Idola Deus – The Creator – Akatsuki Records

Lyrics Context:
(as with many translations, there is an official one that I think is good, but since I want to translate all the songs in this album, I’ll also translate this one even if it isn’t too different from the original.

The album begins by introducing Keiki Haniyasushin, a “Human God / God of Humanity”. Keiki is a god made manifest by the universal will of human souls existing in the ‘Animal Realm’ who are oppressed by a ruthless dog-eat-dog society in their wish for salvation from the Law of the Jungle.
Put another way, Keiki is an avatar of the will of humanity to ascribe a higher meaning to their own existence. By existing as a god of Idolatry (who can imbue objects she creates with a ‘soul’), she gives these souls a chance to break free from the law of the jungle by (in the case of the game’s story) literally embedding their souls inside of clay figures called Haniwa. In exchange for giving up their free will and independence, their souls exist comfortably and safely within the idols. She refers to herself as Idola Deus, or “God of Idola” (more on Idola at the bottom)

In the greater scheme of the game this is from (Touhou 17 鬼形獣 (Kikeijuu — Oni Shaped Beast)– Wily Beast and Weakest Creature), she acts as the final boss but also as an ‘answer’ to the animal spirits and their ruthless leaders who aim to dominate control over the human spirits in the Animal Realm. She is the antagonist of the game, but on a player’s first playthrough (and especially without seeing the endings which are locked behind beating the game without continuing) she is portrayed purely sympathetically, making the player question whether they are the baddies or not.

—————–

Do-La, Idola　You are The Creator
Do-La, Idola　IdoLatrize world
Do-La, Idola　I’m The Imaginator
Do-La, Idola　IdoRatrize world [*0]

こんな地獄めいた見世物小屋 | konna jigoku mei ta misemono koya
これがマシなんだったら | kore ga mashi nan dattara
どんな祈りだったら | donna inori dattara
届くって言うのIDOLA | todoku tte iu no IDOLA
If such a hell like freak show
is the reaping of what I have sowed [*1], then
what kind of wish could I say for it to reach you, IDOLA[*2]?

ほらね、今日も今日とて | hora ne, kyou mo kyou to te
強者が弱肉強食説いている | kyouwaso ga jakunikukyoushoku toite iru
孤独弱さ貧しさ | kodoku yowasa mazushisa
何もかも「お前のせい」だって | nanimokamo “omae no sei” datte
You know, it’s the same as every day
The strong preach of the law of the jungle –
Saying that loneliness, weakness, poverty,
anything and everything is [your own damn fault] [*3]

Imagination is The Creator of all things
I’m The Creator of the idolatrize world
IDOLA-DEA,　Listen to my prayers
IDOLA-DEA,　Listen to my sorrow

創造せよ、命よ！| souzou seyo, inochi yo!
大地より産まれ祈り歌うアダムの子よ | daichi yori umare inori utau adamu no ko yo
私を呼び創った　それは想いの力 | watashi o yobi tsukutta sore wa omoi no chikara
人に与えられし　イドラ・デウス | hito ni ataerareshi idora deusu
Go forth and create [imagine], children of Adam born from the earth who pray in song!
You have called me into creation, that is, the power of imagination –-
I grant onto humanity — Idola Deus!

Do-La, Idola　You are The Creator
Do-La, Idola　IdoLatrize world
Do-La, Idola　I’m The Imaginator
Do-La, Idola　IdoRatrize world

機械仕掛けのエデン | kikai shikake no eden
土より出で土に還るはMeth | tsuchi yori ide tsuchi ni kaeru wa Meth
妄想それは創造 | mousou sore wa souzou
誰にも奪えないEmeth | dare ni mo ubaenai Emeth
— An artificial Eden —
What we call “Meth” (death) is “from the earth we come, to the earth we return”
Delusions? That is Imagination,
A “Emeth” (truth) that no one can take from you. [*4]

ごらん、今日も今日とて | goran, kyou mo kyou to te
強者が弱肉強食説いている | kyouwaso ga jakunikukyoushoku toite iru
生まれつきの鋭い爪で | umaretsuki no surudoi tsume de
「手を差し伸べてあげる」って | “te o sashinobete ageru” tte
Take a look, it’s the same as always
The powerful who preach of the law of the jungle
saying “I’ll give you a hand” with the sharpened claws they were born with

Imagination is The Creator of all things
I’m The Creator of the idolatrize world
IDOLA-DEA,　Listen to my prayers
IDOLA-DEA,　I created you!

創造せよ、命よ！| souzou seyo, inochi yo!
大地より産まれ祈り歌うアダマの子よ | daichi yori umare inori utau adama no ko yo
私を呼び創った　それは想いの力 | watashi o yobi tsukutta sore wa omoi no chikara
人に与えられし　イドラ・デウス | hito ni ataerareshi idora deusu
Go forth and create [imagine], children of Adam born of the earth who pray in song!
You have called me into creation, that is, the power of imagination –-
The Idola Deus I grant onto humanity

人だけに許され与えられし力 | hito dake ni yurusare ataerareshi chikara
神よりの贈り物は | kami yori no okurimono wa
想い描き、生み出し、| omoi kaki, umidashi,
形成すイマジネイション | katachi nasu imajineishon
それが教いの光となろうー。| sore ga kyou i no hikari to narou.
This power, permitted and given only to humans
a gift only the gods can grant –
To imagine, to create, to give form, Imagination –
Let that become your guiding light.

創造せよ、未来を！ | souzou seyo, mirai wo!
大地より産まれ天を仰ぐアダマの子よ | daichi yori umare ten wo aogu adama no ko yo
声は届き、成された　造り出す者の化身 | koe wa todoki, nasareta tsukuridasu mono no keshin
現実を変える力　イドラ・デウス | ima o kaeru chikara idora deusu
Go forth and create [imagine] the future,
Oh children of Adam, born of the earth who look to the heavens!
I have heard your voice and it is granted;
as the incarnation of one who creates –
I grant the power to change reality (‘now'[*5]) – Idola Deus

Do-La, Idola　You are The Creator
Do-La, Idola　IdoLatrize world
Do-La, Idola　I’m The Imaginator
Do-La, Idola　IdoRatrize world

Notes:

[*0] 想像 (to imagine) and 創造 (to create / (in god’s case)
Are both pronounced “souzou”, so “I’m the Imaginator” is an intentional ‘English’ pun.
The official translation does IdoLatrize and IdoRatrize, I don’t know why though other than the Japanese R being between an L and R…

Idolatrize World is what the original song is named: “偶像に世界を委ねて ~Idolatrize World”

[*1] In Buddhist thinking, humans who live lives that are analogous to animals (eg. focusing entirely on ‘worldly’ endeavors) upon their death will reincarnate as animals. Touhou’s version of the Animal Realm looks like a metropolis (Osaka, given the Kofun)
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KQbh3E5J9w0/sddefault.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozu_Tombs

and in universe, human spirits who fit that description are punished by being forced to live in this dog eat dog metropolis where they are exploited by ‘animal spirits’ with no hope of advancement until they die, forced to join one of three Yakuza-esque ‘clans’, each with a different method of ‘getting an edge’ in this sort of dystopian society (I’ll cover this in more detail in a later song).

[*2] An idol (as in, a religious idol or a pop idol) in Japanese is written as “アイドル” (aidoru). However, in all cases with songs with Keiki (to my knowledge) use イドラ (idora), which explicitly refers to Francis Bacon’s theory of the idols of the forum — (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idola_fori), which matches with the intention of the character and song.

[*3] お前のせい (omae no sei) means “Your ‘s fault” literally; it could be translated as “your fault”, but it loses the aspect of disrespect/the disparaging tone intended by using the pronoun お前 (omae).
Omae literally means “That which is in front of me”, giving no concept of personhood — it’s commonly used as a way to insult or degrade someone.

[*4] Meth and Emeth come from Hebrew, but in particular to several verses to do with God and to do with the tale of the Golem;

From Wikipedia: “It was believed that golems could be activated by an ecstatic experience induced by the ritual use of various letters of the Hebrew alphabet^[10] forming a shem (any one of the names of God), wherein the shem was written on a piece of paper and inserted in the mouth or into the forehead of the golem.^[11] In some tales, a word such as אמת (emét, ‘truth’) is inscribed on the golem, sometimes on its forehead. In this example, the golem could then be deactivated by removing the aleph (א),^[12] thus changing the inscription from “truth” to “death” (מת, mét, ‘dead’).”

There is also (among others) Psalm 145:18, which says:
 קָרוֹב יְהוָה, לְכָל-קֹרְאָיו–    לְכֹל אֲשֶׁר יִקְרָאֻהוּ בֶאֱמֶת.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth (or sincerity).

[*5] She sings “今” (ima), which means “now”, but what is written is 現実 (genjitsu), which means “reality”.
It is a Buddhist idea that there is nothing real but the present, so she makes the statement that these two things are the same.


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