Shigetaka signed Harima Daijō Fujiwara Shigetaka, often adding -jū, and the published sources identify him as a pupil of the first-generation Yasutsugu who was skilled in the manner of his master. A dated in the Genna era survives and fixes his period in the first years of the period. The name ran on through several generations to the bakumatsu, but the sources hold that the first generation was by far the most skilled, and that some of his work reaches a level that approaches the first Yasutsugu himself. Surviving work by the is not common. are few, relatively many, and his are made in or form.
The most constant mark of his hand lies in the tang. Where Yasutsugu and most of the smiths cut the tip to a sword shape, Shigetaka finishes it in a chestnut-shaped kuri-, a point the published sources say "deserves special mention". The kuri- continues through every generation, the 's a little shallower. His signature is squat and cut with a thick chisel, while the later generations write slightly elongated, squared characters with a thin chisel.
His is an mixed with and flowing grain, standing slightly over the whole, with and fine , and the steel takes on a blackish cast. On a broad Keichō-style the is a that undulates here and there in a small, shallow with a hint of . and work actively, the is thick and in places a little rough, runs over the whole, fine enter, and the tends to sink. The published sources call this a calm manner that shows the features of the school well, with a quality approaching the first Yasutsugu. A repeats the same temper with and pointed elements and patches of coarse, clustering . The commentary notes that its forging is especially tight and refined compared with ordinary work, and that it "brings the first Yasutsugu vividly to mind". The runs straight or shallowly to a small round tip, at times thrusting up to a point, with and a fairly deep return.
A second register appears in his . There the temper narrows to a fine with , fine , frayed edges and , burned in at the , and the published sources read the construction and the workmanship as deliberately aimed at old Yamato work, "truly an archaic piece". The finest of his blades carry deep, powerful Kinai-style carving. A bears a on one side and a on the other, and the commentary calls it a masterwork of the first Shigetaka, its carving strong and the deep cutting showing the character of Kinai-bori. On the broad the carving shows Myōō with his two attendant child-deities, a composition also found on the first Yasutsugu's blades.
His most celebrated work is a copy of the Honebami Tōshirō, the of Yoshimitsu. The published sources recount the original's history: long famed as the Ōtomo , it passed from the Ōtomo to Ashikaga Takauji, later became one of Hideyoshi's favourite swords, went to Hideyori and then to Tokugawa Hidetada, burned in the Meireki fire, and was re-tempered by the third Yasutsugu. The first Yasutsugu also made a copy, signed as modelled on the Honebami Yoshimitsu. Of Shigetaka's version the commentary says that it is "truly faithful to the original", well made, with fine carving, and one of his greatest masterpieces.
A seventh blade, a , is recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection. Its is a large, shallow with in the lower half and a tighter above, and the groove holds a carved in relief. Honma's commentary widens the picture of his range: or work is common and rare, and some of his carving is exactly like that on Yasutsugu's blades, which Honma takes as evidence that the same carver worked for both. The round kuri-, by contrast, differs from Yasutsugu. Honma closes by calling this doubtless his masterpiece.
For the collector, Shigetaka is graded Chū-jō by Fujishiro. His record is small but uniformly high: six blades designated , every one signed, and none in any higher tier. Provenance is recorded for one, the broad , which was handed down in the Takizawa family of the Honjō domain in Akita during the period and survives with its black-lacquered mounting inlaid with a dragon in mother-of-pearl. Work by the appears only seldom, and a signed blade with Kinai carving and his chestnut tang is a rare encounter within .