Hinoki, are tricky. They give a nice ''finished look'', rather quickly, but are difficult to keep proportionate long term. The issue is there will be no back budding on older growth. Once a branch or trunk produces brown bark, there will be no back budding in that area. (technically almost no back budding, what little happens can not be counted on). Only way to bring foliage to an area that has developed bark is to graft new foliage into place. Grafting is a difficult technique to get good with.
As upper branches grow they will shade out the foliage below, it will yellow and die, leaving you with foliage way out at the tips of the branches, no green in close to the trunk. This then forces you to increase the height and the width of the tree in order to keep the tree looking well proportioned. If you plan for this, it is not a problem. If you want to keep it a certain size, this becomes a big problem. You must preserve as much foliage close to the trunk as possible. Unlike junipers, you don't clean out buds in on the trunk and at the base of branches. As branches get too thick in diameter, or too leggy, these buds become your replacement branches. So Hinoki are a bit tricky to train.
I agree with the suggestions to use the first branch as a sacrifice, let it grow and thicken the trunk.
The angle a branch leaves the trunk should repeat itself up the trunk. Your first branch is different than all the others. The lowest branch should exit the trunk closest to horizontal, the higher up the tree, the branches can rise a little as you progress up the tree. There should be no piccolos in among the flutes. (one points up to the left while the others are held to the right). There should be a pattern, as the same forces of nature works on all branches of the tree, so one branch vering off at a different angle makes no sense.
So for that reason, your first branch does not fit the pattern you set with your upper branches. You can try to correct the angle it leaves the trunk, or you can just use it as a sacrifice. I think it is too thick to easily bend down, so a sacrifice branch is your best bet.
