A high-performance stainless steel sheet which has a high strength which is optimal for a gasket for use in high-performance engines of automobiles and motorcycles and which also has excellent workability and fatigue properties and a method for its manufacture are provided.At least in a region from the surface of the sheet up to 3 μm in the thickness direction, nitrogen compounds of at least 10 nm and at most 200 nm are present in an amount of at least 200 per 100 μm2. The number of nitrogen compounds of at least 10 nm and at most 200 nm in a region from the sheet surface up to 3 μm in the thickness direction of the sheet is at least 2 times the number of nitrogen compounds of this size in the central portion of the sheet thickness.