Shigeharu Murata entered Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in April 1927 and graduated from 58th class in November 1930. In April 1932, he completed the navy pilot training program at Kasumigaura Air Group and was commissioned as Ensign. He was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade in November 1933. In July 1934, he was assigned to Tateyama Air Group and in October 1935 to carrier "Kaga" . In October 1936, he served as an instructor at Kasumigaura Air Group near Tokyo and was promoted to full Lieutenant in December. In 1937, he was transferred to 13th Air Group and flew Yokosuka B4Y bomber. He participated in early stages of Second Sino-Japanese War and was also involved in USS Panay incident in 12 December 1937.