Home - Tim Bunting

TIM BUNTING

KIWI YAMABUSHI

Kia ora koutou. I’m Tim Bunting, the Kiwi Yamabushi.

I’m a practicing Dewa Sanzan Yamabushi, a Japanese mountain ascetic based in Yamagata Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. Since 2016, I’ve trained in Haguro Shugendō under Master Fumihiro Hoshino through Daishobō, a pilgrim’s lodge on Haguro-san, and through Dewa Sanzan Jinja.

If you’re interested in experiencing Shugendō for yourself, check out Yamabushido.jp. Tell them I sent you.

In my spare time, I share stories from the overlooked corners of Japan, especially here in Tōhoku. I publish a Substack newsletter with over 1,500 subscribers, write a daily blog, and post videos on YouTube (over 1,000 subscribers). You’ll find me on most platforms as @kiwiyamabushi.

I’m currently on a mission to summit and document all 100 Famous Mountains of Yamagata.

I’m available for:

Online consultation
Public speaking (in English or Japanese)
Guided experiences on the Dewa Sanzan (via Yamabushidō.jp or DewaSanzan.com)

As a Master Yamabushi and the creator of DewaSanzan.com, I believe I’m the most knowledgeable native English speaker on these sacred mountains.

MOUNTAINS OF YAMAGATA

Here are a few posts of my adventures climbing the 100 Famous Mountains of Yamagata. Read about the project here, or view all articles here.

ALL

DAILY YAMABUSHI

Here are some of my Daily Yamabushi posts. Get more here.

What’s the aim?

When starting a new project, specify the aim as clear as possible. Without this, it's hard to continue, but also it just confuses things when you do continue, the main purpose of starting in the first place. If possible, put your thoughts into a visual format. Again the why is so important. Not just to […]

Training for yourself

When I joined the official Dewa Sanzan shrine Yamabushi training a few years back I learned quite a lot. For the shrine training, the sheer number of participants means it's hard to keep tabs on everyone. I was quite shocked when I saw people smoking. I thought the training was supposed to be about training […]

Writing Hints

When it comes to writing, probably the best advice is to plan, plan, plan before you actually start writing. Separating the tasks of idea generation and writing is a good way to think about it because once you have your ideas down, it's just a matter of moulding the words to suit what you want […]

Experiments

Think of everything as an experiment. That new shirt? It's an experiment to see whether it works with your old jeans. That new recipe? It's an experiment in flavour combinations. That new blog? It's an experiment in expressing your ideas. Thinking of things as an experiment helps you get over other people's words and opinions. […]

Six months in

I promise I'll stop with this type of blog post, soon enough, but I've been blogging every day now for half a year. I've gotten more and more used to it everyday, it's now something I don't think too much about. Getting ideas out into the world has been excellent. I think my ideas can […]

I just don’t know what to do with myself.

Don't know what you want to do with your life? Travel. Experience different ways of life, meet different people, eat different food. What this does is two things, it lets you learn about other cultures and customs, but more important it helps you learn about yourself. Getting away from your comfort zone helps you appreciate […]

Don’t you know it’s normal?

What an annoying set of words. I mean people don't say it, they more insinuate it with their actions and expressions. Either way, once you hear or sense it, you know you've fucked up in some way or another. As a resident in Japan, this happens quite often, even after nearly a decade. Now though, […]