The training starts with young seedlings, saplings or the stems of trees when they are very young,[1] :4 which are gradually shaped while the tree is growing to form the desired shape.[2] There is a small area just behind the growing tip that forms the final shape.[3][30] The shaping zone,[27][30] it is the shaping of this area requires day to day or weekly guiding of the new growth. The growth is guided along predetermined design pathways;[5] this may be a wooden jig [9] or complex wire design.[6]