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.
Haruki Murakami was asked what he thinks about when he runs. His answer was that only someone who doesn't run would ask that question. What an awesome response! It's like that whole, if you're worrying about the meaning of life, you're not living thing. Basically, it's the doing that counts, not what to think of …
Don't change your mind twice if it affects someone else. Recently I was working on a joint project with another group, and that other group claimed full ownership part-way through. They were able to do that because we didn't have a formal agreement, and they did have a rightful claim, but of course I was …
KIWI YAMABUSHI
Get updates from the mountains of Japan in your email for free! Sign up for the Kiwi Yamabushi newsletter here.
YouTube
Sakata City, Yamagata, Japan
timb008@gmail.com
All photos my own unless otherwise stated. Contact for more.