This is a fun project that I started 4 years ago. The progress can be watched here.
Since the plan is to keep the tree in it’s wooden growbox for 1 more year I figured it was a good idea to give it one more big cutback and let it grow freely for another year after that.
Before the work started the tree looked like this:
It grew really well last year.
After cutting back to the new leaders I ended up with this result:
View from above:
After some wiring and applying cut paste to the wounds the tree is ready to go into spring.
Now that the main trunk lines have been set I can repot it next year and start working on the branches.
Shumi no Bonsai 