Shortly before her death in 1954, a series of her poems were printed in Tanka kenkyū and Tanka magazines with the recommendation of writer Yasunari Kawabata, and her first book, the collection Chibusa sōshitsu (乳房喪失, Losing My Breasts), was published.
[1] A second collection, Hana no genkei (花の原型, A Prototype of Flowers), appeared posthumously.
Many of her poems addressed her illness, and she sometimes altered the tanka form to make it more expressive.
In 1955, Nikkatsu studios produced the film The Eternal Breasts (also known as Forever a Woman), based on Nakajō's life.
It was directed by Kinuyo Tanaka and starred Yumeji Tsukioka, Ryoji Hayama and Yōko Sugi.