Comments on: Kyoto’s Annual Neutering of the Trees

By: 和葉葉葉葉葉

和葉葉葉葉葉 — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:26:21 +0000

Lots of people agree with Carl. For the past week, people were showing their displeasure by exaggerated movements and glaring, especially on trains, because rain and leaves on a sidewalk had made my knee unbendable.

I’ve been reminded that the injured knee is the same one as 11 years ago, not the opposite one. Today I can bend it as long as it doesn’t have any weight on it.

By: 和葉葉葉葉葉

和葉葉葉葉葉 — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:14:14 +0000

I’m afraid this morning’s experience makes me agree with Carl. Last night’s fallen leaves were sitting on the sidewalk, but not directly on the sidewalk. Last night’s rain formed a nice slippery layer in between the two.

Eleven years ago it was on a street with no sidewalks, and I was riding a bicycle instead of walking, so the nice slippery combination put me in hospital for 10 days and a wheelchair for around 40 days. Today fortunately I injured my other knee not the same one, so the injury probably isn’t as bad. We’ll see how it feels later today.

By: Carl

Carl — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:28:42 +0000

Consider the location – An accumulation of leaves on the street and sidewalk would represent a safety hazard for vehicles and pedestrians, especially when wet. Do they prune trees that are not located near streets and sidewalks in the same manner?

Having grown up in Ohio where trees seem to multiply their leaves 10-fold as they shed them, I can assure you that they’re not a particular “safety hazard”. There are plenty of city-owned Ginkgo trees that line streets that they don’t prune. —Jeffrey

By: Thorf

Thorf — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:16:45 +0000

I have always been sad to see this happening here in Akita too. It’s not just the ginkgo trees – they also trim weeping willows along the river very severely every year.

But the fact is, the next spring and summer they grow back with such a vengeance that it’s hard to believe they were ever pruned at all (like Peter mentioned above). Searching on the Internet, it seems that perhaps that is the reason for the severe pruning.

That said, I’ve also read (I think it was in Alex Kerr’s Dogs and Demons) that the reason for the autumnal trimming is indeed to get rid of the leaves before they fall, and that it is apparently (at least partially) caused by residents calling their local authority to complain about the mess made by falling leaves.

I don’t know enough about trees to have an opinion of whether pruning is good or bad, but I strongly agree with you that pruning them at the peak of their beauty is just plain wrong.

By: Jeffrey Friedl

Jeffrey Friedl — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:50:40 +0000

Well, I found myself next to the cleanup crew at a stoplight this morning, so asked them. Their look made it clear within the first second that they had no idea why, beyond their boss having told them to do it. After a few moments of thinking, one said sheepishly (as if he’d never considered the “why” before)…. “like a haircut”.

By: Grandma Friedl

Grandma Friedl — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:11:40 +0000

I was wondering if anyone would bring up the foul smell of the dropped fruit. Peter had the most polite description of it I’ve ever seen…most people just say “Dog Poop.
And I always considered Gingko a fuller tree, but these seem to be pruned to resemble a stumpy Liquidamber. And they don’t appear high enough to interfere with the electric lines. If you ever learn to reason, Jeff, let us know. It may even be reasonable.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:48:02 +0000

I’m with Jao on this!

I agree it looks a bit barbaric, yet street trees do often need pruning, and ginkgos, especially females, are messy trees (the fruit, as you no doubt know, smell appallingly of cheesy socks). Yet the trees look to be thoughtfully pruned and quite striking as skeletons afterwards. Perhaps you can find a street somewhere of unrpruned trees for comparison. I know there are narrow-crowned selections of ginkgo, but these may not be, in which case it makes some sense to prune and tidy in a single operation. The trees should be all the bushier next spring!

By: Jao

Jao — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:30:10 +0000

Very strange indeed. I had never heard about this before but it does make some morbid sense. This way they don’t have to clean up a lot and don’t have to prune again in spring. For some reason I do like the shape of the left-over skeletons. They look sad and hopeful at the same time.

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:19:54 +0000

There may be the factor of municipal convenience, but I wonder if the work of strip the leaves off the tress is actually more time-consuming ad costly than cleaning up after they’ve fallen.

Another factor I see is an ingrained cultural determination to control every possible aspect of nature: which is why I view Japanese gardens not with pleasure anymore, but with a shudder.

By: David

David — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:36:19 +0000

This is so sad. Back in England everyone seems obsessed with blowing and hoovering the leaves away to keep their green lawns tidy and start cutting down the offending crunch leaf-dispensing trees

Sure they can be a pain when they’re wet and soggy, but isn’t that part of the thrill of life? Stripping nature away from it’s very trunk seems like some kind of corporate buzzword that’s taken on a life of it’s own. I for one will be campaigning for the keeping of the crunch leaves in England!

Glad you managed to capture them before and during removal- in a concrete jungle such as Japan’s cities a splash of natural colour does wonders for the mind