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All the dictionary entries I have found for 明ける include definitions that are
almost opposites of each other. More specifically, in some of the definitions,
明ける means something like "to begin", while in others (within the same
dictionary entry!) it means something like "to end."

I have been able to find example sentences that illustrate the second group of
definitions pretty unambiguously. For example:

> 冬休み明けないでほしいな。  
>  I wish winter vacation would not end. **✓**

The alternative (明ける ≈ "begin") interpretation does not sound likely:

> I wish winter vacation would not begin. **✗**

In contrast, all the example sentences I have found that supposedly illustrate
the "to begin" meaning seem to me ambiguous, at best.

For example, the sentence

> 年が明ける。

...is typically translated as something like

> The year begins.

...but it is not obvious to me why. After all, the translation

> The year ends.

...would also fit the same situation, since whenever a year begins another
year ends. Why is the latter never given as the translation for the original
Japanese sentence?

It gets worse, though. The following example is almost shocking in its
perversity. The following sentence is often given as an illustration of the
"to begin" meaning of 明ける

> 夜が明ける。

The translation given for it is typically something like

> The day dawns.

And yet 夜(=よる/よ) means literally _night_ , and therefore it seems to me
blindingly obvious that the original sentence says, _literally_

> The night ends.

Given this blatantly straighforward translation, it seems to me just willful
to insist that, in that sentence, 明ける means "to dawn".

In fact, I even came across the following sentence:

> ようやく夜が明けて長い夜が終った。

I hope that this sentence makes it obvious that the only reasonable
translation for 明ける here is "to end," even though it is _always_ translated as
"to dawn."

(I realize that the end of the night coincides with the beginning of the day,
but this does not mean that "to end" is interchangeable with "to begin.")

* * *

I am looking for an example sentence featuring 明ける where the only _possible_
interpretation would require it to be translated as something like "to begin."

* * *

Alternatively, I would like to know how native speakers of Japanese interpret
the verb 明ける when it appears in a context different from set phrases. For
example, how would a native speaker of Japanese interpret the following
sentence?

> １９０４年６月１６日、彼の長い試練が明けた。

Did the ordeal _begin_ on June 16, 1904, or did it _end_?

* * *

Granted, contributing to the perversity are the facts that

  1. The words 開ける and 空ける, which have the same reading (あける), both have meanings related to "opening up", which is consonant with the general sense of "to begin";
  2. The character 明 means "bright", and therefore is suggestive of the dawn.

These two inconvenient facts notwithstanding, I have not been able to find an
example of 明ける that does not fit the interpretation "to end".
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question
meaning translation ambiguity semantics
Looking for example where 明ける means "to begin" *unambiguously*
First, please read this question for the basic meaning of 明ける: [What does 明ける
mean?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/90821/5010)

明ける in this sense is used with only a small group of words as the subject, and
you have already covered important ones. Don't think of this as a general-
purpose "begin" or "end".

**EDIT:** For a Japanese speaker, 明ける is a word closer to "dawn" (or "get
brighter") than to "start" or "end". "Dawn" is the original meaning of 明ける,
but by extension, it also refers to a shift from a dark/dreamy/extraordinary
period to a bright/ordinary period. Since no English verb fully corresponds to
明ける, we have no choice but to use either "start" or "end" in the translation.
明鏡国語辞典 explicitly says that, in the context of dawn, the subject of 明ける can be
either the old state or the new state; 夜が明ける and 朝が明ける mean exactly the same
thing, though the former is relatively more common.

> I am looking for an example sentence featuring 明ける where the only possible
> interpretation would require it to be translated as something like "to
> begin."

How about 新しい年が明ける? Actually, 年が明ける means exactly the same thing even without
explicitly saying 新しい, so this 年 unambiguously refers to the new year.

We also say 新年明けましておめでとう ("Happy New Year"). 年明けの期間 refers to a new year
period (early January), not a year-end period.

> １９０４年６月１６日、彼の長い試練が明けた。

This only means the ordeal is over. 試練 is something "dark", right? Similarly,
試験明け(期間) refers to a post-exam period when students are happy.

Lastly, I feel this has nothing to do with 開ける/空ける (They might be
etymologically related to 明ける, but they feel totally different to me.)
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answer