Hi, I’m Mike Rugnetta, this is Crashcourse
Mythology and today we’re following up our spelunking episode with some rock-climbing. [[[Thoth in climbing gear?]]] That’s right, today we’re taking on mountains
of myth. Big mountains, small mountains, holy mountains,
volcanic mountains. Thoth! You got your crampons … on? Excelsior! [Intro]
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 eat grape leaves
and drink ouzo. And – even without all that Greek grog –Mountains
are perilous, as anyone who has ever spent time climbing them knows, and this makes them
a good spot for hero myths. Mountains are often the homes of monsters,
the sites of avalanches, basically a big ole heap of challenge. 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 gonna 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 gonna 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 Ko-li and the Ten Thousand Treasure
Mountain. It’s a story of magic artifacts and a treacherous
king. But in the end, both K’o-li and his mother
demonstrate self-sacrifice and hard work. K’o-li 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 K’o-li digs up. One day, he’s only able to dig up enough
food for one person. He gives the roots to his mother, saying he
isn’t hungry. But his mother refuses, saying she can’t
take the food while K’o-li 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, K’o-li 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
K’o-li her earrings as a reward for his virtue. As it turns out, these earrings are also keys
to the Ten Thousand Treasure Mountain. One is made of gold and it opens the secret
door. The other is silver and it allows you to leave. K’o-li takes the earrings and unlocks to
the door to the treasure trove. Inside, the mountain is filled with incredible
treasures: gold, silver, pearls. But K’o-li 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 K’o-li tries to use the grinder,
he discovers that instead of grinding grains, it actually produces corn. K’o-li 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 that an official should 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 K’o-li and his mother are hungry again. K’o-li goes back to the Ten Thousand 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 now! He orders another official to get the mortar. The official arrives at the village, grabs
it, and wouldn’t you know – it turns to lime. Another official loses his head. Hungry again, K’o-li returns to the mountain. This time he chooses a hoe. At home, he pulls the hoe across the ground
and giant corn stalks grow. K’o-li shares his food with the villagers
and again, the king hears the news. This time, rather than seize the hoe, officials
seize K’o-li and bring him to the king. Everyone gets to keep their head this time. The king demands to know: where are you getting
these wonderful treasures? K’o-li 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 K’o-li and the freedom-granting silver earring … outside. Now you might think K’o-li 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 K’o-li has more pressing concerns: He’s
lost one of the girl’s earrings! His mother bundles up two bushels of corn
and takes it 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. I’ve decided, your son is so honest and
hard-working, he and my daughter should be married.” Which is to say - the generous, hard-working
K’o-li lived happily ever after, while the greedy king perished underground, surrounded
by useless riches. But… were they EVEN RICHES? 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 6th-century addition of Buddhism and more
recently a dash of Christianity. According to Leonard & McClure, “Shinto
views all landforms – indeed all things – as being closely associated with a particular
kami.” A kami 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 Mt. Yatsu-ga-take and Mt. Fuji. Both mountains are animated by their own kami. One day, Yatsu-ga-take 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 toward Fuji – Yatsu-ga-take
is taller! When Amida announces the results, Fuji is
furious. She attacks Yatsu-ga-take with a stick, smashing
great gaps into his top. That’s why Yatsu-ga-take has eight peaks. Many mountains are revered in Japanese culture,
but none more so than Mt. Fuji. (It’s always a good idea to revere a mountain
that might rough you up.) But Mt. Fuji and Asama 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 Mt. Fuji. Yosoji’s mother has smallpox and is dying,
so he asks the magician Kamo Yamakiko for help. Kamo Yamakiko tells Yosoji: if he wants to
save his mother, he must fetch water from the source of a small stream near the southwest
side of Mt. 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, some Thoughtbubbles:
When Yosoji arrives at the stream, the girl tells him to drink, and then gather water
for his mother. Then she 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. Yosoji thanks her and begs the girl to reveal
her name, because y’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 Mt. Fuji, enveloping her and carrying her back to the
sacred mountain. That … is when Yosoji realizes the girl
is actually the goddess of Mt. 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, Thoughtbubble, that was some “peak”
mythology! And 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 incestous. 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
gods, too. Gods you can climb. Is there nothing we humans won’t anthropomorphize? Thanks for watching. And see you next time, when we’re gonna
make like some trees… and myth.
