Emperor Nintoku looks at the houses of his people

Emperor Nintoku looking out at his people's houses from an elevated vantage—the legendary ruler associated with benevolent governance, said to have waived taxes for three years upon seeing the poverty of his subjects revealed by the absence of cooking smoke—was a subject of moral exemplarity in Meiji-era art. The scene of the emperor observing rather than being observed reverses the typical power relationship, making benevolent attention the definition of legitimate authority.