The school takes its name from the (転害門), the principal western gate of Todaiji in Nara, outside which a lineage of smiths resided and forged swords in close association with the great temple. The founder is traditionally held to be Kanenaga (包永), whose activity is placed around the Sho'o era (1288-1293) in the late period, though the notes that "from the stylistic character of extant works one also senses an earlier date than Sho'o." The school flourished through the period and into the period, with a later branch collectively referred to as Sue-. As one of the five schools of the , maintained an intimate relationship between swordsmithing and Buddhist institutional life.
The forging is an "with a tendency toward standing grain" that "in places flows and becomes -inclined" -- a structural signature shared across the Yamato schools yet expressed here with particular refinement. Thick forms throughout, and "abundant " enliven the surface, producing what the calls a bright and clear steel. The is fundamentally , sometimes carrying a "slight -like feeling" and incorporating , , or small . The diagnostic activity occurs along the , where , , , and uchi-noke appear with regularity -- a constellation of edge phenomena the identify as distinctly Yamato in character. Fine and run through the temper, and the characteristically displays , sometimes achieving a -like conclusion. The is consistently described as high and the wide, reinforcing the structural identity of the school.
The 's appraisals of work converge on a single evaluative axis: the luminosity of in both and . The repeatedly note that "both and are richly covered with " and that "the is bright and clear" -- qualities identified as "the principal merits of the school." Among the five Yamato traditions, it is the "brilliantly clear rich in activities along the edge" that marks as distinctive. Multiple designations observe that the forging is "especially refined" and the steel "notably clear," and the condition of the blades is frequently praised as -- "sound and well-preserved." One blade is transmitted as having served as the personal wear-sword of Togo Heihachiro at the Anglo-Satsuma War, attesting to the enduring practical regard in which these Yamato blades were held.