The objective of this study is establishment of vegetative propagation of Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii). We examined the effect of defoliation, disbudding and shape of basal cut on the rooting ability of cuttings, and we tried to find an optimal method of propagation. Cuttings were made from terminal shoots of 1-year-old seedlings. As a result, 1) When 0-46% of the needles of cuttings were removed, those rooting percentages were steady between 54 and 62%. However, when needles were removed excessively, rooting ability decreased notably. Moreover, 46% needle removal cuttings had the longest root systems. 2) In the case of cuttings with a part or all their buds removed, the rooting percentage was greater than that of control cuttings. 3) On the examination of treatments of the cut end, rooting ability was better for diagonal shape than for horizontal shapes, but difference in the effect was insignificant. So the optimal method is to remove half of the needles or buds from cuttings and to cut end in a diagonal shape. However, as growth of cuttings from which buds had been removed was bad, a careful needs to be paid to disbudding for commercial production.