SiNguyen

Wow what a nice Cali juniper Bonhe! I agree with people here too. You most likely won't need the top part in the final design, but keep it for now because you need to thicken up the lifeline as much as possible and for as long as possible, unless you want to keep it for some really wild literati design. Your design options are limitless with this tree!
Now you need to uncover another inch or 2 of the soil to show the root flare. These junipers don't tend to have any good nebari anyway, but this is a collected specimen so you might have another curve to work with right below the soil line. You can't really decide on a front until you see that base a little more. And please include some more pics of the other 2 sides too will ya.
Thanks for showing it!
Si~