reflected the wabi-cha preference for natural beauty and quiet dignity. Their presence is also linked directly to the shōchikubai trio (pine, bamboo, and plum), a classic New Year’s motif symbolizing perseverance, resilience, and renewal. In this period of peace and prosperity, pines came to represent not just endurance, but also the cultivated elegance of Edo garden design.

Today, black and red pines remain an essential part of Japanese gardens. However, you might be wondering what the differences are, and how you can spot them on your next trip to Japan. As their names suggest, one easy way to tell these two trees apart is by the color of their bark: red pines have a reddish-brown scaly bark, while black pines have a dark greyish brown fissured bark. Both of these trees can be found throughout Japan, though the black pine has a higher heat tolerance, growing in USDA Hardiness zones 5-9. Due to the cultural significance in Japan, red and black pines are both used in gardens as fully grown (often sculpted) trees, and as bonsai.

Why We Use Aleppo Pines

Due to the intense heat of Phoenician summers, Japanese pines would almost certainly suffer and die if used in the Garden. As mentioned, black pines have a slightly better heat tolerance, so in perfect conditions, they may grow, but it would take a lot of care and effort to keep them alive. Not removing plant material unless absolutely necessary is a key principle of Japanese gardening; this, plus the time it takes to shape and grow pines, ultimately means that we shouldn't grow Japanese pines in our Garden. We also have a very small team of Gardeners; it’s not feasible to have very needy plants when there are so many other things our team needs to take care of. As such, our Garden Curator has worked hard to find alternatives to these Japanese trees, which can still be maintained and sculpted in the same way. Our climate constraints are the reason why you will find Aleppo pines, both sculpted and wild-growing, at the Garden instead of the traditional Japanese pines.

Aleppo Pine at JFG

Aleppo pines are extremely resilient trees and are able to withstand more than most pines. For example, they are able to thrive in extremely high temperatures (USDA 8-10), poor soil conditions, pollution, and salt spray. Additionally, they have evolved to handle prolonged drought and dry summers, whereas Japanese pines are better suited to humid summers with more annual rainfall. Due to these climatic differences, Aleppo pines are much more water-efficient and need less supplemental irrigation to stay healthy. In other words, they do very well in downtown Phoenix.

In the Garden, you will find other pines, though they are not pruned in the style of Japanese black or red pines. Our Canary Island pines (Pinus canariensis), and Afghan pines (Pinus eldarica) have natural structures that do not lend themselves to niwaki (庭木, Japanese garden tree) forms. For example, Afghan pines are naturally very upright and stiff, with coarser needles, while Canary Island pines also have a very vertical form, but with long, drooping needles; meaning, neither of these trees has forms that lend themselves to the traditional Japanese aesthetic for red or black pines. In terms of climate, Afghan pines tend to yellow over time in poor soil, and Canary Island pines will brown at the tips if the humidity or irrigation is not enough. Conversely, Aleppo pines naturally have more irregular branching, with finer needles, lending themselves well to the Japanese pruning techniques.

Additionally, Aleppos have moderate back budding, which is a tree’s ability to produce new buds further back along an existing branch. Back budding is essential for maintaining compact, artistic forms. If a tree only ever produces new buds far away from the trunk, maintaining proportions and density becomes nearly impossible, and “lion-tailing” will occur. Another benefit of back budding in niwaki is the ability to reshape a tree over time; if a branch is damaged by weather or disease, new growth can be trained to fill in the space. Finally, a key component of Japanese pruning for trees is to make them look weathered and aged. Complex branching structures allow a younger pine to look older, and allow an older tree to maintain its health and longevity.

Caring for the Sculpted Pines

Even though Aleppo Pines are ideal for our particular environment and needs, they still need to be cared for to promote healthy growth and a robust appearance. Our sculpted pines are pruned twice a year, in the spring and fall. As Japanese pruning exposes a lot of bark to the sun, our spring pruning is less intense, to provide ample sun protection in the summer. In the fall, our Gardeners will prune much more substantially, as the winter sun is less harsh, and we don’t have to worry about frost (unlike other places in the USA).

JFG niwashi pruning one of our pines

A key part of Japanese pruning is ensuring the separation of the pads on the pines. Pads are the flat, horizontal, “cloud-like” foliage on sculpted pines, which are maintained to keep large portions of the branches and trunk exposed. A part of this process is removing or training vertical growth, or tachi-eda (立ち枝), to encourage horizontal movement and shape.

Another element of pruning sculpted pines is the removal of old needles, which our Gardeners do as part of the substantial prune in the fall. Traditionally, this process (hakiri, 葉切り) is done during the spring, but as mentioned above, for the Phoenix summer, we provide our trees with as much protection as possible. This process is entirely done by hand, requiring patience and a steady hand. Pruning always starts at the top of the tree, working from the trunk outwards; this way proper balance in the shape can be maintained, but also so that removed material is not sitting on completed branches. It is easier and more time-efficient to remove needles as you go, rather than having to go back to previous branches.

Additionally, pruning is not equally done on all the branches. For example, the side of the tree that faces the sun will have substantially more growth than the side that receives more shade, and requires more time to prune. By removing the old growth, the pines are able to dedicate resources to new growth, contributing to the overall health of the tree; older needles and branches tend to be more susceptible to pests and disease. The pine’s appearance is also improved through this process, as the discolored needles are removed, leaving the fresh green on the tree.

As you can see, pines are cemented in Japanese culture; their historical and cultural presence has shaped their use in art and Japanese gardens. Without these trees, Rohōen couldn’t truly be a Japanese style garden. We hope you now have a better understanding of why we use Aleppo pines in the Garden, and the care and effort that goes into maintaining them.