He inherited a dire situation, in which the domain was suffering from a great famine, finances were in arrears, and there was bitter in-fighting between the various senior retainers.

In 1764, Shimazu Shigehide, daimyō of Kagoshima, received promotion to Junior Fourth Rank, Senior grade and Sakonoe-gon-chūjō (Lieutenant General of the Left Guards).

Unable to abide by being surpassed by Shigehide, who was three years younger, Shigemura was forced to make a tremendous outlay in presents and bribes to shogunal officials to have his courtesy titles and position raised as well.

Also, as the traditional copper coinage was considered more valuable than Sendai iron coins despite having the same face value, this caused much confusion in the market.

The shogunate intervened in 1772 to cut the contract short; but then relented in 1776 to permit another two years of production, as long as the coins remained within the borders of Sendai.