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.

Patience

Patience is a virtue. I think that is true. People really respect you when you are patient, and they reciprocate by being patient back. I’d rather someone give me the time I need to do something than have someone put pressure on me which in turn just makes things take much longer, and may not […]

A Lesson From Waterpolo

Since we’re on the topic of swimming and waterpolo, I’ll give you a little lesson that I learned 15 years ago at a waterpolo tournament. It’s amazing how much I can remember from this, it must have been that dramatic, but during the pool stage our team was facing the at the time #1 team […]

Swimming well isn’t the important part.

The people at the pool get it. The people at home don't. Even if your aim is to be the best swimmer in the world, the only way you can do that is by swimming. Even if your aim is to lose weight by swimming, the only way you can do that is by swimming. […]

Rambling

Recently I've been trying to find out what the default option is, and coming from Japan this is actually much easier. The default in New Zealand is clearly buying a house, by whatever means necessary. The default in Japan is getting a job, just any job really but the better the better, and sticking with […]

The Hardest Part of Swimming

For a lot of things, the starting is the easy part but it can take a while to gain motion and to sustain it. The hardest part of swimming is getting in the pool. Every time, you know that there will be that initial shock your body gets when you jump in, and that takes […]

Life and the Barkley Marathon

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching a movie called the Barkley Marathon on Netflix. I felt that the film dragged on too long for such a simple message, but it was entertaining nonetheless. The film is about the Barkley Marathon held in Tennessee where participants try to complete five 20-mile loops through the wild […]

Being the best

Sometimes it can be useful to see where you sit in the pecking order so you have a more visible goal to work towards when trying to improve, but even then you’re comparing yourself to others, which is only useful at getting better than them. Once you’re there, what do you do? You have to […]