eangola wrote: If you have good nebari but no trunk, you don't have a nice tree. If you have a nice trunk but not nebari, you have a tree.

Well, I do not completely agree with the above statement; if you have a trunk and no nebari, you have surely a tree, but not a nice bonsai.
Which is exactly what I am saying about the books; they emphasize the importance of the nebari, which tends to be forgotten in the long run.
As I have said, perhaps the wrong books?

Clicio wrote:

eangola wrote: If you have good nebari but no trunk, you don't have a nice tree. If you have a nice trunk but not nebari, you have a tree.

Well, I do not completely agree with the above statement; if you have a trunk and no nebari, you have surely a tree, but not a nice bonsai.
Which is exactly what I am saying about the books; they emphasize the importance of the nebari, which tends to be forgotten in the long run.
As I have said, perhaps the wrong books?

So you don't think these are nice bonsai?





Nebari can add a lot to a Bonsai. But for a beginner, I don't think we should worry so much about it. No trunk, no bonsai, no tree, no nothing. If we tell people who are working on their first tree, that they have to focus on nebari, they won't achieve anything. If you are an advanced bonsai artist, and understand the beginnings of Bonsai. Go for it.
Of course I am using a juniper as an example, which don't exhibit the best nebari.

Yes, these are nice bonsai.
I see your point, even though shari, uro and jin at this level are not for beginners also. Yamadori of Shimpaku Junipers in Japan, very dangerous and difficult, did not focus on nebari, but on the whole tree.
As a suggestion: why don't we tell newcomers that trunk thickness, nice movement AND nebari are important? Sooner or later they will hear/watch/read about nebari anyway...

Clicio wrote:

eangola wrote: If you have good nebari but no trunk, you don't have a nice tree. If you have a nice trunk but not nebari, you have a tree.

Well, I do not completely agree with the above statement; if you have a trunk and no nebari, you have surely a tree, but not a nice bonsai.

I fully agree. Nebari is as important, and in some cases more important than the trunk.
However.. For narrowleaved evergreens and specifically pine and juniper, the nebari is often of reduced importance, and it is very hard to correct nebari issues there. That being said, without proper root placement you do not get a good bonsai. I do not think you have been reading the wrong books.