Tsuta Echizen no kami Sukehiro was born in Settsu province in the 14th year of the Kanbun era. He entered the school of the first generation Saburo Sukehiro and succeeded as the second generation upon the death of his teacher in the first year of the Meireki era when he was only 19. He was employed by the steward of Osaka castle, Aoyama Inaba no kami Munetoshi in 1667 until his death in 1682 at the age of just 42. The first generation studied under, and married the daughter of, Kawachi no kami Kunisuke I, and made swords like those of his teacher with gunome choji somewhat in the Ishido style. The second generation followed the style of his teacher, but later developed the toranba, or 'billowing' hamon depicting waves of the sea, which became a dominant fashion in the Kansai region and later among shinshinto smiths. Sukehiro made predominantly hon-zukuri katana and wakizashi, and hira-zukuri pieces like this blade are rare. Few of his blades have horimono, and it is probable, but not certain, that the horimono on this blade were carved by a specialist commissioned by the smith.
The saya of this koshirae was created by wrapping leather around the body of the scabbard and covering it with gilt and finally clear lacquer. Such a process would have employed the talents of several guilds of craftsmen working in collaboration; one to work and tool the leather; one for the lacquer work; and one to carve the hardware, resulting in a very costly commission. The decoration on this leather saya is similar to patterns on leather coverings on armor that were imported into Japan from Europe during the late 16th and early 17th century, collectively referred to as "Dutch leather." Gilt-leather saya were more highly prized than were gilt-lacquer ones.