Suketsugu is a smith of the Ko-Aoe school of Bitchu Province, traditionally said to have been the son of Toshitsugu. The Aoe group is held to have begun with Yasutsugu around the Jodan era (1171–1175), and thereafter produced many distinguished makers down through the late Nanbokucho period. Within this lineage, works that do not descend later than approximately the mid-Kamakura period are referred to in particular as Ko-Aoe. Representative Ko-Aoe smiths include Moritsugu, Tametsugu, Tsugie, Tsugutada, Sadatsugu, Yasutsugu, Kanetsugu, Tsunetsugu, Toshitsugu, and Suketsugu; many of them share the character "tsugu" (次) as a common element in their names. The succession of the Suketsugu name extended through multiple generations from the early Kamakura period into the late Kamakura period, with extant dated works bearing inscriptions from the Showa era (1312–1317) and as late as Eitoku 2 (1382). A separate Suketsugu is also recorded among the Yoshioka Ichimonji of Bizen Province, and yet another bearing the name Suetsugu is associated with the Hokke group of Bingo Province, though the Bitchu Aoe line remains the principal bearer of this name.

The workmanship of Suketsugu is characteristic of Ko-Aoe in its forging and tempering. The kitae typically shows ko-itame mixed with ko-mokume, with the grain standing out finely to produce what is termed a chirimen-hada (crepe-like texture); ji-nie adheres very finely and well, with chikei entering conspicuously, and many examples show the intermingling of jifu-like mottled patches in the jihada. Utsuri — whether faint, midare, or jifu-utsuri — appears rising toward the shinogi side. The steel color tends slightly toward blackish tones, conveying a quality described as sumi-hada. The hamon is predominantly based on suguha with shallow notare, mixed with ko-gunome, ko-choji, and ko-midare; ko-nie adheres well, and fine kinsuji and sunagashi run through the hardened edge. The boshi is characteristically sugu with ko-maru. Signatures are cut on the haki-ura side in bold two-character form with a thick chisel, and the yasurime are executed in o-sujikai — conventions that distinguish Ko-Aoe from Ko-Bizen. Later-generation works bearing long inscriptions sometimes place the signature on the omote side instead. Among his rarer productions are a ken of elegant proportions and a tanto inscribed with the residence "Senoo" and bearing both a date and an age inscription, the latter conferring exceptionally high documentary value.

Overall, compared with contemporaneous Bizen works, Suketsugu's blades convey a somewhat quieter and more subdued taste — a quality often characterized as shibui. His finest tachi display imposing and dignified forms with generous length and somewhat wide mihaba, complemented by archaic suguha-based hamon with well-adhering ko-nie. The jitetsu and hamon exhibit urumi (a moist, soft quality) and possess a high degree of refinement, with both ji and ha described as kenzen (sound and well-preserved) in the best surviving examples. Works such as the tachi with pronounced midare mixing choji, gunome, and togariba demonstrate that Suketsugu was also capable of wide, vigorous tempering patterns — a stylistic mode paralleled by the National Treasure tachi of Yasutsugu transmitted in the Shimazu family. His dated tachi bearing the Showa 1 inscription represents the earliest known dated example among extant Aoe-made swords, while the Eitoku 2 work — attributed to a Bizen-based Suketsugu who moved from Yoshioka to Osafune — illustrates the process by which the Yoshioka Ichimonji group merged into the Osafune tradition. Across these generations, Suketsugu's oeuvre constitutes a precious body of work for understanding the full breadth of Aoe craftsmanship from the early Kamakura period through the close of the Nanbokucho era.