I would not DIY mess with it. Get a pro tree guy local to you; an arborist is better yet. Don't risk a crowd source of the a, b c of WHICH limbs.

First, in the world of Japanese maples, Emperor 1 is not a dwarf. Its popular listed mature size is 15' b 15' but it can (and often does, at least here) get twice that size.

Second, one wants to approach pruning or trimming a JM with a very light hand. After 3 years, the removal of lower branches is appropriate but not a requirement. Aside from that, I wouldn't remove anything. It is not mature enough or dense enough to need a crown reduction or thinning yet and the form looks dead on. This is what a mature Emp 1 should look like:

Finally, you can remove the stake it is attached to. It is no longer needed, badly applied and is not helping. The tree looks to be planted out in the open so staking to train growth (especially after 3 years) should no longer be necessary.

Also, there are dedicated forums here that address tree issues that are better venues for these questions. You will get more and better informed answers if you were to post in either Trees or Maples.

You have a competing leader that needs to go. The sooner the better. Small wounds are better than big wounds.

IIRC, you shouldn't prune Japanese maples in the fall. Also, they tend to have 2 buds, so when you cut a branch, you get two in its place.

Sigrid is correct. Wait until late winter early spring once the buds are swelling. When I said “the sooner the better” I guess I wasn’t clear. Take care of it this winter or early spring of next year because the bigger the branch the more healing the tree needs to do. Also look into proper pruning cuts - especially where to make the cut which is just beyond the branch collar. You don’t want to flush cut it and you also don’t want to leave a 3 inch long stub either. In your case stick to thinning cuts and this should prevent getting two in its place as Sigrid was referring to.

It really can’t hurt to have an arborist come by for an “estimate” they are usually really cool about letting you know how and what to cut - at least in my experience. They have always told me this information and told me o would be better off doing it myself since the trees I was dealing with did not exceed 30 feet.

Gardengal has a point. Don’t listen to me.

The more I look at it, pruning the branch I was referring to may not be the best idea after all. Plus, looking at all the other angles the branch I was looking at seems to veer off beautifully in them. My apologies. And thank you gardengal!

We have several JMs. I would listen to gardengal.

Thanks so much, everyone! ironically, i checked my email and saw thus post lighting up! guess i was lucky!