Six Old Men in a Farmhouse Drinking Tea and Talking 

Utagawa Kuniyoshi was an ukiyo-e artist who was active at the end of the Edo Period, from the early 1800s onwards. He gained popularity for his dynamic depictions of warriors and also paintings that satirized the politics of the time.
In this work, six elderly men gather and chat. The painting is based on a series of comic kyoka poems in the 5-7-5-7-7 meter by Yokoi Yayu, a poet who was also a samurai of the Owari Domain (now part of Aichi Prefecture). The six poems are written on the screen and include various admonitions that would appear to be directed at the men depicted. They start with, “First you find wrinkles / And moles appear on your skin / Your back starts to hunch / While your bald patch on top grows / And the hair that’s left gray goes.” And the sixth and last poem is: “Tell the same stories / You do, over and over / Boast about your kids / And then brag about your health / He’s such a boor, they all say.”
Perhaps Kuniyoshi, who was himself 54 at the time this painting was made, was delivering a warning to himself.
(KASHIWAGI Tomoh)