Torikaebaya monogatari is a twelfth-century Japanese tale like no other. As suggested by its title, which literally translates to "if only I could exchange them" (torikaebaya) "story" (monogatari), it follows the complications that arise when a nobleman has his two children swap genders—his son living as a woman, and his daughter living as a man. What unfolds is a tale of tragicomedy, familial love, and oblique social commentary as the two siblings embark on their secretly gender-crossed adult lives, subverting and satirizing literature of the period—most notably The Tale of Genji. In more recent times, the tale has sparked intellectual debate and creative inspiration in Japan, with its reception over time reflecting the ever-shifting views of gender and sexuality in that country.
First published in English under the title The Changelings in 1983, this reissued edition of the translation by Rosette F. Willig, with an illuminating new introduction from Gustav Heldt, makes this enduring and inventive landmark of Japanese literature available to readers for the first time in decades.
Price: $28.00
Pages: 284
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Publication Date:
17 March 2026
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9781503646544
Format: Paperback
"It's fantastic to see this translation back in print! The tale combines every popular motif in Japanese court literature (notably: family needs, secret liaisons, and mistaken identity) with a shockingly modern exploration of the tension between who we are and who the world wants us to be. Meanwhile, Gustav Heldt's dazzling new introduction offers fresh insights on both that throughline and on the practical issue of how this tale survived the centuries when most court works simply vanished. The resulting volume gives us all plenty to think with for years to come."
—Charo D'Etcheverry, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Rosette F. Willig received her PhD in Japanese Language and Literature from the University of Pennsylvania and her JD from Columbia University. She lives in New York City with her husband, three children, and four grandchildren.
Gustav Heldt is Professor of Japanese Literature at the University of Virginia. He is the author of Navigating Narratives: Tsurayuki's Tosa Diary as History and Fiction (2024) and The Pursuit of Harmony: Poetry and Power in Early Heian Japan (2008), as well as translator of The Kojiki: An Account of Ancient Matters (2014).
