Description from the website of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, who own a (nicer) copy of this print: "The Emperor Gensō (Chinese, Emperor Xuanzong, 685 – 762, r. 712 – 56, also known as Minghuang) was enamoured of his concubine Yōkihi (Chinese, Yang Guifei, 719 – 756). In 756, at the beginning of the An Lushan rebellion, the emperor was forced to flee westward. His entourage, who blamed Yōkihi and her family for the rebellion, demanded that she be executed. Here, she stands in front of a moon palace, and he is about to ascend a staircase constructed by a magician in order to visit her once more."