Sukemasa was a great master of the Fukuoka lineage who represents the height of the school's prosperity in the mid- period. Alongside Yoshifusa and Norifusa, he is counted among the representative masters who cut individual signatures during the era when the school flourished at its peak. Tradition holds that he was later summoned by the shogunate and, together with Saburo Kunimune and Kunitsuna of Yamashiro, moved to in , becoming a forerunner of the smiths. His name appears in the -smith genealogy of the Kanchiin-bon Meizukushi, and from old times he has borne the appellation " ." Nevertheless, throughout his life he consistently maintained the stylistic approach of the tradition.
All three of the great masters -- Yoshifusa, Norifusa, and Sukemasa -- display splendid ; among them, however, Sukemasa is particularly distinguished by a powerfully magnificent form and by that is "a step stronger" than typical work. The forging shows tightly packed with very fine adhering thickly, fine entering, and pronounced standing up. The is a flamboyant mixing with - and , often small-patterned in the lower half and expanding into large-scale patterns from the middle upward. The is broad, with pronounced undulation creating variety, and in places the "neck" of the - breaks, taking on a -like appearance. Crucially, adheres well throughout, and the and within the crystallize in , producing and - together with fine and -- features the identify as "a style unique to this smith." The workmanship may differ between and , with the showing much variation, and the hardening remains strong all the way into the . The imposing forms -- wide culminating in a with an -like tendency and deep -- clearly convey the period character of the mid- era.
Sukemasa's works have been preserved at the highest levels: a in the Imperial Collection held by the Imperial Household Agency bears of with lotus pedestal that are quite rare for swords of this period, while a blade transmitted in the Chofu Mori family during the domain-administration era retains ample and good preservation of the . The strength of the is consistently identified as the defining characteristic that separates Sukemasa from his contemporaries -- "amid the brilliance there is a sense of power." From the quality of the , the finest examples merit appraisal as upper-level works of the Fukuoka school, confirming Sukemasa's standing as one of the most vigorous and forceful smiths of the golden age of swordmaking.