This looks really remarkably like my Beni Chidori. Mine is from Japan, perhaps yours was? Mine simply ate more than yours and is fatter...
Same bark texture, same shape, same 2 large radial roots nebari, even same pot except the colour...
Hello All. This is a new addition for me. I instantly loved the trunk, rugged, great nebari and fat base on it. Pretty much starting from scratch with the thin initial branches but has a good bit of growth to build vigour, and the branches are in good places, initial wire and styling put on by...
www.bonsainut.com
Anyways, yeah I think it needs to grow a bit. Which is perfectly normal in my limited experience, so don't be disheartened by that. Its certainly a good start to tree, has movement and interest and taper. Bark is a bit aged too.
I think the bigger question is; what do you want from the tree? What kind of tree do you envision?
If you have no image of what you want, then I don't think you will ever achieve it.
If you insist on a better nebari, then yeah, as previous comments suggest, ground/air layer it or plant in to something bigger and arrange roots better, then feed it well and give it time to develop the nebari.
If you are happy with the current nebari (which is perfectly acceptable, its your tree) then I would still plant in to something bigger for a few years, just to grow some good primaries (you can still sort roots and work on a better nebari at the same time), as you start to get in to secondary and tertiary, plant it in to something smaller and reduce the roots and ramify.
I think its a good little tree and you could do something nice with it.