Tsugutada is a smith of Bicchu. The published sources place him at the end of the period into the early , traditionally around the Joei era, and record him as a son of Tsugie or of Yasutsugu. The school is said to begin with Yasutsugu around the Joan era and to have forged at Ko-i and Manju in the lower basin of the Takahashi River, and its work down to about the middle of the period is called . Within that group he is "one of the representative smiths", yet his surviving work is scarce: "extant signed by Tsugutada number only two or three".
The published sources describe the manner as close to contemporary work but quieter. The often stands in a fine, crisp grain, "what is called ", the is based on with in , and the tends to sink. Against work the whole has "a somewhat subdued and astringent flavor". His blades carry that description closely.
The forging is mixed with , standing somewhat, with and the patchy for which is known; a faint rises on the finer pieces. The temper is quiet: a shallow or a -toned line mixed with and , at times , the well adhered, with and frequent . On one the is narrow and the "tends toward ". The runs straight to a or carries a scatter of . The tangs are filed in , and the two characters are cut large with a thick chisel on the , the side Bicchu smiths sign; on one the sources note that the signature sits unusually above the .
The form is the period stated plainly: high with and a compact or a . The of the 11th session, and long, is "a large-scale work by Tsugutada". Its first glance is gentle and calm, but the sources find that the adheres well and the subdued and carry an antique fragrance. Several cuts above the and an arrow wound, they add, speak of martial exploits in ages past.
The Naruse-family of the 54th session is the fullest statement of his hand. Its with takes a -like texture with a little and a faint . The temper drops away at the base in , runs as a fine with , and in the lower half, and turns to near the middle, with and and the again sinking. Surveying his work, the sources find "a plain and somewhat rustic feeling", and call this blade "a superior example in which Tsugutada's austere and deeply flavored style is well expressed", of high documentary value for so rarely signed a smith.
His designated record holds one Important Cultural Property, one and three , and a further signed , formerly of the Tanzan Shrine, is recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection. Its entry repeats that "signed works by Tsugutada are extremely few", and judges that, though a little less polished in manner than the better-known names, he was "a smith of considerable skill within the school". The Important Cultural Property is a signed whose plate records an forging with a small mixed with , the same quiet temper. With signed blades this few and most of them long held, a signed Tsugutada comes to market only seldom.