so, for a project in my japanese class, we have to translate songs/poems without using a dictionary so my professor can see the level of our vocabulary. (thanks to kalafina, i can describe to you the many beauties of the moon and the stars and the earth, etc hahahaha) so i chose manten for this week. i only got a few corrections on it, with a "GOOD JOB! I'm impressed" note on my paper (again, thanks kalafina/yuki lol). i was told by my japanese professor that "manten" means the whole sky, but it's also another word for "the heavens (above)" so she corrected the "whole sky" part in my translation to the heavens. a lot of things make sense to me now that she explained a few things, like "the fruit" in the 3rd stanza and what will bear it. here's the corrected version of my translation ^.^ hope you enjoy~
the sky, where the stars
that disappear out of existence
is where heaven and earth
was appeased by an untouched prayer
what shines through a thin branch
is the future that forgot to bloom
still seeming reluctant,
the branch unhanded the bud
look, soon time will be up
as the branch bears a golden fruit
the world will end as you pick it
with those hands of yours
as an unblemished thing,
if the whiteness of snow that descends
knows of warmth
it will completely disappear
beautiful dreams alone
tore you into pieces
with the kindness and truth
of their cold eyes
the stars that violently twinkle
go against heaven
until vengeful prayer
crashes the sky
there is no need for a bouquet
of flowers to mourn for me
just grant my wish
before my heart collapses
the wishes of people
who want to try to fathom by themselves
make time come to an end
in the brilliant light
everyone was crying,
wanting wings
life plays
the chorus of the heavens
when a scorched wish
wrenches open the sky
my beloved birthplace will
most likely have flowers in bloom
traces of dreams
of the stars that violently twinkle
moonlight,
show me the way to go,
until the furthest ends of earth
where humans say
peace exists
this will be the sky of prayer
of the quietly twinkling stars
until this dream ends with your cry
EDIT: i forgot to include that 仇なす is a compound word that means to avenge or cause harm to others. but i think "to avenge" makes more sense in the stanza because the stars will go against heaven until an "avenging/vengeful" prayer crashes the sky, making the stars stop. i went back to the first pages of this topic seeing how people had some problems with the meaning to this compound word.
side note: because of the beautiful lyrics, my sensei went home and listened to the song, falling in love with it