The Changelings is a 12th century novel in a style popular after The Tale of Genji, yet is a unique work in spite of its derivative origin. Unlike other examples imitating Genji, The Changelings still exists, which is a tribute to its superior qualities compared to other examples of the genre.

Yet for the reader who has slogged through the more than one thousand pages of The Tale of Genji and wondered if it really deserves its reputation as the best of Japanese classical literature, holding up The Changelings next to it makes apparent the superior virtues of Genji. But while The Changelings comes off second best against such competition, it is not a bad book, quite the contrary, it is an entertaining work with a certain amount of psychological sensitivity about subjects which are usually taboo to the modern reader. Regrettably, they apparently became taboo to the Japanese audience as well, for as the notes in The Changelings tell us, there were two versions. The older version, no longer extant, had the brother and sister living out their lives in the genders of their choice, but the later, surviving edition 'fixes' the gender 'problem.'

The matter of gender is at the heart of the story, for Chonagon grows up as a tomboy, better fitted for male life than her brother, who grows up as a sissy, and prefers to live a female life. The parents, deciding to raise their children according to their personalities and desires instead of by their genitalia, introduce the female to male (ftm) brother to Court society as a young man, and the male to female (mtf) sister as a young woman. Most of the book centers on the ftm brother, and rings with authenticity; modern female to male transsexuals will recognize a number of the problems experienced by Chonagon as being similar to issues they also face. It is fair to say that The Changelings is the world's first transgender novel.

Chonagon is victimized by a male lover and becomes pregnant; he is trapped between the necessities of his masculine role at Court and trying to deal with the importune advances of his lover without exposing himself and thereby bringing shame to his aged parents and mtf sister who is employed as a lady in waiting at the Court. How the original text solved the problem we will never know; the 'repaired' version features a rather hamhanded insertion in which the mtf sister is suddenly filled with manly vigor, casts off women's garments, and strides around in men's clothes, setting every thing right. This ending is not very satisfactory from either a literary or psychological perspective. That the original permitted the brother and sister to live out their lives in their chosen gender roles sheds light on the attitudes of the Heian period regarding gender; and that a mere two centuries later an editor felt compelled to erase the gender variation and restore 'normality' likewise tells us about how attitudes towards gender and sexuality changed in the later period.

As such, The Changelings, aside from being an enjoyable work of fiction, raises important questions about the diversity of Heian era literature and sexuality, and also about the nature of gender and censorship in the past and present. The casual reader will enjoy the story, but the thoughtful reader will be provoked to think more deeply about things he or she has taken for granted.

Rosette Willig's translation of the twelfth century Japanese novel, Torikaebaya (literally, "They've been switched, perhaps")--rendered by here more elegantly as The Changelings, is an extraordinary feat of the translator's art. It reads smoothly--much like Seidensticker's translation of The Tale of Genji, and strikes college students as even more compelling. I have used it in classes on Japanese History through literature and Gender and Sexuality in Japanese History with excellent results; students find it hard to put down once they understand the basic plot. The two siblings Chunagon and Naishi no kami are respectively a female who conceptualizes herself as male, and a male who thinks he's really a girl. Born to an artistocratic family in the capital of Heian, they receive the sympathy of their parents, who attribute their sexual orientation issues to their accumulated karma from past lives. Chunagon is allowed to enter courtly society as a male, while her brother enters the service of an imperial princess as a lady-in-waiting. Misfortune strikes when Chunagon, fighting off the homosexual advances of a male friend, is exposed as female--a surprising but not unpleasant development so far as her bisexual friend is concerned. She becomes pregnant and must hide out until she can give birth before resuming a male identity. Meanwhile the princess is with child by her lady-in-waiting. The tale is deeply pyschological, lacking the element of farce in Shakespeare's plays about sexual identity; one genuinely feels for the plight of Chunagon in particular. Classical Japanese often omits the subject; Willig necessarily must provide it. She chooses to refer to Chunagon as "he" through most of the text, and to Kami no Naishi as "she." This is a brilliant touch, hightening the reader's awareness of the tragedy of the siblings' plight. Unltimately the plight is resolved in a thoroughly unexpected fashion. The Changelings is a window into ancient Japanese sexuality. It would be improved, perhaps, by some pages of footnotes explaining aspects of Heian society; but if read alongside a work like Ivan Morris' The World of the Shining Prince, provides invaluable insight into the history of gender and sexuality.