Home - Tim Bunting

TIM BUNTING

KIWI YAMABUSHI

Kia ora Koutou, I'm Tim Bunting, The Kiwi Yamabushi. I am a practicing Dewa Sanzan Yamabushi Japanese mountain ascetic (What's a Yamabushi?). I have been living in Yamagata, Tohoku, north Japan, since 2010. Since 2016, I have trained as a yamabushi under Master Fumihiro Hoshino through Daishobo pilgrim's lodge on Haguro-san, and through Dewa Sanzan Jinja. If you want to find out more about how you too can train in the ways of Shugendo, check out Yamabushido.jp (tell them I sent you).

In my spare time I write stories about the overlooked side of Japan, namely up here in the Tohoku region. I write a daily blog, have a newsletter with over 1,000 subscribers, have a YouTube channel also with over 1,000 subscribers, and am on most socials as @kiwiyamabushi.

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

I am available for online consultation, public speaking in both English and Japanese, and I am able to guide you on The Dewa Sanzan mountains by working through Yamabushido.jp or DewaSanzan.com. As a Master Yamabushi and the creator of Dewasanzan.com, I believe I am the most knowledgable native English speaker on these three 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.

Which country has a better environment for setting up a business? Japan or New Zealand?

Overall, I'd say Japan. The cost of living in NZ is so high people struggle just to stay afloat let alone start a business. Housing is the main cause of this, quite obviously. People spend so much of their income just to put a roof over their head, plus the no capital gains tax thing …

Which country has a better environment for setting up a business? Japan or New Zealand? Read More »

Who is the company for?

We have contrasting ideas when it comes to work in NZ and Japan. In NZ, there is a high minimum wage, I believe it will be $20 in April, which is about 1350 Japanese Yen. In Japan, the minimum wage varies by prefecture, but in Yamagata it is currently 790 yen, about $11.20NZ. That’s almost …

Who is the company for? Read More »

Dreams and nightmares

If you had the ability to turn off your dreams at night, would you? It would depend on how often you have nightmares, I guess, but because you have dreams that might give you pleasure, would you give that up to stop nightmares?