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.

Leaving things up to chance

Don't do it. I'm about to embark on a journey. It's a journey I've done multiple times, only this time it's different. This time it's the same journey, only with a new leader. That in itself is enough to excuse ill preparation. I could do minimal preparation and then at the end say 'it's ok, […]

Writing Accountability

By writing, you hold your thoughts accountable. Putting them down onto the page, or screen in my case, puts them out into the world, and putting anything out into the world means putting them up for scrutiny. This means you have to have a strong argument, otherwise it will be ripped apart. Sometimes I put […]

Care about others, but don’t care about them

Of course it's good to care about what those who mind think about you, but I don't think you should listen to it all the time. If they have compelling arguments, listen. If their arguments don't stack up in your mind, don't worry. If they were truly dear to you they should have an unconditional […]

A Business Case

When we recently went to NZ, my wife pointed out that many of the shops had changed in the short period of time, one year, since we had been there. What that shows to me, is that the café and restaurant business in Wellington is a tough one. Restaurants that I felt were excellent had […]

Standing out

Just before I was at my uni's commencement ceremony, which is an event to mark the start of the school year. Well, when the grad students were giving their introductory remarks, one student commented on how wonderful it was that everyone standing with him was different in a number of ways; different nationality, different hometown, […]

Default to the language of the land

I don't know why Japanese people feel the need to speak English to me. Most often they don't, but every once in a while I get some people who insist on speaking English to me even when I speak to them in Japanese. What I really want to know though, is how people who look […]

The only thing we know for certain

The only thing we know for certain, is that there are no certain things. Change is inevitable. That's why you have to be ready for it. If you aren't ready for it, you'll be left behind when things change. But why resist it? Certain is boring. When things become predictable, it takes the fun out […]