Sukeyoshi is a smith of the period, working in the school that flourished at Fukuoka, Yoshioka, Katayama and Iwato under the single character . The name is not borne by one hand alone: the published sources note that Sukeyoshi occurs in both the Fukuoka and the Yoshioka , and the five works on record under this entry are two pieces the published sources read as Fukuoka , an early signed and a gold-inlaid attribution, and three signed on the prewar roll that its commentary presents together.
The signed two-character reads archaic. The published sources call its and old in manner at a glance and identify it as an early- Ko- work, one that comes immediately after . Though it keeps with and a small . Over a with fine , a stands vividly. The temper is calm for an blade: a -toned base in , broken into small and , with and working well in , laid in and running through, the a . The two characters are cut large at the tang tip, and the published sources find both the manner of the signature and the workmanship of and good.
The second manner is the flamboyant one for which Fukuoka is named. The published sources describe the mid- Fukuoka work as developing the most splendid and varied large-pattern of the school, and it was on such a temper that Tadaaki cut a gold-inlaid attribution to Sukeyoshi on a greatly shortened . That blade shows an mixed with , closely forged, with , and a , under a mixed with and , and , , and , the a tending to with . From the brilliant large-pattern the published sources read the attribution as meaning the Fukuoka Sukeyoshi, and judge the work excellent.
The three signed on the prewar roll show how the name runs on. The roll's commentary cites the swordbooks that make Sukeyoshi a son of the Fukuoka Sukefusa and, by one account, the founder of Yoshioka . Two of the , one signed with the upper character 上 and keeping its , the other shortened yet of good shape, share a close-forged with under a with and working well. The third has a signature that differs from these two, and the published sources think it the work of a somewhat later Fukuoka smith. Though shortened it remains somewhat wide with a point tending to , over an standing a little with a , and its temper is a -based with a little , inclining to , mixing in. Honma, commenting on the three together, holds all of them probably Fukuoka yet hard to settle as the work of one man, reads the character 上 above the two-character as tatematsuru, meaning the maker presented the blade to its patron, and finds the signed simply Sukeyoshi the most archaic of the three in and .
What holds the record together is the . On every piece a stands over the steel, on the archaic signed over a fine , on the later work over an mixed with or standing a little. Against that constant the two tempers are read: the quiet -toned small of the early- Ko- and the varied large of the Fukuoka flowering. The published sources keep the identities separate rather than force them into one biography, settling the school and the period with confidence while leaving the name to more than one hand.
For the collector Sukeyoshi is a rare early name. Fujishiro grades him Jo-jo and the Toko Taikan values him high among the old smiths. He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties; five designated works are on record, two in the tier and three signed on the prewar roll, one of them recorded at its designation with Tokumoto Yuzo of Saga. The published sources praise the signed early- for its archaic and and the pleasing manner of its signature. With so few pieces on record, a signed Sukeyoshi comes to light only seldom, and a privately held example is a notable thing to encounter, a document of the school between its archaic beginnings and its great Fukuoka flowering.