Ten years ago my Dad died. It was completely out of the blue, the doctor was surprised,

and so were we.

Then, a friend sent me a podcast episode with Brene Brown on it. It was the Tim Ferriss podcast. To be honest, I don’t remember much about the episode at all, just that it was about grief.

It’s weird how easy we dismiss things given to you by people who haven’t experienced them, because listening back that episode is full of gems for people in my situation, but the best thing about my friend sending me that podcast was that it sent me on a bit of a Tim Ferriss podcast frenzy.

Which is cool and all,

and that eventually led me to a man by the name of Seth Godin. I was so enamoured by Seth that I stopped what I was doing, and bought all of his books.

I’d never done that before,

not even for Master Hoshino (despite the fact he only had one when I met him).

I love the way Seth is able to so eloquently express his ideas, ideas that are very good, by the way.

Seth says the key to his success has been his daily blog.

I wouldn’t put it past him.

That was all the inspiration I needed to start my own daily blog, way back in January of 2019.

Well,

I’m still at it.

I wouldn’t say it’s any good, although I do think I have improved. Both in the ideas, and the way I express them.

Then in late 2022, I decided to send these Daily Yamabushi posts (as I now call them) in a weekly newsletter. I first used Ghost.org, but now I use Substack. If you were there from the start, which a few of you were (I was collecting your emails on my website), you would know that things were quite a bit different.

Here is my first Substack post:

Ok, not that different,

but different nonetheless.

To be honest though, I had zero intention of writing articles like the ones you get. I just wanted to share the Daily Yamabushi posts.

But I realised that people like reading these things, that they are what Substack1 is built for, even though the articles range from ancient mountain wisdom to… umm…

Why Axolotls are called ‘Wooper Looper’ in Japanese.

I experimented with a few formats, and eventually stuck with what you have now.

So thanks,

I guess,

Dad.

Daily Yamabushi Posts for April 17 to 23, 2026

Daily Yamabushi posts for April 17 to 23, 2026.

Remember, you can read a whole month’s worth of Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/daily-yamabushi. See all Japan Deep Dives here.

1. Surprise Me

2. Think and Act. Or Just Act.

3. Night Vision.

4. Can’t Compete? Don’t.

5. Have Fun With It

6. Not ‘Just’ a Start

7. Presence is Power

In 2005, Martha Stewart, yes that Martha Stewart, organised a meeting of the Martha Stewarts of the world. She wanted the Guinness world record for the most people of the same name in the same room.

And you know what?

She got it!

164 Martha Stewarts got together in the same room and set a new Guinness World Record.

Not to be outdone, in 2022, an association of Tanaka Hirokazus called the Tanaka Hirokazu Association organised a gathering in Shibuya, Tokyo, where they officially broke the record with 178 Tanaka Hirokazus in the same room.

Omedeto!

However, in February 2023, disaster struck for The Tanaka Hirokazu Association. The record was yet again broken by 256 women named Milica Jovanović in Belgrade, Serbia,

as it currently stands.

The Tanaka Hirokazu Association attempted again in 2025, but were sadly outplayed.

But that’s probably because they are Tanaka Hirokazu.

It shouldn’t be Tanaka Hirokazu trying to break the record.

It should be Sato Taro.

There’s way more Satos in this world, 1.8-1.9 million, number one in Japan, versus a mere 1.3 million Tanakas that can only scrounge fourth place.

Oh, and anecdotally, Satos rule the roost too.

A few years back I was working at a junior high school and I came across the oddest thing: in a class of 30-odd students, ten were named Sato.

That’s a Sato Ratio of like, 33%!

First I thought it was an anomaly, a pure coincidence. I mean,why so many Satos in such a small place?

Then I was at the local hospital and I noticed something I hadn’t before, a sign that read:

More than 50 Sato Keikos, in a rural Japanese hospital!

Their Sato Ratio must off the charts!

Come to think of it, I have a friend called Sato who married a Sato.

How’s that for convenience?

They subsequently divorced too.

How’s that for convenience?1

Then at my university’s commencement ceremony recently I decided to find the Sato Ratio for this year. Of 210 students, 19 of them were Sato, a Sato Ratio of around 9%. Right on par.

And that’s when it hit me.

What if it isn’t just us foreigners secretly plotting to take over Japan,

what if it’s the Satos?

I mean, Japan is the only country in the world where by law if two Japanese nationals get married, they MUST have the same last name. It’s the only country in the world where if you get married, one of you MUST change your last name.

By law!

(There is a very distinct loophole though. Notice I said Japanese nationals. If one isn’t a Japanese national, well, you can choose like the rest of the world. Like my wife did. The other thing is you could just choose to not get married…)

So what does this have to do with things?

In practice, 95% of the time it’s the woman who changes their name (Japan is the only G7 nation not to allow same-sex marriage, yet).

This makes it much easier for rare names to completely die out. If you don’t have a son, well, you can all but say goodbye to your family name.

Think about it though. What logical reason is there for forcing married people to keep the same last name?

I can’t think of any.

Except, perhaps, trying to dominate a country?

You see, despite her gender, current Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae is a stern supporter of the policy. Her and other conservatives spout something about having the same family name being good for the ‘family unit’, tradition, or something or other. However, they fail to realise that surnames didn’t even exist for commoners in Japan until the late 19th century. And what’s more, the law demanding the same family name only came about in 1898.

That’s younger than Nintendo!

The other excuse they give is that the Koseki family registry system used in Japan works best with single surnames that keep the database clean and predictable. Put simply, having multiple names in the database would be a real bitch to update.

Or in other words,

Mendokuse

A country of bureaucrats not wanting to bureaucrat?

I’m not buying it.

No. Something else must be up.

So I looked into it. Specifically that law from 1898, the Meiji Civil Code. Also, I checked specifically if there was a Sato there when it was enacted.

And you know what?

Turns out there was!

Sato Nobuhiro (佐藤 信寛) (1816-1900) (not to be confused with 1769-1850 Sato Nobuhiro佐藤 信淵, different Kanji).

And… and… and.. and you know what?

(This first) Sato Nobuhiro just so happened to be the ancestor of none other than Kishi Nobusuke (né2 Sato, obviously. One of the rare cases where the male takes the female name) and Sato Eisaku, two brothers who both became Prime Minister of Japan, one of which just so happened to be the grandfather to none other than the late Shinzo Abe, a person the current Prime Minister publicly admitted to admiring. Hiring Takaichi Sanae was a masterstroke by the Satos. She is a stern supporter of the law, and a stern supporter of its instigator, Sato-san.

The perfect protector of policy, and the perfect ploy.

The Satos have the bloodline, the law, and the Prime Minister on their side. Now all they have to do is, well, wait.

Seriously. Someone actually did the math on this:

Professor Yoshida Hiroshi at Tohoku University found out exactly when the Satos of Japan would take over:

2531.

By 2446 half of Japan will be Sato-san. We have just over 500 years to stop the Sato-pocalypse. If the law stays the same for the next 500 years, every. single. person. in. Japan. will be named Sato. Sure, the math also says by then there will only be 280,000 people left here, and by 3300 there won’t be any.

But still.

By then the Satos would have achieved their Magnum Opus:

A Guinness world record of an entire country with everyone of the same name.

Daily Yamabushi Posts for April 10 to 16, 2026

Daily Yamabushi posts for April 10 to 16, 2026.

Remember, you can read a whole month’s worth of Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/daily-yamabushi. See all Japan Deep Dives here.

1. That’s on Them

2. Plan Accordingly

3. Slow Cars, Fast Cars

4. Now to do

5. Uketamo: The Ultimate Power Move

6. The Light of Day

7. Who wins?

Daily Yamabushi Posts for April 3 to 9, 2026

Daily Yamabushi posts for April 3 to 9, 2026.

Remember, you can read a whole month’s worth of Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/daily-yamabushi. See all Japan Deep Dives here.

1. Tie the Loose Ends

2. Someday or One Day?

3. Playing it by Ear

4. Bad People Make you Look Good

5. Create The Wave

6. Spinning Around

7. Don’t Judge. Just Experience.

This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my paid subscribers! You know who you are, so thank you!

If you feel you gain from any of my work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber, you can help do things like this, and keep my work available for free.

Subscribe now

I’ve been quietly building a new timbunting.com, and I finally launched it, even though it’s not 100%. I found that I was toiling with things that have very little bearing on, well, anything, and to top things off, my old site was bugging like crazy1, so I pulled the plug and brought in the new website.

Ready enough is as ready as I’ll ever be, I felt.

So, what’s new?

• The whole site should be much faster, and from my testing it has been.

• The homepage is completely new.

• I changed the ‘blog’ to a dedicated Daily Yamabushi page, where you can now read a whole month’s worth of posts without clicking away.

• I added a dedicated page for the articles that appear in this newsletter and called it Japan Deep Dives (page still needs work, but it’s getting there!).

• I’m going to go through and split my mountains articles into Mountains Stories and Hiking Guides, for those who want the narrative, and those who just want the hike!

• An updated /yamabushi page.

There are a few other places I still need to fix, but it’s mainly stuff like feature images on the Japan Deep Dives, and then fixing the hub pages to make the content more accessible. With over 2,500 Daily Yamabushi posts, 100 or so Yamagata Mountains (to be split in two), and also around 100 Japan Deep Dives, it’s not exactly easy to navigate, but I try to make it as easy as possible.

For those interested, I switched to wordpress.com (from wordpress.org), and have my domain on Cloudflare now. I’m also using a paid Astra theme that I bought years ago. I was using a page builder on the old site that became too css-heavy. That and the constant plugin and php etc. updates that I got sick of led me to wordpress.com. If you’re thinking of doing something like me, wordpress.com is a good place to start if you want customisability. Otherwise, Substack is pretty good (tell them I sent you).

If you find something isn’t quite right with the new website, please let me know! Also, let me know what you like, what you’d like more of, and what you hate I guess…

Thanks,

Tim.

Daily Yamabushi Posts for March 27 to April 2, 2026

Daily Yamabushi posts for March 20 to 26, 2026.

Read a whole month’s worth of Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/daily-yamabushi (this is new!). See all Japan Deep Dives here.

1. No Choice but to Choose

2. You Can Choose How You React

3. Moving Parts

4. In or Out

5. It’s Only Temporary

6. The Small Things

7. The New Normal

At Komeda’s

I’m at Komeda’s Coffee. This place is awesome. It’s Showa-era decor, a lot of wood, bricks, and bright red upholstery. Komeda’s feels like it has been part of the furniture for forever, even though in Sakata it’s only been part of the furniture for two or three years by now.

I’m here because I’m a bit desperate. In an effort to prioritise sleep, earlier this year I made a rule not to have caffeine after 12pm, if I can avoid it. This coupled with my other rule of no more than two coffees a day, so I don’t develop a tolerance, means that decaf is about all I want to drink in the afternoons. Even then it’s pushing it because decaf isn’t 100% caffeine-free, but you get what I mean, but I’m willing to make an exception.

That all but limits me to the chain stores, hence Komeda.

The best time to be in Komeda is the morning. They have a ‘morning set’ until 11am daily where you can choose a drink and get some free bread, including butter and red bean paste (if that’s your thing) to go along with it. So, I kind of screwed up there. But hey, I was feeling in a funk, I had two lost in translations things happen to me this morning, so here we are.

Either way, here are some recent shots:

Which Octopus?

Daily Yamabushi Posts for March 7 to 19, 2026

Daily Yamabushi posts for March 20 to 26, 2026.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. Spur of the Moment

2. This is me

3. Leave it There

4. Act as if the Decision’s Been Made

5. You Weren’t to Know

6. The Greatest Chance

7. Running in Circles

I can still clearly remember the phrase I used to learn relative pronouns in Japanese way back in high school:

相撲をする猿

sumo wo suru saru

The sumo-wrestling monkey.

There are tons of ways to learn vocabulary in a second language, but one of my favourites is with silly sentences just like this.

When I was learning Chinese I came up with another:

你的脸很糟糕

Nǐ de liǎn hěn zāogāo

’It’s a shame about your face’.

The thing is though,

it kind of backfired.

Right now, it truly is a shame about my face. If you met me or watched any of my videos from last year you would have seen a red spot just above my right eye. It turns out that spot was a pre-cancerous Solar Keratosis, a spot formed from too much UV.

Having the complexion of a glass of milk and growing up under the harsh NZ sun would do that.

So I got it removed.

And I currently have 21 stitches (yes, I counted them) and a huge bandage on my forehead.

All up, the procedure took about 90 minutes and I was conscious the whole time. Lying there at the whim of the surgeons reminded me vividly of waterfall meditation, when you’re at the whim of nature. You all but have no choice to go with the flow. Logically, I treated it as such and do what I always do in waterfall meditation, I recited the heart sutra.

So there’s that.

But also, the concept of death and rebirth is extremely relevant.

Physically, I will never be the same. It was my first time ever going under the knife. Mentally too, I can’t go back. I just accept the scar as a visual reminder of Mujo, impermanence.

But more importantly, I now know what it feels like to be a sumo-wrestling monkey.

Daily Yamabushi Posts for March 7 to 19, 2026

Daily Yamabushi posts for March 7 to 19, 2026.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. What if it Goes Bad?

2. Just Accept

3. Not Even Trying

4. Bad News is Just a Matter of Perspective

5. Only for a Minute

6. Roll With the Corners

7. Do it and Forget About it

8. The Film is Rolling

9. Good Timing

10. At Your Earliest Convenience

11. Let the Gravity do the Work

12. Through the Wringer

13. A Wise Man Does

14. The Perfect Storm

I’m visiting Te Awa Kairangi and Pukeatua with my family and yesterday we had a rather auspicious encounter. We were out near Te Papa, the national museum of Aotearoa, and I saw a Māori elder in passing. They had one hand wrapped firmly over the top of a light-coloured wooden cane, and the other clasping something rather peculiar:

A pūtātara.

A conch.

But not just any conch. One decorated with a very long wooden mouthpiece carved with traditional Māori designs, and a few feathers to boot.

It felt like seeing a yamabushi in the wild for the first time.

Very cool. I was in awe.

This elder’s energy alone was enough to know they were special, but I had learned a few years ago (through interpreting for Te Porohau Ruka Te Korako and Master Hoshino) that only distinguished Māori elders can hold a cane like that. To be honest, it kind of felt like coming across a rare Pokémon.

I wanted to respect their time so I let them pass, but this extremely short encounter started my mind off racing quite a bit.

One thing that became apparent, that wasn’t before, was that in a way, this newsletter is me searching for myself. I don’t particularly know why I write this newsletter. I mean, I enjoy the process very much, and I have all these crazy ideas that need some way of escaping, but why did I start in the first place? Where did the urge to dedicate so much time to this come from? To be honest, it just felt like something I should do, something I felt would be worthwhile.

And I was right.

Until this encounter I had never thought about it like this, but any creative endeavour is us trying to capture a moment in our search for meaning, or our search for finding our true selves. Unfortunately, or not, you never can. However hard we try there’s always a discrepancy between what happens in our hearts, and what comes out.

And that’s fine. That’s life.

At the same time it’s fortunate because it keeps you searching, and it motivates you to continue.

That’s also fine. That’s also life.

Life is just a series of millions of connected moments that change from moment to moment. One moment the sensation is there, the next it fades, like passing an elder in the street.

This time around in Aotearoa I understood something rather profound, well to me at least:

The search takes you back home, wherever home may be.

I am quite honestly torn between Japan and New Zealand. Both feel like spiritual homes to me. But coming back here to the place I was born, seeing the people I grew up with, and the people who know my family so well, including of course my mother and father, I guess this is home after all.

Which leads to yet another realisation: Home doesn’t mean you have to live there. You can go away with the intention of coming back.

Or not.

But when you do, you rediscover a part of yourself, in the most uncanny of encounters.

Now where can I get myself one of those pūtātara…

Daily Yamabushi Posts for February 27 to March 6, 2026

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of February 27 to March 6, 2026.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. A Good Tough

2. The Destination Only Matters When you get There

3. Par for the Course

4. Blame the Pilot

5. That was Fundamental

6. A Win This Time

7. What if it Goes Bad?

To be honest, I’m constantly reminded of their beauty. I mean, I see them every day. I can see Chokai (which also means Shoga-dake) from my bedroom window, Gassan from my office window, and a short stroll away I can see Taizo and Kyogakura, two mountains I would not have known about if I hadn’t started this project.

Anyway, all I can think about when I see them is “I want to be up there”. I want to be among their beauty. I want to take in all they have to offer. Which to be honest, is a lot, as anyone who has followed the project to date would know.

Take Hokari-yama for example. Mother. Hunter. Mountain.

Awesome name.

Weird backstory.

Sheer beauty.

A reminder: this is but one of the 100 Famous Mountains of Yamagata. I look forward to sharing more!

Daily Yamabushi Posts for February 20 to 26, 2026

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of February 20 to 26, 2026.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. Out The Door

2. Do They Need Your Excuse?

3. If They Only Knew

4. The Dead Ends add up

5. Slowly. Surely.

6. Set the Ball in Motion

7. If You’re Never Wrong, you Never Grow

Bunkobon.

Say it with me.

‘Bun’

‘Ko’

‘Bon’.

Forget matcha lattes. Forget ‘dirty’ matcha. Forget matcha tiramisu kakigori.

Forget anything made out of powdered green tea.

Bunkobon is the next Japanese sensation we need in the west.

Bunkobon.

I’m big on Japanese concepts. My most popular post last year was this one on Japanese concepts I just made up. Or rather, Japanese words I made look like actual books.

Like this one:

But the thing is, Japanese books in and of themselves should be the next ‘big’ Japanese thing.

Even though they’re small.

And not Manga, because let’s be honest, who has time for that?

I don’t. (Shock horror, a foreigner not into anime!)

Anyway, the Japanese have been holding on to this one for a loooong time. It’s about time the west caught on.

Truly caught on.

One of the casualties of the declining population of rural Japan has been the decimation of local bookstores. Amarume lost their only one. Two local malls lost theirs. To add insult to injury, the only place nearby that sold English books stopped selling English books.

The bastards.

If I want my fix of foreign fiction, and to actually hold the book in two hands before I purchase it (because one is not enough), now I have to travel to Sendai or something.

And let’s be honest, who has time for that?

I don’t.

However, every time I do see English books, I’m like,

do they need to be so big?

I mean, have you ever visited a Japanese bookstore? Have you ever gone to a cafe in Japan and seen a Japanese person reading a book?

They’re tiny.

And not just the people.

Why is the west so obsessed with big?

Big cars. Big food. Big drinks. Big people. And of course,

big books.

Seriously.

They’re massive.

And not just the books.

So, what exactly is a Bunkobon?

Typically, once a book has had a popular first run, they shrink it down to size, print it on (admittedly) poorer-quality paper, and in the meantime get it cheaper too. In other words, it’s a paperback book that, and here’s the kicker, fits in your pocket!

It’s simple really: any paperback that can fit within the confines of an a6 piece of paper by, say, a cm or so —that’s 12/31sts of an inch in ‘freedom’ units, thank me later America— fits the bill.

It also fits your pocket.

And for the books that don’t fit your pocket?

Easy.

Split them up.

Make them fit your back pocket.

Murakami Haruki books are an excellent example. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle in English is massive. As is Dance Dance Dance. As is 1q84… you get the point. As Bunkobon these massive books get split up into three, sometimes four individual books that, and here’s the kicker, fit in your pocket.

Revolutionary!

Imagine that. A massive book split into four volumes each about the same size as your smartphone!

Incidentally, if you’re anything like me, the moment you have downtime, what’s the first thing you check? We check our phones 100 times a day because it is so easy to do so. There is no friction.

Guess what else has no friction?

Bunkobon.

Isn’t it amazing that while iPhones and books got bigger, people read less?

Coincidence?

I think not.

Sure, our ever-smaller attention spans brought on by ever-shorter videos, convenience, and distractions definitely has a part to play.

But the books are not blameless!

I mean, have you ever held an English book and tried to drink a strawberry matcha latte at the same time? Or for us blokes, Kami forbid, have you ever held an English book and tried to do number one at the same time?

It gets messy.

With Bunkobon though, anything’s possible.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying ‘big’ is always bad. It’s about context. I mean, there are plenty of big books in Japan. It’s just, in Japan, if a book is huge, it’s usually for a ritual, not a train ride.

Take the Zen monks at Zenpoji temple in Tsuruoka for example. Everyday, multiple times a day, the monks do Tendoku of the Dai Hannya, the Great Prajna Paramita Sutra.

No. Not tsundoku. Not piling up books and proceeding to not read them. Leave the tsundoku to the specially-hired university professors (hint: that’s me).

No. I’m talking Tendoku.

Tendoku is (the actual Japanese Zen Art of) holding the book up in the air and letting the pages fan down to create wind, then absorbing that wind to gain the wisdom of the Buddha held within, (or something like that). Tendoku is one step further than Tsundoku. Tendoku proves that even Japanese monks don’t have time for big books.

The best mantras are the ones you carry with you. Even us yamabushi have a zip-file version of the Dai Hannya. You may have heard of it even. It’s called The Heart Sutra.

AKA The original Bunkobon (except you’re supposed to memorise it…)

So, why the big books in the west?

If our goal was to actually read, you’d think we’d go small, right? Well, in the west the goal isn’t always reading.

It’s signalling.

While the monks are fanning sutras, in the west we’re only fanning our egos. Big books on shelves have titles that are readable on a Zoom call, or in the background of a YouTube video. Because how else are we supposed to signal our intelligence?

Carrying a copy of Encyclopaedia Britannica in your arms?

One million bonus points to point Dexter over there!

Nonchalantly taking The Odyssey out of your bag?

You hit the ‘I’m intelligent’ jackpot!

Publishers like books to stand out in the bookshops. We like them to stand out on bookshelves. They’ve got to be big, bright, and showy, because how else are we supposed to signal our intelligence?

And since they’re all big bright and showy, they all look the same. Because when everyone tries to stand out, well, everyone stands out.

Or no one.

It’s like, if the book ain’t big, is the idea really that valuable?Yet it’s not as if we’re lugging the eternal wisdom of the Buddha around. More like a self-help book that could have been an email, am I right or what!?

Anyway, is there a solution to these giant sizes?

Oh wait.

I mean, is there a Japanese solution to these giant sizes?

Of course there is. It wouldn’t be a Kiwi Yamabushi article without one.

It’s called, say it with me now,

‘Bun’

‘Ko’

‘Bon’.

Now, the easy argument here is that people should just get an e-reader, but have you tried buying an e-book recently? They’re not cheap anymore.

The bastards.

Plus with e-readers, unless you get the expensive tiny ones, have the same problem as normal English books; They don’t fit in your pocket. Even if they do, they’re hard and uncomfortable to sit on.

Back to square one.

Now, you may be wondering, if we can’t show people on the moon the title of our books, how else are we supposed to signal our intelligence?

Don’t just signal your intelligence.

Earn it.

The most powerful mantras are the ones you carry.

In small, a6-size paperbacks that fit in your pocket.

Say it with me now,

‘Bun’

‘Ko’

‘Bon’.

Daily Yamabushi Posts for February 13 to 19, 2026

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of February 13 to 19, 2026.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. The Real Investment

2. Not Just Sometimes

3. Don’t Make it Perfect

4. Start With the Meat

5. Shut up and Train

6. Take the Train

7. The Ref’s Not Wrong

Last week I shared an interview I had with my fellow master yamabushi and oftentimes mentor Takeharu. I shared that the hill I grew up on, the place I hung out pretty much every day, was named Pukeatua, ‘hill of the Gods’.

Well, pointed out something I hadn’t thought about:

This is completely true.

Ten years ago me never would have imagined doing what I’m doing right now. It is completely out of left field.

Ten years ago me also didn’t expect my Dad to die suddenly, me to meet Takeharu within a week of coming back to Japan from Dad’s funeral, or any of the other things I’ve gotten up to since, such as starting a daily blog, or this newsletter you are reading.

I never saw myself going down this path. I never knew my path was somehow written into the hill I literally grew up on.

At the same time, it also feels like a natural progression. Losing my father made me think about the impermanence and unpredictability of life. It made me look for more meaning, and yamabushi just so happened to fit the bill.

It also just so happened to be within reasonable driving distance.

It’s cliche, but losing my father made me think about the things I always said I’d do, but never did.

Losing my father made a friend share an episode of the Tim Ferriss Show with Brene Brown that put me on a Tim Ferriss Show bender which got me to Seth Godin, the man who inspired the daily blog, from which the newsletter came, among other things.

Weird how things work out like that.

Or maybe not.

Maybe it was written on the hills after all.

Daily Yamabushi Posts for February 6 to 12, 2026

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of February 6 to 12, 2026.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. Hard to Put Off

2. Leave Some for ‘Ron

3. After The Fact

4. Making Things Easier

5. They All Have Their Merits

6. Decisions Made

7. How To Make the Best Use of Your Inspiration

I’m going to do something I never do, thanks to my fellow Yamabushi Master Takeharu Kato AKA Tak.

Tak convinced me to have a chat with him, about yamabushi life, what’s changed since becoming a yamabushi, what’s changed since becoming a yamabushi master, and my advice for those looking for advice from the mountains.

I’ll link to a video of the recording below, but for those who prefer things in written form, here’s a (slightly) abridged version:

In Conversation With Master Yamabushi Tak Kato

Tak: I would like to ask you about the change before and after you became Yamabushi.

Tim: I haven’t thought about this in advance, and that’s actually one change as well, not focusing too much on... like, focusing on trying to be in the moment. Which is something that Master Hoshino does; he always talks about being ‘live’, doing things ad lib. So my answer might be a bit… vague, but the first thing that comes to mind is the respect for my ancestors has changed completely.

I became interested in where I came from. My dad had done a whole lot of research into our genealogy, and I picked up on that. The culture of ancestor worship in Japan has changed over time, but I think Obon has a direct link to Yamabushi. For me, personally, it’s the biggest thing, (Mt.) Gassan, and what it represents, because it’s the world of the afterlife. It’s the world where our ancestors go as we pass away. By physically visiting Gassan, you get a sense for what life was like in ancient times…

If you’ve lost someone, it gives you the chance to reflect on that person’s impact on you. In my case, when I climb Gassan, it gives me a chance to think about my dad. And then, it also gives you a chance to think about not just your direct ancestors, but everyone that’s lived until now. Even people who you may not have a direct relationship with, they definitely have an impact on the world, and that impact on the world has an impact on you. You feel a connection to humanity; you feel a connection to life.

I never really felt a strong connection with other humans, besides my direct family, until I became Yamabushi, and especially on Gassan. Recently, I started to look at the connection to New Zealand. When you do your self-introduction in Maori, you say your mountain and your river, and that’s how you connect to the land. I only found out recently, my mountain is called Pukeatua. Puke means a hill, and Atua means kami, or god. The hill that I used to play on as a kid is literally the hill of the god. When we do Yamabushi training, I always recall back to when I was a kid playing out in nature in New Zealand on that same mountain.

Daily life stuff is because of Uketamo. If I have a spark, an inspiration to want to do something that could help people, I try and do it as soon as possible without letting my thinking mind interrupt my sensing mind. One example is when I have an idea to write an article; I make sure I put it down straight away. You just try to let your body lead—not letting your monkey brain stop you from doing things that could potentially be very helpful for other humans. It’s trying to trust your instinct and ignoring your thinking mind.

Tak: Can you let me know the most impressive participant or a transformational moment you’ve seen?

Tim: Anyone that has done it, I’ve felt a transformation in them. One person was unsure whether a non-Japanese person could be a Sendatsu (yamabushi master). By the end of the experience, they understood fully that because I have done the Yamabushi training, I can explain nuances that native Japanese speakers may not be able to explain.

Halfway through the training, they told me that they felt a very strong connection to the Earth in a moment we had on the mountains. That’s when I really felt it’s not me doing the work. Not really. We’re just leading people to the mountains and letting the mountains do the work. Letting the mountains do the magic. When you hear the stories at the Naorai, the after-training meal, it’s quite profound. We’re doing the exact same training, but the realisations people have are completely different, all for making better lives. I feel very proud that I’m able to provide that opportunity.

Tak: When you confront difficulties, how do the messages from the mountain help you deal with those challenges?

Tim: For example, going out in a storm on Gassan. The storm represents the troubles of life; life trying to get you down. But as a Yamabushi Sendatsu, we try to show people... we try to make people think that they can’t do something, but we show them that they can. When you say you can’t do something, you definitely can’t do it, but if you try, you sometimes find that you can. If you’ve been shown that you can do something you previously thought you could not, that gives you faith to move forward. If you can go out in a storm and pray, well, you can do anything.

Waterfall meditation is another example. The cold water represents the harsh reality of life. But if you remain calm, which you can do through controlling your breath or chanting the Heart Sutra, you keep yourself resilient. It’s a reminder to stay grounded and keep your footing.

Walking on snow is the same; it forces you to focus on being in that moment. Don’t worry about the step before, don’t worry about the step after—focus on the current step.

Tak: Would you illustrate the difference between a physical challenge and a mental challenge?

Tim: In modern life, we have it easy; it’s very comfortable, and it’s very easy to become complacent. Smartphones take you out of the moment. People are searching for a challenge because they know they aren’t living consciously. They want to prove who they are and to prove that they are alive. Yamabushi training shows we don’t need drugs or substances to remind ourselves of who we are. Nature has the key; nature has what we need, and we just have to allow nature to work its magic. Yamabushi have known that for centuries, and it’s our generation’s job to pass on this wisdom.

Tak: Please give a message to those who are thinking to join the program.

Tim: My first inclination is to not think about it and just do it. If you have even just a little bit of you that wants to do it, don’t let your thinking-mind cloud your judgment. It’s better to regret something you did than something you didn’t do. If your body is telling you to do it, just do it. You’ll find that mentally, you are already ready. Best thing to do is just do it without thinking too much about it.

Watch (listen to) the whole conversation

Meet Me on the Mountains

Join yamabushi training with Yamabushido. Tell them I sent you!

(Two Weeks of) Daily Yamabushi

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of January 23 to February 5, 2026.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. Decisions Made

2. Humility and Hope, a Plan and a Dream

3. Life-Changing Stuff

4. Nothing, but Everything, Changes

5. Stay in Your Lane

6. Claim the Space Back

7. The Happiness Multiplier

8. Which ‘In Kind’ Would You Like?

9. Uketamo on Autopilot

10. This is me Doing the Thing

11. Being Busy Being Busy

12. More Trouble Than it’s Worth

13. Not Enough Shugyo Training

14. What ifs Become Moot With Uketamo

Anywho, I hope you enjoy these photos.

Your Next Read:

About this time 4 years ago now I climbed the donut-shaped Yonetaihei-san in Sakegawa Mura. Spoiler alert, this is one of the mountains I didn’t reach the summit of!

READ MORE

Daily Yamabushi for The Week

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of January 16 to 22, 2026.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. Beware the Compare

2. AI is the Ultimate Uketamo

3. Sizeable Chunks

4. I Hate Studying but I Love Learning

5. “I’m Changing Lanes”

6. Would You Dedicate an Hour to it?

7. Your Time to Get Better

Your Next Read:

One of the mountains was Kumanonaga-mine in Tsuruoka. This was a rare find, apparently the mountain is home to the world’s smallest dragonfly (so small I couldn’t see it). At the very least it was home to a real adventure for us!

READ MORE

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Daily Yamabushi for The Week

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of January 9 to 15, 2026.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. The Playlist

2. You’ve Got a Story Now

3. Just Delete

4. Throw it at The Wall

5. Creatures of Habit

6. If The Ball is in The Other Court

7. Just be Generous

And then, there’s,

Yamagata snow.

You either love it, or you don’t.

And if you don’t,

you don’t live in Yamagata.

Some people, mainly from Tokyo, are not built for snow. I’ve seen people in Tokyo hosing the snow off steps, and I’m like,

“heard of ice?”

Or even worse, the people who used straight up salt and woke up to melted concrete (true story).

Thankfully (or not, because it would be hilarious), those people don’t live in Yamagata. Probably haven’t even heard of the place, despite the news.

In case you hadn’t heard,

Yamagatans are of a different breed.

I mean, you kind of have to be if you wake up to this,

right?

In other words, Yamagatans love their snow.

And those who don’t, well, they

move to Tokyo.

To be honest though, I was *this* close to moving to Tokyo because of the snow once. And all because of what a little girl told me.

I live on the Yamagata coast of the Sea of Japan. Our snow is nowhere near inland Yamagata level. Houses there are three stories high with spare front doors on the second floor (for you Kiwis this means the first floor).

I’m not even joking.

Coastal Yamagata still gets a healthy dumping every once in a while. And when we do, I’m out there with a shovel like the best of them. But when there’s so much snow you don’t know what to do with it, well, don’t do what I used to do.

Don’t throw it on the road for the cars to help melt it.

That’s a Tokyo-level offence.

Why?

Well, one day I was doing just that, and a little girl of about eight or nine complete with red randoseru backpack (from the Dutch ransel), walked up to me and said,

“don’t do that!

That’s a Tokyo-level offence!”

Why? I hear you ask.

Simple. If the particular snow you throw causes an accident, guess who’s liable?

I know!

Thanks little girl.

Now why didn’t any of the dozens of adults who saw me do that over the 10 or so prior years tell me…

Anyway, with snow,

the trick is to just leave it.

Put it aside for a while and let it do its thing. Because you know what?

Leaving it can actually help in an accident. Why just yesterday I watched a car slide uncontrollably, at a comically slow pace mind you, straight into a wall of snow. Since it was snow the driver brushed it off and just kept on going like it was nothing.

Because it was nothing.

Because of the snow that someone didn’t clear.

And that’s the secret.

You don’t fight the snow. You work with it.

I learned that the hard way when I first arrived in Yamagata. I distinctly recall doing a 360 on black ice somewhere near Mikawa. Kept on going like it was nothing.

Because it was nothing.

I’m a Yamagatan now! This stuff doesn’t phase me anymore.

And when you’re a Yamagatan the word “black ice” sticks in your mind. Not because of how dangerous invisible ice can be, but because the term in Japanese is so… obscure.

Being Japan you’d think they would just do what they always do; take the English (or Dutch) word and make it Katakana, something like burakku aisu.

Alas, that wouldn’t be Japanese enough.

Needs more German.

Because of course it does.

The term for black ice in Japanese is burakku aisu bān (with a long ā sound), a combination of the English ‘black ice’, and the German ‘Eisbahn’ meaning ‘ice track’.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. ‘Bahn’ as in ‘autobahn’, right?

Right?

And the autobahn is famous for cars going really really fast, right?

Right?

Don’t go getting the wrong idea!

Black ice is no joke. You think I had fun doing that 360? (Honestly, I did. But that’s besides the point)

Tokyo people see a clear road and think, “Yay! The snow has melted! I can go 60kph!”

Yamagata people see the road and think:

Now that’s something they don’t teach at Tokyo School. A nine-year-old with intricate knowledge of Japanese law, German roads, and a Dutch backpack on the other hand…

If you haven’t had your Yamagata snow fix yet, check this out, a mountain only climbable in the winter:

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Daily Yamabushi for The Week

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of January 2 to 8, 2026.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. Your Reps Come With You

2. It Shouldn’t be Easy Not to

3. You Never Know Until You Go

4. Put it on Paper

5. The Health Investment

6. Go The Distance

7. The Virtuous Cycle

Trying something new here today.

I started writing a daily blog on January 1st, 2019.

That’s 2,559 days non-stop.

But who’s counting?

The articles are all there on my website but it’s quite a lot to trawl through. So I thought I would give you taste with a more easily digestible Q&A format of my top ten posts (as chosen by me) from 2025.

This is just one year’s worth, but if you had 2,558 blog posts, what the hell would you do with them all? Let me know in the comments or send me an email by simply replying to this.

Chur.

Tim.

The Two Engines of This Archive

Before we dive in, you must understand the two concepts that power every lesson below:

1. No Heroics Necessary

This is a warning against the “Sprint Mentality.” Many people approach a new goal with a burst of “heroic” energy. They wake up at 4:00 AM, go to the gym for three hours, and cut out all sugar in a single day.

The Kiwi Yamabushi Perspective:

• Heroism is unsustainable: You cannot be a hero every day. If your plan requires you to be “superhuman” to succeed, you will eventually fail because humans have bad days, get sick, or lose motivation.

• Systems over Miracles: If you do the “unseen work” (the boring, daily discipline) correctly, the crisis moments don’t require a miracle to solve. You just show up as the version of yourself you’ve been building all along.

• The Goal: Make your “baseline” effort so strong that “doing the work” is just a habit, not a heroic feat of willpower.

In short: Don’t try to be a hero; just be the person who shows up every single day.

Original Article: No Heroics Necessary

2. Different Degrees of Discipline

Discipline isn’t a “Yes/No” switch. It’s a dial. The quality of your life is directly linked to where you set that dial.

The Three Degrees:

• Low Degree (The Amateur): You do the work when you feel like it. You follow the rules when they are convenient. Your results are inconsistent because your discipline is.

• Medium Degree (The Worker): You do the work most of the time, but you allow exceptions when things get a bit hard. You are reliable, but you aren’t growing.

• High Degree (The Professional): You master the basics. You avoid the pitfalls, even the ones you create for yourself. You do the work precisely because you said you would, regardless of how you feel.

In short: If you want “Professional” results, you cannot be an amateur. You have to turn the dial up and keep it there.

Original Article: Different Degrees of Discipline

How they work together:

These two ideas create a perfect loop:

1. You turn the dial up to a High Degree of Discipline (doing the small things every day).

2. Because you are so consistent, No Heroics are ever needed to save you from a disaster.

Now onto the articles:

1. Q: How do I handle a reality that feels like a “punch in the gut”?

A: Acknowledge its existence immediately. Once you acknowledge a new reality, you are on your way to acceptance (Uketamo). It fixes the “if onlys” that keep you living in a dreamland.

Original article: A New Reality

Related: Anything on Uketamo

2. Q: How do I break the “gravitational pull” of my smartphone?

A: Use physical tethering. Charge your phone in a separate room so that using it becomes an intentional, annoying choice rather than a reflex (another “hack” I came across was turning the apps you use most but don’t need all the time to ‘wifi-only’ mode).

Original article: Tether Your Smartphone

Related: Smartphones are moment killers, Minimalist Inspired Optimisation

3. Q: Is “Inaction” a safe choice when I am undecided?

A: No; inaction is as big a decision as action. Deciding not to do something is the type of decision that most often leads to regret.

Original article: Inaction in Action

Related: The Step in Front

4. Q: I have too many goals; where do I start?

A: Find the Lead Domino. Identify the one action that makes all other actions easier or unnecessary and push that first.

Original article: The Lead Domino

Related: One Drum at a Time

5. Q: When is the “perfect time” to start?

A: Now. If you wait for the stars to align, you are stalling; get started making the stars align instead.

Original article: Perfect Timing

Related: Never or Now, Aligning The Stars, Make The Stars Align

6. Q: How do I handle physical or mental discomfort?

A: Go Shoulders In. In cold water rituals, fighting the cold is a fool’s game; going all-in immediately switches the sensation from “unpleasant” to a reminder that you are alive.

Original article: Shoulders In

Related: No Heroics Necessary

7. Q: Why do I feel like I’m failing even when I’m working hard?

A: You are likely seeing “real false gains.” Just as muscle weighs more than fat, your progress may not show up on the “scale” immediately, but your foundation is becoming stronger.

Original article: Real False Gains

Related: Today’s Success was Yesterday’s Problem

8. Q: How do I become a master of my life?

A: Act like a Professional. A professional cares most about the basics and knows how to avoid common pitfalls, including ones they create themselves.

Original article: The Professional (admittedly from 2024)

Related: Different Degrees of Discipline, It’s Just Practice

9. Q: How do I stay present without checking the clock?

A: Practice “Cognisant Ignorance.” Be aware of your surroundings, but ignore the time. If you are too focused on the clock, you aren’t appreciating what is right in front of you.

Original article: What it means to be in the moment

Related: Everything is Sekkaku

10. Q: What is the point of all this “Mountain” work?

A: To put your life into Easy Mode. You do the hard work now—building resilience, health, and financial independence—so your future self lives with less friction.

Original article: Putting your life into easy mode

Related: The Jigsaw Puzzle

Your Next Read:

I wasn’t able to go to the Shoreisai Festival this year. A lot of my friends did though:

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Daily Yamabushi for The Week

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of December 26, 2025 to January 1, 2026.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. Paint Drips

2. The Onus on You

3. Stacked Deck

4. What if You’re Right Where you Need to be?

5. Where it All Comes Back

6. What Are You Measuring?

7. What Someone Else Can Do

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Or you could always share this with your mum (you know you want to).

Share Kiwi Yamabushi

First up, Kadowaki-san in Tsuruoka.

The guy is about as grumpy as it gets, but he definitely knows his stuff!

Next, on the Yamabushi Jingle

I have since found out the reason for the bells in the first place, and it has nothing to do with bears! Stay tuned for more on this.

And its companion article:

It wouldn’t be Japan without a Conbini!

This is probably the one I most want you to read:

Subscribe now

This one needs no explanation.

Same with this, I guess.

This was a great chance for reflection.

This series is extremely popular!

More here, and here, and here, and here.

Tears.

This was a whole lot of fun to make! Sorry to that one guy who thought it was for real!

Here was the original comment on LinkedIn:

Thanks! Happy holidays, and here’s to another year of Kiwi Yamabushi posts!

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Daily Yamabushi for The Week

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of December 19 to 25, 2025.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. The Experiment it is

2. The Choice to Do

3. Have an Idea? Execute.

4. Vocalize Actualize

5. One Drum at a Time

6. Let the Distraction Lead

7. What Someone Else Can Do

I saw something on TV the other day I’d never seen before. At around 9pm on a cold winter’s night, a car was stopped at a red light. Next minute, a knock on the passenger door. A motorcyclist all in black had pulled up alongside the car. The driver then wound down the window only for the biker to grab the bag on the passenger seat and ride off.

In Japan of all places.

But the thing that got me the most?

The bag had like 280,000 yen in it.

That’s like, $2,000 US.

Or as Snake from The Simpsons would say:

Yoink.

I mean, who carries that much cash around with them?

Japanese people. That’s who.

Not all the time, mind you. So, is this just straight-up bad luck on part of the victim, or mere stupidity?

Probably a bit of both.

The TV had the decency to mention the driver of the car was a business executive, not a pleb like you or me. So, seemingly they could afford it (it may well have been the company’s money). What with being an executive you would assume they were in a pretty decent car too. Might as well have drawn a giant cash sign on the bag.

Either way, if this doesn’t prove how safe Japan (typically) is, I don’t know what would.

Safe. Yes.

Annoying all the same.

I come from a place that has pretty much all but done away with cash. We’ve had cashless payments in New Zealand since before I was born. For those counting, that’s the 1980s. In Japan though, even a quarter century into the new millennium, cash is still very much king.

To be honest, it’s nowhere near as bad as before. At least now I have docomo’s e-money called d-barai, and can pay using that.

But then again, this is Japan we’re talking about. You can never get off that easy.

You see, d-barai can’t be used everywhere PayPay can. At the same time, PayPay can’t be used everywhere d-barai can. Nor Apple Pay. Nor Rakuten Pay. Nor au PAY… nor Merpay (for mermaids), nor even Suica! At least LINE Pay had the decency to merge with PayPay.

And then, take for example:

• last week I paid 5,280 yen for an 11-trip ticket to the swimming pool, and that includes onsen! A real bargain! Shame I can’t earn any points on it because we have to pay by cash.

• My hairdresser is another interesting story. Only accepts cash. Only ever has. Only ever will probably too, so they tell me. Convenience? Not wanting to pay the PayPay fees? Next time I’ll ask.

• And then there is the local supermarket closest to my university. A supermarket. Only accepts cash. Really making my live in rural Japan feel umm… rural.

But you know what?

However rural, it’s great to live in a place where cash still flows because it proves how safe it (generally) is. I regularly carry around ¥10,000 (about $60 US). I also am guilty of leaving the keys in my car, unlocked, and going into the convenience store. I won’t leave my children in the car like some people do, I’m not that Japanese yet (I wish I were lying, but I often see this).

Which leads to the next question; why do Japanese people love cash so much? I mean, after all, cash is considered a form of Kegare, defilement or pollution of our own inner state.

Cash passes through so many unknown hands, including the grieving, the sick, the angry, and the greedy. When it reaches your hands, it’s full of the impure residue of anyone who has touched it before you. Not to mention, money also represents worldly attachment, greed, and debt.

Very un-Shinto.

(although this part sounds more Buddhist, but I digress…)

With all this in mind, you’d think Japan would be first on the cashless bandwagon, wouldn’t you?

And that’s when it hit me.

Or rather, while out doing yamabushi training after watching a few episodes of Ozark:

The Kegare Conspiracy

So, we know cash is a form of Kegare. It’s the whole reason for the blue money trays in convenience stores, a form of Kegare buffer, if you will. You never hand the money over to the cashier (also one reason why tipping (rightfully) gets a bad rap). This also explains the various envelopes you need when giving anyone money.

Because, who benefits from all this use of cash?

The Shinto Shrines.

The places that get money to purify money, so to speak. The more impure the money, the more money they make from purification. Keep the economy cash-based, and you can keep the kami, and the ledgers, in balance.

And you know what, I can’t judge. That Japanese people are so poor at English is keeping me in a job! We all have our niches.

And this is why, if I were ever to launder money,

Shinto shrines are the perfect money laundering tool.

(I feel I need to say this, but this is satire, which some people, hilariously, I might add, don’t get).

If you had a mountain of “impure” cash, you wouldn’t need a shell company.

You’d just need a Shinto shrine.

Shinto shrines, or at least the ones I frequent, are famously cash-based.

It’s the perfect system: thousands of people drop anonymous, untraceable coins and notes into wooden boxes every day. Who’s counting? Who’s auditing the Kami? You just “donate” your extra 280,000 yen to the building fund, getting a tax-exempt receipt for “spiritual services,” and suddenly that Kegare is as clean as a mountain spring.

As a yamabushi (mountain ascetic) I’m often paying for people to get purified,

in cash.

I have to make sure I have the exact right amount every single time I go. They don’t accept it otherwise. I’m not entirely sure why. Something to do with that whole tax exempt-thing? (Or maybe…)

Anyway, I have to prepare that cash in advance. In an envelope, of course. Kegare and all that.

And get this:

We fax the orders in. By email (true story that doesn’t help the money laundering argument).

Which brings us back to the biker.

Who, by the way, would be reeling in kegare.

Unless, of course, they had access to a fax machine, a Shinto shrine, and a mountain ascetic who knew a thing or two about balancing books, spiritual or otherwise.

Yoink.

On that note:

Daily Yamabushi for The Week and The Week Before

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of December 4 to 10, 2025.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. Let the Ball Roll

2. Hike the Mountain. Don’t Drive up It.

3. All The Excuse You Need

4. The Path to Winning

5. Better Than a Kick in The Teeth

6. What’s Good?

7. The Chance at a Big Win

And one more week. Because life. Sorry (not sorry)

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of December 11 to December 18, 2025.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. For What it is

2. Tether Your Smartphone

3. A License to Create

4. The Driver’s Seat

5. A New Reality

6. The Audition

7. The Evening Routine

Another angle:

This one clearly met its demise in a fire. But just down the road there was a place like this:

Eaten alive.

I wish I could find the photo, but I have seen, more than once, a half destroyed garage still with a (working) car in it.

No money to fix it up?

No motivation?

Who knows?

What gets me though, is that at the same time as these buildings are obviously meeting their maker, just down the road we get views like this:

Or this:

Or this:

Where people still live (this is very close to that first hamlet), and actually a popular Kominka restaurant lies to the left of this photo.

And then of course, there are also places like this:

Which I for one find absolutely stunning. There was no-one around here when I took it, but there was plenty of snow, just not visible in the photo.

I drove a little further and came across this:

Just a random building in the middle of a random field. Who knows what goes on there. To be honest though, I think it would make a great spot for a cabin, who’s with me?

On that note:

Daily Yamabushi for The Week and The Week Before

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of November 21 to 27, 2025.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. Ensnare

2. Do it Precisely Because you Suck at it

3. The Wild is Wild

4. Follow the Breath

5. Sometimes you Just Need a Forest

6. What’s the Worst Question a Teacher Could Ask?

7. Make Changes Make Chances

And one more week. Because life. Sorry (not sorry)

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of November 28 to December 4, 2025.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. It Can Be But It’s Not

2. By The Scruff of The Neck

3. Accept and Forget

4. Do Your Own Stunts

5. Your Last Performance

6. No Energy to Waste

7. Can You do ‘Nothing’

On the way there I saw some things.

Like a giant…

Last time I was there it had started to grow something…

These things (the monuments, not an actual penis) are a prayer for fertility, in case you hadn’t realised.

Very Important.

Especially now. I wonder why there aren’t many more showing up…

Oh wait…

Anyway, Murakami City. I only just learned that this city, about an hour’s drive south of us here in Sakata, is part of the Chūbu region of Japan.

Which, in case you don’t speak Japanese, means

Central Japan.

Murakami City. Just south of us here in Yamagata. Although Niigata does get an honorary mention as one of the prefectures of Tohoku (at least sometimes), so I guess Murakami can have a pass.

Murakami is famous for salmon.

Like, really famous.

Their culture based on salmon-processing and salmon-based culinary culture dates back to at least the Heian Period. That’s like **counts on fingers**

1,000 years!

Which is like, at least 991 years before Rakaia’s Giant Salmon.

But don’t worry, you better believe Murakami has their own giant salmon too:

Probably not 12m, but still. (While you’re at it, check out this: List of Big Things in New Zealand).

Big enough.

All around Murakami City they had these salmon drying out. They have it in Sakata too, just nowhere near the same amount.

This was what the main stretch of Murakami looked like. It had some very cool old-school Japanese buildings.

Including this toilet:

It wouldn’t be rural Japan without this abandoned building right next to a popular tourist destination:

And they even had free pottery!

*For reasons out of my control, I wasn’t able to try any of the salmon. I will be sure to next time.

On that note:

Daily Yamabushi for The Week

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of November 14 to 20, 2025.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. Come and Go (second time I’ve used that title. Here’s the first)

2. The Practice is The Way

3. You Just Have to Be Better

4. Someone Better?

5. The Real Win

6. Muscle Weighs More Than Fat

7. The Haters Can Hate But You Can’t Let Them Win

Turns out it isn’t.

Turns out it’s for real.

Like, what? We can just use any Japanese word now?

I thought Kiku just meant ‘to listen’.

Turns out I was well off. Turns out…

it’s a whole Japanese art!!

Consider this yamabushi mind blown.

Well, bonus points for using the Kanji 聴く:

‘to listen attentively’

as opposed to this one: 聞く,

‘to listen’ (kind of like English ‘watch’ versus ‘see’).

Well done indeed.

But still…

already took a good one. Damaru.

And you know what?

I can play that game too:

Tekitō

Mendokuse

Jisho

I’m sure that Kiku book is full of good insights and whatnot. But the title? Gees… Someone needs a Jisho.

On that note:

Daily Yamabushi for The Week

Daily Yamabushi posts for the week of November 7 to 13, 2025.

Read Daily Yamabushi at timbunting.com/blog. Most popular articles here.

1. More Important Than Your Ego

2. Metamorphosis is Never a Smooth Ride

3. Today’s The Day

4. Build Instinct

5. Everything is an Experiment

6. Turn to Yourself

7. How to Get Back up to Pace