A short signed Nōshū-jū Fujiwara Tametsugu with a date of the era, certified a in 1935, is the document on which this smith's place and period rest. Tametsugu is transmitted as a son of Gō Yoshihiro and a pupil of Norishige of Gofuku-gō in , and is said to have moved later to , by one account to the Fuwa district. The later published sources add the evidence of the sword drawings: two pieces signed no Fujiwara Tametsugu carry dates of Enbun 2 and 2, while an extant blade signed Nōshū-jū Fujiwara Tametsugu is dated 7. From these they conclude that he moved from to between 2 and 7. No example reads as resident in , the judges noting that "there is none signed -jū". Because his dates fall in the later period, the sources hold that the traditional link to Yoshihiro and Norishige "still leaves room for examination in point of chronology".
His manner is the one the published commentary names outright: "a Norishige-style forging on which is tempered a -style with pointed , displaying a manner of its own". The entries repeat a settled description of his hand. The stands, adheres, and the temper is based on mixed with , with and in the and a subdued in . The is the most insistent of these features, described again and again as running frequently and conspicuously through the edge. are folded into the , and the sources observe that the signed works carry "a stronger flavor".
The is the constant of his work. It is mixed with and at times a large grain, flowing in places, with thick and entering, and the steel tends to a dark tone. Several entries point to the grain rising white in places, "the so-called northern-provinces steel". Some blades are said at first sight to recall the great smiths, yet "the slightly subdued is where he is to be judged Tametsugu". As the common thread of the authenticated unsigned blades the published sources give an "that stands and darkens, worked in , with a sinking ", and they add that "there is no " among them. The runs and is "vigorously brushed", turning in a or, on shortened , finishing in .
His record falls into two registers. The great body of it is unsigned attributed from style, broad blades with an extended . Against these stand the signed works, of which the sources write that "certain signed works by this smith survive in very small numbers, long ones especially few". Besides the they include an -dated cut down into a , its a result of the alteration, and an signed in five characters Fujiwara Tametsugu , its signature close to the Nōshū-jū signatures on his . The judges are candid that the signed work is coarser in make, while "among the unsigned attributions there are examples of quite good workmanship". Of the and the works, a note on the records that "in general the latter have the larger pattern in the ".
What sets him apart is read from his own blades. His work favors a large , and on that basis the published sources hold that it "differs from and Kaneshige". Beside his master the difference is one of degree: "his stands less than Norishige's and his are fewer". One entry describes the whole effect as "exactly a mixture of the northern provinces and the manner". His range also reaches beyond that idiom, one shortened being judged "workmanship in the Yamato Shikkake manner".
For the collector Tametsugu is a name met almost entirely through attribution. He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties. Seventy-six designated works stand on record: seventy-five blades across many sessions and the single prewar , the , which was in the collection of Akaboshi Tetsuma when certified and whose inscription the sources call "of high documentary value". The five-character signed is recorded at Atsuta Jingu, and most other whereabouts go unrecorded. Unsigned attributed to him come to market from time to time among blades, and one of them the published commentary calls "a quintessential example of Tametsugu". A signed and dated Nōshū-jū Fujiwara Tametsugu is a different matter, the evidence that fixes the name, and a privately held example is among the uncommon encounters of the period.