Browned off with bleedin' blossoms

I went to see a wonderful exhibition this morning. It was called 風俗画にみる日本の暮らし (Fuzokuga ni miru nihon no kurashi - Life of Japanese people portrayed in 'genre' paintings).
In 'genre' painting, artists try to express the truth and essence of life through the depiction of ordinary, daily scenes. (Ed. note - I'm not clever enough to have come up with this myself - I'm merely paraphrasing the gallery's handout.)
The paintings were diverse, stretching from the Heian Period (starting in 794AD) to the Edo Period (ending in 1867AD).
As a lazy Irishman with no Protestant work ethic, I thought there were far too many pictures of people working to be a fair representation of the essence of life. But Japanese people tend to think that contributing to society and the joy of accomplishment are the true roads to happiness and fulfillment.
More fundamentally, they have a proverb that is much quoted here, 'you don't work, you don't eat.' I teach in a wealthy area and am still stunned at how many sons and daughters of rich families still are bound to take on low-paying part-time jobs once they turn 16 or 17.
There were some really interesting pictures of foreign traders and missionaries. I'm not sure how solid they are as a historical reference - did we Europeans really dress like MC Hammer in the 1800s? The 'white man' noses, too, were seriously Pinnochio-esque (my own personal sore point, I guess). But with the drawings of the missionaries, the artist captured the patrician bearing and imperious stare just right, I think.
I guess I was most impressed by how much of daily life has remained unchanged after all these years. We're still sitting on tatami, drinking from the same teapots, and singing and dancing under the cherry blossom trees.
The picture I have posted of the top of this entry is probably the most famous of the exhibition. Entitled 桜下弾弦図屏風　（Painted creen of strings being plucked under the cherry blossom) it really came in two folding screens. Only one is depcited here. I've scoured the net for an image of the other, but to no avail.
It's brilliant. The one you can see above is all happy and wistful and full of joy. It's what you'd excpect because it shows the people sitting enjoying the music. What you can't see is the face of the musician as she plays for the others. Her expression is priceless. She is clearly browned off and totally fed up of playing for these scroungers. Surrounded by all this beauty, she looks to be thinking 'When will these bleeding blossoms wither and die so I can go back to me Hello magazine and a nice cup of tea!'
This sentiment is clearly timeless. Only yesterday my student was saying that she'd spit if her husband suggested bringing another picnic to the park. He doesn't have to make it.
Usually the cherry blossom season is about four or five day long. But this year, as it's been cold, the trees have been in bloom for more than two weeks.
In a way I know what the artist and my student meant. Familiarity breeds contempt and all that. Maybe it IS just as well that the flowers usually do the samurai thing and pop their clogs before we all get fed up with them.