I have never had much desire or opportunity to work with Jin. Sometimes a dead branch seemed worthy, but never a major thing.

Now I have five azaleas with big chunks of dead wood and a huge boxwood which is maybe half dead wood. It would be an artistic crime to chop it all of, but I am lost with what to do.

Is there a guide somewhere to designing Jin? I have six months before doing anything, and it makes sense to learn something before picking up the chisels.

Box yes but Azalea no. Box and Jinns are normal, along with shari dead branches on an Azalea is not a good sign, and not something that would be desirable. That is only my opinion of course, but I have not seen any Satsuki with jinns or shari in a show.

I understand completely.

Here is another way to ask the same question. If I send in this picture as "before" and an "after" with the dead part trimmed completely off, will the Empire react with shock and horror at wasting the Jin or with admiration?

There are five of these azaleas,all fifteen years old, and all have a significant amount of dead wood like this one.

I would keep the dead wood
Without typical shimpaku jins or sharis; just clean and treat the wood and use the foliage to create a shape.