Lessons From an Entrepreneurial Dewa Sanzan Yamabushi w/ Tim Bunting

Small Business Japan

Hey Japanpreneurs, this episode of Small Business Japan is a unique blend of entrepreneurship, traditional Japanese culture and history, rural tourism, and self-development and spirituality.

Tim Bunting is a certified Yamabushi with more than a decade of experience in Yamagata living near the Dewa Sanzan. Originally from New Zealand, the self-professed nature lover spent many of his formative years in the great outdoors, and truly feels at home amongst the vast forests, sprawling rice fields, and mountains of Yamagata Prefecture.

For Tim, the Dewa Sanzan holds a special importance as a place to get away from the real world, and back to a simpler time, that he believes is something that could benefit people all over the world. Tim’s interests include Japanese history and culture (he is the curator of dewasanzan.com), coffee, photography, music, and sports such as cricket and rugby. He is also an ASSISTANT PROFESSOR at Tohoku University of Community Service and Science and a FREELANCE TRANSLATOR AND INTERPRETER.

Tim does have a stable job at a local university but he is pursuing a creative entrepreneurial side job that overlaps tourism and spirituality.

Nestled in the Tohoku Region between inland Yamagata Prefecture and the Shonai coast on the Sea of Japan, the Dewa Sanzan is the collective name for the three sacred mountains of Dewa;Mt. Haguro, Mt. Gassan, and Mt. Yudono, the location for the pilgrimage of rebirth for over 1400 years.

Him and his business partner had an interest in promoting the Northern area and spreading the word of the uniqueness and beauty of their rural area. They did this through Yamabushi and pilgrimages to the mountains...