Clipping and shearing of evergreens

The clipping and shearing of evergreens is much practised in Japan, though seldom executed in a manner violently inconsistent with the nature of the vegetation dressed. Reference has previously been made to the conspicuous ability possessed by the Japanese,�also displayed in the Western arts during the middle ages,�of seizing upon the fundamental and characteristic qualities of natural forms, and creating a sort of shorthand or contracted representation for decorative purposes.