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.
POPULAR ARTICLES
My newsletter articles are free to read on Substack for a week, but you can just get them sent to your email for free if you subscribe. After that, they are only available to paid subscribers. However, articles that get more than 1,000 reads I put here so everyone can enjoy them. All of the articles can be found here.
DAILY YAMABUSHI
Here are some of my Daily Yamabushi posts. Get more here.
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 …
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 …
Do you want a run-of-the-mill rugby player, or would you rather someone with the X-Factor? The answer here should be obvious, but what if that player came with weaknesses that could cost them the game? Would you still take them? Actually, I would. I would prefer to have someone who has the ability to win …
KIWI YAMABUSHI
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Sakata City, Yamagata, Japan
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All photos my own unless otherwise stated. Contact for more.