I would save all three trunks, making it a bush rather than a little tree. But you should remove the remainder of the branches you cut of from the lower part of the trunk

See this thread

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3242474/japanese-maple-complex-pruning-issue-help?n=25

Thanks for that Jalcon

Have seen this post before

I think with a lot of these Situations the Choice of to Prune or not to Prune is in the hands of the Tree owner whether Purist ~ None Purist or Experimentalist

I myself with this Tree have decided to remove the bottom 2 Branches before the Tree becomes too Branch Wound

Envisaging what the Tree would look like with just a single Curved Trunk I would consider this the best Option,(In My Opinion as a Comparitive Beginner to many on the Gardenweb)

Best wishes

Stephen,Cheshire,UK

Cool.. I don't think there is a wrong or right answer.. Pics?