Lit. pruning. The term refers to the clipped hedge or clipped plants common in Japanese gardens. Karikomi is divided into small karikomi, kokarikomi 小刈込, and large karikomi, ōkarikomi 大刈込. Ōkarikomi refers to bushes or trees planted close together and pruned so as make a single hedge or series of hedges. This technique dates from the late 15th century and was particularly popular in gardens of the late 16th and 17th centuries. In the late Muromachi period clipped hedges were often combined with stones, but by the Momoyama period ōkarikomi emerged as an independent design element. Ōkarikomi are divided into wave namikarikomi 波刈込, layered *dankarikomi 段刈込, mountain yamakarikomi 山刈込, fence magakikarikomi 籬刈込, and flat hirakarikomi 平刈込 styles depending on their appearance or function. Ōkarikomi may serve as the compositional focus of garden, as a background element (often referring to the borrowed landscape *shakkei 借景 of a distant mountain by assuming an analogous form), or as a screen to block out the view of some unwanted object. In addition to the semi-abstract wave and mountain designs, ōkarikomi may replace rocks to represent such standard design and symbolic elements as the crane island *tsurujima 鶴島, tortoise island *kamejima 亀島, and treasure boat *hōraibune 蓬莱舟. Ōkarikomi reached its apotheosis in 17th-century gardens at Daichiji 大池寺 in Shiga Prefecture and Raikyūji 頼久寺 in Okayama Prefecture, both attributed to Kobori Enshū 小堀遠州 (1579-1647), where massive ōkarikomi form the main focus of the gardens. The decline of ōkarikomi in the 18th century was brought about by the rise of kokarikomi. Kokarikomi refers to individual bushes or trees which are trimmed into round marukarikomi 丸刈込 or rectangular kakukarikomi 角刈込 shapes. Typically ōkarikomi gardens feature a hillside covered with carefully trimmed azaleas, tsutsuji 躑躅, and satsuki 五月. Good examples include the gardens at Chishakuin 智積院 and Sanzen'in 三千院, both in Kyoto. In some cases, small trimmed plants are placed together with rock groupings. Among the shrubs used for both ōkarikomi and kokarikomi, camellias tsubaki 椿 are not nearly as common as azaleas. For trees, evergreens are most common, but deciduous tree are also used. The flat-topped pines at Ritsurin kōen 栗林公園 in Kagawa Prefecture, offer a rare example of trimmed pines, usually used as kokarikomi, pruned together to form an ōkarikomi. Some gardens such as Entsūji 圓通寺 in Kyoto, use both ōkarikomi and kokarikomi.