Yūko puts the photograph in her pocket and leaves. "Iro Village" is a fictional place set in the former fishing village of , which was merged into the current town of Nishiizu. Similarly, a reference to Mt Taiya is also fictional. However, nearby Arari is a real mountain called "Ono-san" or "Ono-yama." The Japanese characters "Ono" can also be read "Taiya." Mishima stayed at a ryokan in Arari and also visited the Air Self Defense Force base at nearby Hamamatsu while writing "The Frolic of the Beasts" (Mishima is known to have been assiduous with his on-site research). A monument to Mishima is located in the area of Cape Kogane, with a passage from "The Frolic of the Beasts" engraved on it. Before its official English translation, the novel's title was variously translated as "Beastly Entanglements" and "The Amusement of Beasts". The novel's first edition cover illustration was done by Kaii Higashiyama. The cover was created by award winning cover designer John Gall. He selected it as being appropriate because the story largely takes place in a rural shore town and involves a love triangle, which invokes a rock garden and a burning element that is beginning to affect the larger whole. The cover was included on Literary Hub's list "The 75 Best Book Covers of 2018". The cover design uses a photograph taken in the mid 1960s by Eikoh Hosoe, one of a series of photographs from a collection called "Kamaitachi" (a mythical weasel with sickle-like claws). The photo shoot took place in a remote farming village in the Tōhoku region of Japan and was a collaboration between Eikoh and Tatsumi Hijikata, the creator of the ankoku butō style of dance. "The Frolic of the Beasts" was first serialised thirteen times in the weekly magazine "Shukan Shincho" between 12 June 1961 and 4 September 1961. It was published in hardcover format by Shinchosha on 30 September 1961. It was published in paperback by Shincho Bunko on 12 July 1966. The novel was translated into Italian by Lydia Origlia and published by Feltrinelli in September 1983. The novel was translated into English by Andrew Clare and published in paperback format in the United States and Canada by Vintage International on 27 November 2018.