Original subtitles

hey there i'm mike regnetta this is

crash course mythology and today we're

following up our spelunking episode with

some rock climbing that's right today

we're taking on mountains of myth big

mountains small mountains holy mountains

volcanic mountains tote you got your

crampons

on excelsior

[Music]

in myth mountains are mysterious

dangerous and often have cool stuff

inside them because they reach towards

the sky they often host the homes of

gods mount olympus is probably the best

known mountain that's both home to a

pantheon and also a real place where you

can go and eat grape leaves and drink

oozo and even without all that greek

grog mountains are perilous as anyone

who has ever spent time climbing the

nose and this makes them a good spot for

hero myths mountains are often the homes

of monsters the sights of avalanches

basically big ol hipaa challenge and if

you're wondering now why anyone would

ever go there well you can't forget that

mountains also contain valuable minerals

and in myths that means that they're the

site of great treasure especially gold

today we're going to look at two myths

one from china and one from japan in the

first story we'll encounter a mountain

full of treasures though most of those

treasures are a lot more utilitarian

than gold we're also going to look at a

mountain that's a treasure itself in

that it has a god associated with it a

very competitive god a perfect example

of a mountain stuffed with treasure

comes from china where people tell the

story of kali and the 10 000 treasure

mountain it's a story of magic artifacts

and a treacherous king but in the end

both curly and his mother demonstrate

self-sacrifice and hard work curly and

his mother live in a valley among the

high mountains they're too poor to have

rice or corn so they survive by eating

roots that curly digs up one day he's

only able to dig up enough food for one

person so he gives the roots to his

mother saying he isn't hungry but his

mother refuses saying she can't take the

food while curly wastes away just then

an old man with a long white beard

appears at the door

they give their food to this old father

and after he eats coley picks him up and

carries him back to his home in the

mountains when they arrive at the old

man's home they're greeted by his

beautiful daughter in gratitude the old

man asks her to give kali her earrings

as a reward for his virtue as it turns

out these earrings are also keys

to the 10 000 treasure mountain

one is made of gold and it opens the

secret door the other is silver and it

allows you to leave collee takes the

earrings and unlocks the door to the

treasure trove inside the mountain is

filled with incredible treasures gold

silver pearls but cooley is both humble

and practical he chooses a simple white

stone grinder so that he'll be able to

earn a living grinding grain he lets

himself out with the silver earring and

brings the grinder home to his mother as

soon as curly tries to use the grinder

he discovers that instead of grinding

grains it actually

produces corn

kelly and his mother can't believe their

luck and they take the magical corn to

share with the rest of their village

eventually news of this magical corn

producing grinder reaches the king he

orders an official to travel to the

village and bring him this magic grinder

the official arrives and demands the

grinder but the second he touches it it

crumbles into a pile of lime the king is

furious

and has the official beheaded without

the magic grinder it isn't long before

curly and his mother are hungry again

khali goes back to the 10 000 treasure

mountain and uses the golden earring

this time he chooses a yellow stone

mortar that magically produces white

rice he silver earrings his way out

takes the mortar home and before long

the king is hearing stories about

magical rice he orders another official

to get the mortar the official arrives

at the village grabs it wouldn't you

know it turns to lime

another official loses his head hungry

again khali returns to the mountain this

time he chooses a ho at home he pulls

the hoe across the ground and giant corn

stalks grow

kuli shares his food with the villagers

and again the king hears the news this

time though rather than try to seize the

hoe officials seize

kali the king demands to know where are

you getting these wonderful treasures

kelly tells the greedy king about the

ten thousand treasure mountain i open

the door in the mountain with this gold

earring and but then and there the king

snatches the gold earring and sets off

immediately the king rides as fast as he

can to the mountain and gets inside as

the gold key grants his access his eyes

fill with visions of treasure but behind

him the door to the mountain

closes with curly and the freedom

granting silver earring

outside now you might think holy would

be worried about the king trapped in the

mountain where he'll probably starve to

death or asphyxiate or get crushed by

all that treasure but cuddly has more

pressing concerns he's lost one of the

girl's earrings his mother bundles up

two bushels of corn and takes it to the

old man's home to apologize

but when she arrives old father tells

her we don't need your corn use it to

feed your village the old man goes on to

say i've decided your son is so honest

and hardworking he and my daughter

should be married which is to say that

the generous hard-working kali lived

happily ever after while the greedy king

perished underground surrounded

by useless riches but were they even

rich's

thinky face

emoji

the ten thousand treasure mountain

represents an important opportunity and

location for our main character but some

mountains are the main characters

themselves even today japan has a

complex religious landscape a mix of the

ancient religion shintoism the sixth

century edition of buddhism and more

recently a dash of christianity

according to leonard and mcclure shinto

views all land forms indeed all things

has been closely associated with a

particular kami akami is a kind of god

and mountains trees stones lakes even

grains have their own kami when buddhism

arrived in japan in the 6th century bce

it needed to assimilate to the

pre-existing animistic religion and the

result was a syncretic combination of

buddhist figures and styles of worship

with shinto shrines and gods one way to

see this relationship is to look at one

myth involving two famous mountains and

the buddha amida the story starts long

ago with an argument between mount

yatsugatake and mount fuji both

mountains are animated by their own kami

one day yatsugatake and fuji begin to

argue about which one of them

is taller no matter how they debate they

can't reach an answer so they ask buddha

amida to be the judge amida runs a pipe

between the tops of the two mountains

and pours water in it to see which way

it will flow

the water flows downward towards fuji

yatsugatake is taller when amida

announces the results fuji is

furious she attacks yatsugatake with a

stick smashing great gaps into his top

and that's why yatsugatake has eight

peaks many mountains are revered in

japanese culture but none more so than

mount fuji i guess it's always a good

idea to revere a mountain that might

rough you up but mount fuji and osama no

okami the kami associated with her

aren't always depicted so aggressively

for instance there was once a boy named

yosoji who lives near mount fuji

yosoji's mother has smallpox and is

dying so he asks the magician kamo

yamakiko for help kama yamakiko tells

yosuji if he wants to help save his

mother he must fetch water from the

source of a small stream near the

southwest side of mount fuji yosoji sets

out but is confounded when the path

branches into three paths suddenly a

beautiful girl dressed in white steps

out of the forest and leads him down the

correct path to the stream and in that

stream we find

some thought bubbles when yosoji arrives

at the stream the girl tells him to

drink and then gather water for his

mother she then leads yosoji back to the

crossroads and tells him to meet her

there again in three days because he's

going to need more of the magical water

yosoji does as he's told he takes the

water back to his home and gives it to

his mother to drink along with many

other sick villagers when he runs out of

water he returns to meet the mysterious

girl he does this again and again after

five trips his mother and the rest of

the sick villagers

are cured the villagers praise him but

yosoji knows that he owes it all to the

beautiful girl so he goes to thank her

when yosoji arrives

the stream has dried up he's surprised

and sad he prays for the girl to appear

so he can thank her properly when he

rises from prayer

poof

there she is yoshiji thanks her and begs

the girl to reveal her name because you

know beautiful girl from the magical

stream is a pretty weird thing to call

someone but she won't tell him instead

she swings a branch of camellia in the

air and a cloud flies down from mount

fuji enveloping her and carrying her

back to the sacred mountain that is when

yasuji realizes the girl is actually the

goddess of mount fuji moonlighting as a

stream kami

right then and there his heart fills

with love for her he kneels down before

the retreating goddess and she tosses

the camellia branch to him a symbol of

their connection thanks dot bubble that

was some peak mythology

it's only downhill from here and also

very touching showing us the more

generous side of mountains see it's not

all rocks and suffocation mountains are

also a place of pure life-giving water

they're as varied as any pantheon we've

encountered though seemingly less

incestuous which is probably a good

thing today we've seen rich mountains

competitive mountains angry mountains

and finally a loving and generous

mountain we've also realized that while

gods are often represented as people and

animals and people animal hybrids

elements of the natural world like

mountains in all their mile high power

and grandeur can represent god's two

gods you can climb

is there nothing we humans won't

anthropomorphize thanks for watching and

see you next time when we're going to

make like some trees

and myth

check out our crash course mythology

tote tote bag and poster available now

at dftba.com

crash course mythology is filmed in the

chad and stacy emmigolds studio in

indianapolis indiana and is produced

with the help of all of these very nice

people our animation team is cafe

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course free for everyone forever thanks

for watching and i for one am relieved

to think the king probably didn't starve

as all 10 000 treasures of the mountain

seem to produce food