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.
A few years back I was invited to speak at an event in Sakata called Moshieno University (Moshieno is the word for interesting in Shonai dialect). At the Q&A session at the end, I had a very good question, which was: how were you able to extend your network so much while in Japan? Now, … Build Your Network and Influence: Networking in Japan Read More »
Japan is covered in weird English in the strangest of places too. T-shirts are the obvious one, but also shop names and signs are plastered with the oddest of expressions that it truly makes you wonder where they came from. One of my personal favourites is from near where I live, where there is a …
Here I am sitting on a bus heading for Hamilton, New Zealand, with a group of about 30 Japanese students. For all of them I imagine it’s their first time to this country, and yet they’re all asleep! Look outside at the beautiful scenery, Huntly’s pretty nice at this time of year. But I guess … Sometimes you just can’t take the culture out of someone. Read More »
KIWI YAMABUSHI
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Sakata City, Yamagata, Japan
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All photos my own unless otherwise stated. Contact for more.