Cutting Back: My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto

by Leslie Buck

At thirty-five, Leslie Buck made an impulsive decision to put her personal life on hold to pursue her passion. Leaving behind a full life of friends, love, and professional security, she became the first American woman to learn pruning from one of the most storied landscaping companies in Kyoto. Cutting Back recounts Buck’s bold journey and the revelations she has along the way. During her apprenticeship in Japan, she learns that the best Kyoto gardens look so natural they appear untouched by human hands, even though her crew spends hours meticulously cleaning every pebble in the streams. She is taught how to bring nature’s essence into a garden scene, how to design with native plants, and how to subtly direct a visitor through a landscape. But she learns the most important lessons from her fellow gardeners: how to balance strength with grace, seriousness with humor, and technique with heart.

Genres: Nonfiction, Japan, Memoir, Gardening, Travel, Nature, Biography

280 pages, Hardcover

Published May 3, 2017

About the author

Personal and insightful podcast interviews, photos from Cutting Back and more are on Leslie's website: Lesliebuckauthor.com. Leslie's three season apprenticeship dramatic tale not only became a best-selling non-fiction book, but received a NYTime book review, was reviewed in the Washington Post and SF Chronicle. Leslie has an in-depth interview on the NPR's podcast Cultivating Place https://www.cultivatingplace.com/sing... .  If you are curious about what it would be like to work alongside dedicated garden craftsmen of Japan inside a historic Kyoto landscaping company, Leslie Buck’s new garden memoir gives readers a first-hand look.
Follow Leslie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com

Reviews

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Free for Audible-IK-and-US-Plus members.

REALLY enjoyed this. Thank you, Eileen, for suggesting it to me.

This book tells of the author’s three-month apprenticeship working for a renown landscaping company in Kyoto, Japan. The year is 1999. Leslie Buck is thirty-five and is the first American to be offered such an opportunity. Already a successful landscape artist with her own company in California, she was eager to learn all that she could about the art of pruning, Japanese style.

What lay ahead of her was no easy task. The team worked in the cold and the rain during the months October through December. They worked six to seven days a week and ten to twelve hours a day. Her Japanese language skills were rudimentary. Her determination kept her going but “cry-breaks” were necessary to get her through. The work was physically tiring, laborious and repetitive, but so very rewarding.

We learn not only about the art of aesthetic pruning but also Japanese culture. Eventually Leslie comes close to those she works with, both her bosses and fellow laborers.

I mention here but a few points that are brought up. When a tree is to be pruned, it must first be healthy. The cutting back is to be done slowly over a progression of years. Don’t view the object to be trimmed from a nearby, easy spot. Go instead and view it from a window where it is seen daily. Pay attention to the shapes that serve as the backdrop. The placing of stepping-stones can be used to alter how the plant will be seen.

We learn about how Japanese relate to each other. There is much here of interest. If you are curious about cultural ways and manners, the book’s for you. There is a strong hierarchical ladder that cannot be disregarded. Emotions are to hidden, restricted, kept under wraps. The custom of giving beautifully wrapped presents, the addition of the honorific suffix “san” to a person being addressed, the way of working harder and harder and harder as one reaches the conclusion of a task, the voicing of criticism means that you are accepted as one of the group, and that silence between companions often reflects friendship are just few of the many, many ways and customs brought up. I find such cultural mannerisms fascinating.

Do you know, there is a word in Japanese that means both to ask and to listen. The word is kiku.

The how to of aesthetic pruning was not explained to Leslie. Education was through trial and error, through watching and observing.

I love it when you know right off the bat the rating you want to give a book! Something is wrong when you must spend time convincing yourself to be fair when judging a book. One’s reaction should be automatic; then you know it’s right.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is well written. It has humor. What it says about the art of landscaping and aesthetic pruning is one hundred percent correct. If cultural mannerisms are of interest to you, the book is a must read.

The audiobook available free for Audible-UK-and-US-Plus members is very well narrated by Caroline McLaughlin. She has a relaxed tone. Her words are clear. Leslie’s emotions are voiced, but not in an overdramatized manner. Four stars for the audio narration.

This fits me to a T! I’ve been in Japan and seen the gardens. The experience is something I will never ever forget.

[catherine ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm...I feel like two stars is a bit harsh, I really do.

But while the writing style was great in this, I felt like I gradually lost interest because the pacing was a bit slow. To be honest I found myself skimming towards the end. There is a great amount of detail, and while I loved that, I found that there was so much information about the plants and about the objects, and it was a bit lacking for the characters.

By the end of the book, I felt like the only person I understood was the main character. Everyone else was a bit blurred into the background, and I found I didn't really know anything about them, and therefore couldn't connect.

I did like the writer's experience with diversity and culture, and I liked her journey as a "plot", but it did move a little slowly and my interest definitely fluctuated.

[Katy]

I received my copy free through Goodreads Firstreads.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young, successful business owner decides that she wants to further her tree pruning skills with an apprenticeship in Koyoto, Japan and winds up on an elite landscaping company that shows her no leniency nor favoritism. 6 day, 10 hour weeks into the chills of winter teach her humility, tenacity and a skill set that's almost Garden Tao. She does not speak Japanese, nor do they American, so much of her duties are hopeful completions with determined vigor. She gets homesick for her boyfriend and the warmth of her home in California, but acquires such a dignified work ethic that it's worth every miserable minute. Acquiescent to the ways of the country, she bows deeper, demures readily, and soaks up the traditions she meets in every new garden she tends. A novelty to most in an occupation held primarily by men, she hardly blends in..yet holds her own against the near tyranny of the "bossman" .. Towards the end of her apprenticeship, she is near breaking, but perseveres to the end, respectfully among the team she worked with. There are many "hacks" offered and splendid garden "views" shared, along with the amazing people she meets who own or run these quintessential gardens.

The book got sloppy towards the end, probably due to deadlines, with a couple paragraphs being repeated and spaces missed between sentence ends, but it hardly distracted from the joy of reading this book. Right there with "Lab Girl" by Hope Jahren, it will remain in my Garden collection to read again and again.

[Sunnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this book a 3.75 stars. When I started it I was looking for more specific “how to “ information but that was not what I found. However, I can honestly say that I liked the last quarter of it better than the first three quarters. Especially when Buck shared how things were looked at from the other side - eye opening .

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a gardening enthusiast and a person who has struggled to fit into another culture, so I really enjoyed this memoir of a pruner’s apprenticeship in Kyoto. Although the author only spent a few months in Japan, I think she learned valuable lessons about Japanese culture and horticultural practices. Most of all, she clearly learned a lot about herself and what she’s capable of.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew pruning was such a thing! This book earned a 4 because of the content which was very interesting.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I read a memoir, I expect to learn about a person, not just their experiences, but also their character and how their experiences changed them and made them who they were. However, in this memoir of Leslie Buck's apprenticeship with master artisans in Japan, working in Japanese gardens, all I learned was that Ms. Buck is spoiled, petulant, and privileged. She's given an incredibly rare opportunity to work with master gardeners in Japan, and yet doesn't learn the language, complains constantly, insists on doing things her own way regularly, and generally indulges in regular fits of melancholy and self-pity. She's given advice by people much more familiar with the culture than she is, and then ignores it. She considers cheating on her boyfriend, even going so far as to see if one of her coworkers was sexually interested in her. Her big insight at the end is as much rooted in a single experience in California as her months in Kyoto. I didn't see any sort of character growth. It was a disappointment.

Also, I find that this book would have benefited from photos. She's not enough of a prose stylist to enable readers to see the techniques she is describing, or the effects that the aesthetic pruning she is learning achieves. Her experiences in the gardens are described repeatedly, but she offers little information about how to achieve those techniques either, except to be meticulous in cleaning everything, going so far as to remove rocks from dry river beds and clean under them. She repeatedly talks about removing needles from pine trees. A series of photos would have been illustrative, especially if she had provided photos of what she did compared to what the head gardener achieved.

I don't think the memoir worked on either a personal or a professional level.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appealing account of the author's grueling and rewarding landscaping apprenticeship in Kyoto, Japan. Buck's personal life is interwoven smoothly and not too heavily (for me at least) with her work. Straightforward and revealing, and showing Buck's strong affinity for trees and for her work in general.

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book! Buck's writing style was easy to read, engaging, and accessible. Her pluck, dedication, and vulnerability all contributed to a wonderful story. Just like when I read Lab Girl, I couldn't help but feel that by the time I finally finished the final page, I knew her. Obviously, we never met, but I felt as though I knew and understood her in a very special and personal way. To me, this is truly the mark of an excellent memoir.

This book of course combines two interests of mine: plants and Japan. And it was fun getting to see not only how Buck encountered these two things, but also how they encountered each other. How are Japanese gardeners different from American gardeners, etc. It was fascinating, eye-opening, and refreshing.

I admire the author very much. I can only imagine how hard this must have been, not only being in a new country, but a place where you don't understand the language or the customs, where you both look and feel like a complete outsider. That being said, I love that while Buck was vulnerable, she was never weak. Sure, she had difficult times, but she followed through and held on. To try my hand at metaphor, she was pruning the tree in her soul, trimming out bits in painstaking fashion until everything was perfect.

I loved the characters throughout the story, especially Nakaji. I could imagine him so vividly! And I relished every scene he was in. Although, my favorite was when he tricks Leslie into eating bitter tea leaves, haha. The funny thing is, even though I enjoyed Nakaji the most, there is one scene that I must have gone back and read about six or seven times: Leslie's final goodbye with Toshi. It's so true when they say that the people who are most bitter are the ones most in need of compassion. And this moment really hit me hard and has been sitting with me since finishing. From his attempts at nonchalance to his return gift, this whole scene was really special to me.

This is exactly what a memoir should be: a tale with relatable characters and an interesting story, one that captivates and draws the reader in; that makes them feel as though they were part of things. An experience, not a lecture. Well done, Ms. Buck!

To change gears for a moment, I had started this book on audio. And I do not recommend it. While Buck's writing was engaging and beautiful, Caroline McLaughiln's narration was dreadful. For the first few minutes, I thought that I was being read to by Siri. Apart from a robotic tone, the weird pacing kept pulling me out of the story, ruining the effect that the book was trying to convey. I eventually gave up and started reading on my own. And I'm so glad I did. Much better this way.

When I chose this for book discussion, I had no idea that it would be my last. But, in hindsight, I think it was perfect. It's a story about growth and about change. And for me, book discussion was a difficult challenge that I struggled with, but ultimately found very rewarding. I'm sad to be finished with it, but I'm so glad that it happened. (Sound familiar?) I doubt my group will take the same sentiments from the story, but regardless, I'll post their thoughts below after the discussion.

[Karen Mace · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a keen gardener I am always eager to read of how gardening is approached around the world, so this book grabbed my interest as it's the story of Leslie Buck who moves from America to Japan for 3 seasons to challenge herself and her gardening outlook. And it is a fascinating insight into her as a person, and how the art of gardening can be so different from one country to another.

In America she has her own tree pruning business and is extremely confident in her skills and totally at home and at ease up a tree! But she feels like she needs more of a challenge and to learn more, so she sets off to Japan who are masters of tree pruning to learn more about the art, and ends up learning a lot about herself in the process!

I loved the contrast of gardening styles and hearing how the Japanese approach gardening and how their approach to working is so different. It isn't always easy and that comes across as she writes but her determination sees her through and I think her fellow Japanese gardeners appreciated her efforts and committment.

Japanese gardens are always so stunning so it was so insightful to learn of how they look at the whole garden, or the whole plant before setting upon pruning or changing something, and it really makes the way you look at your own garden change. I won't be rushing in with secateurs anymore without a bit more thought going into my pruning attempts!!


The only negative thing I have to say about the book is that there were no photographs as I would have loved to have seen some of the impressive gardens she worked on, that were so beautifully described by her. But other than that it was a fascinating and delightful insight into the world of Japanese gardens.

thankyou to the publishers and netgalley for the advanced copy in return for a fair and honest review

[J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Naturalist Delight

There is a difference between learning the tricks of the trade and becoming a master artisan. The author devoted over twenty years learning how to prune trees. Cutting Back is specifically about time spent in Japan where its society revers traditional gardeners like Olympic level athletes. She shares her experience through vivid descriptions of the people, places, and a love affair with plants. The passion and care that goes into making each plant shine and thrive within its environment is similar to a spiritual journey. Delightful images, like the one of a pruner snoring in a tree fifteen feet above the ground, are woven throughout. It was interesting how little difference there was in Japanese and American culture when it came to a female working in a male dominated profession. One overriding premise came through loud and clear, gardening is very hard work when done correctly, but the results can be spectacular.

The author is a certified aesthetic pruner and owns her own landscape pruning company in the San Francisco Bay area. She has also worked with the Merritt College Pruning Club and other public institutions including the UC Botanical Garden, Portland Japanese Garden, and Tassajara Zen Center.

I received this book free through Net Galley. Although encouraged as a courtesy to provide feedback to the publisher, I was under no obligation to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delicious book Cutting Back: My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto is. Both the delicacy of pruning and the necessary fearlessness of the pruner are the contradictions at the heart of the arborist's life—and at the heart of Leslie Buck’s book itself. It gave me so much to think about! The whole concept of pruning and shaping is very much like a poet's method of revising.

The delicate hierarchy of the world of Japanese gardening men was beautifully described. Buck’s friendships with these men were tender and complex. Her frustrations, her youthful stubbornness, the hesitating boldness with which she made the leap to Japan in the first place, all unfolded with zest. Although there is a placidity in arbor work, the book had the quality always of leaving me wondering and wanting more--ever leading me to the next chapter. I should say that I also downloaded the audio version from Audible (I am a Gold member—listen to lots and lots of books), so I both read Cutting Back and had it read to me. I very much liked the way the narrator handled the book, a casual American voice in formal Japanese apprenticeship.

[Sarah W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm very much an amateur gardener (when I can be bothered to garden), so I was awed by the work described in this memoir, which depicts the author's experience working for a gardening company in Japan. Working in another culture, barely speaking the language, the author provides insight into so many Japanese gardens - from small residential plots to grand imperial showcases. It's a fascinating tour of a world I had never really imagined. The author also discusses how her experience drained her, her struggles working in a culture she didn't fully understand, and how she managed to endure - all of which resonated with me.

[Mike Histand · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having been to Kyoto many times, and having spent ample time watching Japanese gardeners prune pines and shrubs in World Heritage Temple gardens, I was interested in Buck's experience working with a professional crew for a few months in the very same gardens. But her work-a-day experiences left me wanting for more details about the techniques she learned rather than the social repartee with her crew. I also know her very limited command of any Japanese language left her isolated from the cultural nuances of the experience.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3+ I love the gardens of Kyoto and now I appreciate them more. Buck’s determination and perspectives give us a glimpse of the esthetic, people and culture of Japan.

[Dottie Suggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leslie takes us into the landscaping culture of Japan and gives us her hard-won account of six months. During that time in Kyoto she finds a job, makes friends and endures the rigors of working in a top landscaping crew. I'm not sure there is any other way to come to know the day in day out activities of the master gardeners.

[Hannah Jeffords Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt the book ended kind of abruptly and there were times that I really got tired of reading about pine trees. Overall I enjoyed reading about her time in Japan and it's prompting to reflect on my own. I am a very visual person so I also enjoyed being able to visualize kyoto and Japanese gardens I have been to.

[michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The waitresses, wearing stiff kimonos covered with patterns of leaves and flowers, would slowly walk down the aisles, waving fans in front of them in time to plucked instrumental melodies. [...] I remember a certain waitress passing our table and smiling at us on the sly—the two little girls with their handsome bachelor father. This woman’s face, and her subdued beauty, still finds its way into my dreams. I wish she could have known that she inspired the younger girl, the one who hardly talked but watched her with wide hazel eyes. This shy little girl would grow up to eventually work in one of the emperor’s gardens of Kyoto, swinging a razor-sharp scythe instead of waving a fan.
.
The budding irises reminded me that even in darkness, life returns, even stronger.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Cutting Back, author Leslie Buck chronicles her four-month stay in Kyoto at the turn of the millennium. Unusually, for a woman and a westerner, she was taken on as an apprentice at a big-name Japanese landscape gardening company (Uetoh Zoen).

There is something irresistible about this type of memoir, especially when the writer is trying to lift the veil from some very traditional aspect of Japanese culture. Liza Dalby in Geisha (1983) told the story of her move to Kyoto to train as an apprentice geisha; Kaoru Nonomura in Eat Sleep Sit: My Year at Japan's Most Rigorous Zen Temple (1996) described how he left his job as a designer for a year of training at a Zen Buddhist temple. Both books sold well, partly because they offer a glimpse inside cultures that are essentially hidden, but also because as readers we identify so readily with the hapless novice navigating the unknown.

Buck was not really a novice when she arrived: she had run her own landscaping business in California for several years. Yet following Japanese tradition she was automatically junior to the sixteen-year-old apprentice who had joined six months ahead of her. And he, being senior, was at liberty to give her instructions on the job, even though his inexperience meant he was getting things wrong.

Buck is a natural raconteur, and excels in her descriptions of life as the female American employee of a traditional Japanese business. She deftly draws out the humour in her encounters with clients and colleagues, and much of it is self-deprecating, as she herself struggles to meet their exacting standards and keep a grip on her natural exuberance.

Yet she is open about the more difficult aspects of her apprenticeship: the language barrier, the severe winter cold, the strain of being criticised by an unforgiving team leader. The narrative falters slightly when she turns her mind to her boyfriend back in California. The fact that she missed him was part of her story, of course, but so much less interesting than her day to day encounters with the Japanese master gardeners.

There is some discussion of pruning techniques and garden design, but much of this you could find in other sources (Buck references, for instance, Japanese Garden Design by Marc P. Keane). The book is based on the author’s journals and comes across more as a portrait of the people tending to the gardens than the gardens themselves. This means there is plenty to interest the general reader as well as those with a passion for gardening.

I did wonder, though, what happened once she returned to California. Did her Kyoto experience impact her work style or how she ran her business here? How did the boyfriend situation pan out? Overall, a light, warm-hearted read that presents a unique perspective on Japan. Recommended.

I am grateful to NetGalley and to Timber Press for the chance to review an advance copy of this title.

Review first posted at http://asianartbrief.com

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

”I often wondered why I had to study gardening in Japan. If one waters a dry spot of earth, dormant seeds in the soil may spring to life, their tender leaves pushing their way up through the soil before they rise daringly into the open air. My interest in Japanese gardens spread over time like these wildflowers.”

This was the last book about Japan that I read before our trip and it was an excellent one to end my education with – at least temporarily. I knew we would be visiting Kyoto and so reading Buck’s experiences made me much more aware of the gardens there. Actually, her memoir has made me look at gardens everywhere with new eyes.

I am supposedly the one in charge of pruning in our yard, but my results are hit or miss. I certainly do not have the training that Buck does. I am so impressed that after all her training, she was willing to move to another country to learn more. It could not have been easy.

I also suspect it was not easy to write this book. Gardeners probably want to know more about the techniques she learned. People like me want to know more about her interactions with the Japanese people and others might want to know more about the city of Kyoto. I think Buck does a good job of showing us what life is like for a woman in a male dominated job in a foreign country.

Buck must tell the story she wants us to hear and I think she does an excellent job of putting her reader in her shoes. When she is cold and tired, I could feel for her. When the language barrier is almost too much, I could understand that also.

Although the gardens of Kyoto were not the focus of my visit to Japan, I am very glad that my trip helped me find this book. I highly recommend it to gardeners, travelers and readers of memoirs. Buck writes well and has an interesting story to share with us.

[Tanya Konerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leslie Buck offers insight into the deeply traditional—and traditionally male—world of Japanese aesthetic pruning and landscape design with this look back at her brief internship in Kyoto at age thirty-five. Armed with just a few Japanese phrases and fewer contacts in the area, Buck left her landscaping business in California in 2000 to seek and secure an apprenticeship with an acclaimed Japanese landscaping company in Kyoto. There she joined a strict, hierarchically-structured work crew, where she (sometimes painfully) learned the physical and almost spiritual methods involved in the creation and upkeep of Japanese gardens, many of which have offered peaceful respite for hundreds of years. Cutting Back is Buck’s insightful look at the lessons she learned about Japanese culture, the intensive and exhausting process of aesthetic pruning and gardening for a natural look using foreign methods and tools, and her own growth as both a landscaper and a female in a male-dominated craft.
While it is mostly a sequential story, Buck does utilize some flashbacks to illustrate her points and round out her story. The book also features a romance-oriented subplot involving a boyfriend in California, though I wish the ending offered a bit more closure here. And despite referring to her camera and the many photos she captured of Kyoto, her work crew, and the lovely gardens where she apprenticed, the book does not include any photos, something which could have made it a stronger tale. Nevertheless, Cutting Back is the interesting story of Buck’s personal and professional journey and lessons learned which readers will not soon forget.

*Cutting Back releases April, 2017. I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy in February, 2017.*

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leslie Buck studied horticulture at Merritt College in California and went on to found her own pruning business. I wasn't aware that there was such an occupation, at least on a full time basis. As she hones her craft, she decides to leave her boyfriend at home and do an apprenticeship in Japan. There she works 6 days a week, and 10 to 12 hours a day, returning home only to fall asleep immediately, with hands to sore to hold a pen. As one of the very few women pruners in Japan, she struggles to keep up with the pace set by the men. They all move at a frantic pace, running from tree to tree, and clipping away at great speed. It is not until the end of the book that she comments on this fast pace and is told "of course the Japanese craftsmen pruned faster; they weren't going to be beaten by a girl!" The story provided great insight into Japanese gardens and the pruning occupation. My only complain is that the story took place in 2000, yet the book wasn't published until 2017--which makes me doubt the veracity of the recorded conversations and details provided.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title almost says it all--except it doesn't explain that Leslie Buck was a thirty-five year old American woman serving as a tree pruning apprentice in an almost all male workplace. Adjusting to the cultural differences between being her own boss in California to taking orders from everyone on her work crew in Japan wasn't always easy. The customs were different, the tools were new to her, there was no stopping work because of rain and snow, and it was a six day work week. She got through it with grim determination, a sense of humor, and a love for her art. A very enjoyable account.

I received Free advance review copy.

[wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tis author has a passion for pruning plants. She is living in California and decides that to really learn her craft she must relocate to Japan to learn from the Masters there. She packs up, leaves her boyfriend and its off to a new adventure. I do enjoy nicely manicured Japanese gardens but am not sure a big audience will get or should get this. Most of the book deals with her trying to gains her apprenticeship and her relationships with the leaders and other members of her work crew. There is a lot of cutting, snipping and ladder climbing. If this is your thing you will like it.

[Daphne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely look into the life of someone who's taken quiet but fascinating journeys. I got a flavor of paths taken without having to make the effort myself. A thoughtful and gentle read.

[Irene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I first saw this book at my local library and thought the premise of a non-Japanese person working as a gardener in some of Kyoto’s most picturesque gardens sounded so interesting. I picked the book up later hoping to learn more about the art of Japanese garden landscaping, and perhaps also about Japanese culture and work ethics (which I know a bit about already but mostly through consumption of Japanese media).

Unfortunately, this book failed to hit either of those points. While I did learn a bit about pruning techniques and the absolute dedication of Japanese gardeners to their trade, it wasn’t as detailed or, well, exciting, as I had expected. I think perhaps the book could have benefited from photos or illustrations to demonstrate some of the beauty of the gardens (I even actually planned on picking this book up as a physical copy expecting there to be pictures, but was disappointed to find there were none at all - so I ended up going with the audiobook version instead).

In terms of the learnings gained from Buck’s experiences as an American working in a trade almost exclusively worked in by Japanese men, I appreciated some of the commentary on the differences between American and Japanese work ethic and social customs. However, I felt like it often came across as shallow - Buck obviously didn’t take much effort to learn Japanese, and despite being told of the different social expectations in her job, persisted with her American perspective instead of trying to bridge that gap. I can understand wanting to stay true to your values, but the blurb for this book talked about “revelations” experienced during this apprenticeship, and I felt like there was nothing like that shared at all in this book.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leslie Buck, a Bay Area garden designer, writes a memoir about her 3-season apprenticeship with a traditional, Japanese, craftsmen, landscaping company in 1999. This chronological collection of stories includes candid descriptions of the author's internal and external challenges during her time learning a demanding, detail-oriented methodology within an already physically challenging, male-dominated, profession. Each story features current, journal-like documentation of the day's events with reflections on her past experiences which lead to the current self-insight. Although the author makes many personal discoveries, the focus of the narrative is an account of her trip and the challenges of the profession. While some curious readers might be disappointed with the cut content including more detailed information about either the author's pre-Japan trip preparations or her pre-Japan relationships which trouble her with regular homesickness, other readers seeking a candid account of one thirty-something woman's life-altering professional development (and cross-cultural fitting-in) adventure should be entertained.

If I were to cut-back the book to its essence then I would suggest the passage (page 202) inspired by a bonsai display:

"I couldn't help but stare at the pomegranate searchingly. I had turned thirty-five that year. I felt strong but also a little ripe myself, or at least heading that way. My heart felt pecked at. Wind, cold, trees, and men had pushed me quite a lot of late. The little bonsai also looked lonely among the bonsai giants, many of which had thick trunks and vibrant needles."

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am happy to read <300 pages on the intricacies of aesthetic pruning, on the human culture that informs that pruning, and details on what your feet feel like in the cold. The approach to traditional craftsmanship and teaching are so different in Japan than they are in the US, and learning about them from the intimate perspective of an American person who sometimes felt misled, tricked, or betrayed is a little shocking, and stimulating, given how mundane it is. But I think many of us can relate to wanting to quit, wanting to cry, wondering if the boss hates us, and I think the author has a lot of courage to write so plainly about her experience. One unresolved question bothered me throughout, though - why did she decide to write this nearly 20 years after her internship? Would no one publish it, was she not ready, had she not grown from the experience? Any answer would be fine, but I want to know. Her internship was in 1999 and this was published in 2017, and no comment was given to introduce that gap. In 2023, I live in a world where people snap and post a photo in seconds. 18 years before publishing seems like a lifetime. There are important technological differences that merit comment, too. In 1999, she may not have realized how bizarre it was to barely understand Japanese before going on her trip. And she probably couldn’t have anticipated what it would have been like to be away from friends and family and without much digital communication. But because this book had nearly 20 years to take shape, I would have liked if she situated it a bit more in history. It was a lot different, and way bolder, to do something like she did then.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it when I randomly find a book that turns out to be a favorite. I found Cutting Back: My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto while perusing the local library shelves and had a hunch. Completing the memoir at a leisurely pace, I looked forward to each next sitting of total reading contentment. The author Leslie Buck is a real artist of words, without being overdone or making me flip a dictionary every other sentence. Most fascinating are the on-the-job cultural differences the author is challenged with every day. Within the context of Leslie's gardening apprenticeship, we are privy to the intricacies of the Japanese working culture. The author does not present these to us in a list, but allows us to absorb and understand these norms as we experience them with her.
Buck manages to fill 276 pages about trimming trees and shrubs and keep me purring. Okay, there is more here than pruning techniques. There's humor, and the grit and determination of the author, our heroine. There's the culture clash. There are touches of sweet and bittersweet relationships. Yet the setting and story are narrow in scope with little drama. This doesn't bother me. I like Japanese zen, and there is depth in the simplicity.
I miss illustrations. Leslie mentions sketching in the garden; including a few pen and ink drawings would be perfect. Cutting Back is probably not for everyone, but I think if you like gardening, nature, insight into cultures, and especially all things Japanese, then this book will be gratifying and a pleasure.