Browsing audiobooks on my favourite Audible app, I came across a new book by Leslie Buck called “Cutting Back: My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto
One regret
I have one regret. I used to live in Japan, I passed the Japanese language proficiency test levels 4 and 3 in Tokyo and I obtained the recommended ISA Certified Arborist certification. Then came two kids…..and my own Japanese gardening apprenticeship was permanently on hold.
So I was a bit envious and couldn’t wait to find out how Leslie did in a male dominated Japanese gardening field. But by the sounds of it she did well. Not that it was easy.
The daily grind is different in Japan. Six and seven day work weeks are not uncommon. Long hours? Sure. Company is number one. Your life number two.
We also find out that seniority counts in Japan. It’s used to prevent people from jumping to other companies where they would be starting at the bottom.
Finding a good teacher
Japanese landscape companies only consider candidates who show up in person. Leslie didn’t speak much Japanese so she got help from Asher Browne. Asher spent a few seasons working in Japan and it wasn’t always smooth sailing. His advice to me? Find a place where they enjoy teaching, pick up some Nihongo so you can communicate and don’t go to Kyoto first.
Leslie ignored the above advice I got and ended up getting hired by one of the top landscape companies in Kyoto. The same company that worked on the Nitobe Japanese garden at UBC in Vancouver, British Columbia. I had no idea.
Since she had her own pruning business in California, she asked to work on a pruning crew. It sounds like she pulled it off. One day I hope to learn how to prune pines correctly.
Some lessons
This book is short on gardening lessons. But one interesting point was about pruning weak plants. Japanese gardeners refuse to touch weak or sick plants. They simply ask the client to nurse the tree or shrub back to health. Then they prune it.
Also, I detest it when my workers stand under maples in the fall with blowers, trying to blow off every single leaf. Leslie tells us that her company would regularly shake maple trees. What? It turns out that maple leaves turn brown and stay in the crown which detracts from the nice fall look we’ve come to admire. Thus, the shaking. It dislodges the brown shrivelled leaves and all we have is the nice looking fall colour.
Read or pass?
If you have interest in Japanese gardening, gardening, pruning or Japan, this book will entertain you. The audiobook was excellent, other than the narrator’s lousy Japanese pronunciation. It runs almost eight hours at regular speed. I would recommend 1.25 speed.
Enjoy!
Cutting Back: My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto
