Kagehide has, since olden times, been transmitted as the younger brother of Mitsutada, placing him among the founding generation of the school in Province during the mid- period. Extant signed works by this smith are remarkably few, and moreover no examples are known other than two-character signatures, making it difficult to establish a fully definitive standard for his hand. Among his works, the celebrated bearing the go "Kuronbo-giri," an Important Cultural Property formerly treasured by Date Masamune, stands foremost as his representative masterpiece. His manner of workmanship is described as "flamboyant to a degree unmatched among other smiths of the group," and the quality of both and in his finest pieces is acknowledged as close to that of Mitsutada, lending plausibility to the fraternal tradition.
Like Mitsutada, Kagehide excelled in brilliant , yet several distinguishing features separate the two hands. His tends to be broad and shows pronounced undulation, and in some examples the rises so high as to reach into the , with interspersed. Compared with Mitsutada, the intervals of the are set more closely together, and pointed elements — and angular — are conspicuously mixed throughout, producing an impression that is somewhat sharper and carries a distinctly susudoi (sooty) nuance. In general, his work centers on with abundant intermingled and a -inclined manner, accompanied by and entering well, fine and , and a bright, clear . The is characteristically mixed with , forged with fine , upon which vivid stands out with clarity. Within his oeuvre, however, the has recognized a notable breadth of working range: certain pieces display a calm workmanship closer to the style of Nagamitsu and Sanenaga, while others recall superior blades, demonstrating that the flamboyant mode was not his sole register.
The consistently characterizes Kagehide's finest works as displaying "an outstanding result in which Kagehide's strengths are fully manifested," and his best signed are praised as pieces that may be called "the finest among his extant works." Blades in condition are singled out as "truly precious," and even shortened pieces retaining robust, dignified forms with ample (blade flesh) are regarded as deserving special mention. His signed works carry particular weight as documentary material — "valuable reference material for understanding the breadth of Kagehide's style" — precisely because so few survive. That several of his blades are published in the Kozan and accompanied by further attests to their longstanding esteem. Within the early lineage, Kagehide occupies a singular position: an artist whose flamboyance and sooty intensity distinguish him from all contemporaries, and whose rarest surviving pieces remain indispensable touchstones for the study of tradition at its -period zenith.