Literati is not creative - just a lazy cop out; just accepting that the lanky mess you have right now is all that can be. Literati are generally about interesting trunk movement. This has none. BUT, if you've got clear plans on how you make an interesting trunk from this, by all means go for it. You could always heap mossy substrate to bury the union. But, IMHO, just about anything you do has a high risk of focusing attention on the base of the tree, distracting from anything you create with the trunk. If it had lots of branching down low, there would be many options, but you just don't.
I don't know what the right answer is, but I'll prate along giving you my thought process, pretending that this tree is mine.
The first idea I have is that you could graft to make low branches. Since it is so long and lanky, you might do this by bending one (or more) of those branches down so that you can make approach grafts. These will take at least one year (likely more), but are more likely to succeed than trying to graft free scions, especially down low on a trunk like this, because the auxin from all the foliage above tends to discourage low growth. But, lets suppose you tried approach grafting and it didn't work out --> you're left with some ugly scars/damage = so what, there's already the unsightly graft union 'down there'. IOW, it is a fairly low risk option = just lost time at worst.
You are quite correct that the challenge is how to obscure the graft union or fool one's eye into not noticing it. Obscuring it with foliage is one way. In the extreme one would do this by making it into a 'rock' of foliage - JWP bonsai are often done in this style. In a lesser degree, one can disguise trunk faults with foliage across the fault. It is a good way to make a long thin trunk look like two more appealing separate pieces. However, your graft union is so low that it would be odd for a single branch to be that low. So I think you're pretty much boxed into making a foliage 'rock' if this is the direction you take. Further, if you pursue this foliage 'rock' idea, you could develop it into an exposed root design (you would plant it on a column of course media and slowly expose the roots over the course of several years) which is common with 'foliage rocks'. I suppose it is a trite design for a JWP, but I like it nonetheless.
Another possibility is to plant it at a shallow angle, with the trunk going away to the back of the view so that you effectively only see the root stock. Then you bend that trunk up a bit so it become visible. One's (minds)eye perceives a taper in the invisible space.. To pull this off, it will also help to have the trunk curve in the fashion of a corkscrew (a 3D bend) instead of simply straight up toward the front of the view (a 2D bend). You'll have to see for yourself if other angles can affect this or a similar trompe-l'œil. Keep in mind that later on you could strip bark, exposing wood across the union to further obscure its existence - a trick I have not yet done myself but which appeals to me because it creates an interesting feature that could make an ugly distraction into attractive focal point. Kimura made a JWP bonsai that opened my 'eyes to these possibilities.
I don't like any of my trees or boast of them in any way other than they are all my work. All have started as nursery material and I even have a few grown from seed. Who has produced the best bonsai I have seen is a question I don't think I can answer. I don't know if there is a bonsai out...
www.bonsainut.com
And, as you've realized, there are straight forward possibilities of creating a cascade. In the straight forward fashion you could simply envision lopping off everything but that lowest right branch that will end up bearing all the foliage of your cascade. That is, you'll plant it with the present trunk a bit closer to horizontal and that low right branch will be dangling below (from what it is now) and it alone will ultimately bear all the foliage of your bonsai. However, this styling tends to make the bare lower trunk (and the graft union) the focus of the composition, just as the classic exposed root with a foliage rock does. That could be cool, but it will be a long time because you will need years, not only to thicken the trunk, but to develop the mature bark that would really make this work. You'll be using the other branches as sacrifices - there just for the purpose of thickening the trunk and (later) growing bark. Maybe you utilize these to make a more formal cascade in the meantime (meanyears, I mean
).
I suggest that you envision a short term possibility that will open the doors to any of the things you hope to make of this tree. Don't accept that what it is now is all that you can hope for. Analyze the problem(s), look at all the pics of JWP bonsai you can find (Google photos, YouTube, etc.) and try to envision how you would make your tree into something like them. Make a plan for what you want it to be in 5 years. say, then execute the first year plan and adjust your it in response to what happened 'this year'. It will be a long time together.
I've found much of recently displayed Chinese stylings very interesting and amenable to what you've got. For example, this 'out-of-the-box' Chinese styling involves bending the trunk and placing foliage low. The foliage in front would obscure the graft union from sight. And, is it a cascade, or is it an upright design? I find it fascinating and beautiful. It is the magical touch of the unexpected! I love the Japanese JWP foliage rock forms, but this !
This is something that you could make. The important thing is that you learn how to do it with this tree you have. Picasso made a lot of shit, but I think he learned something from every one. That is what is important for you to do with this tree. Learn something from the process even if you cannot artistically say anything meaningful (yet).
You've got three basic problems at this point.
- a straight, uninteresting trunk
- a graft union that will need to be obscured in some fashion
- a thin, uninteresting trunk
What are you going to do to solve these problems? What are you aiming to make of it (long term)? What do you also need to do to get it there? What if your plan A doesn't work? Will that be the end of the road? Why would it be the end of the road? Don't do something that will seal its fate until there is no other choice. So, wadda ya gunna do now?
This, IMHO, is the 'fun' of bonsai.
Good luck
And enjoy.
? Personally see Literati as great transform
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