A Collection of Eastern Brocade Beauties: Morning Tears (Azuma nishiki bijin awase: Asa ni Namida)

"Morning Tears" from the Eastern Brocade Beauties series (Azuma nishiki bijin awase: Asa ni Namida) captures the emotional aftermath of a night's end — the tears that come with morning light, whether of joy, parting, or the unnamed feeling that follows intimate experience. Binnie's treatment of this theme in the bijin-ga mode gives the subject's emotional specificity a formal restraint: the face may or may not show tears directly, but the print's atmosphere makes the feeling unmistakable.