His father Baron Nakajima Nobuyuki was from Kōchi Prefecture, was the first Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan and Japanese ambassador to Italy.

In 1921, on viewing a wooden statue of Ashikaga Takauji at the temple of Seiken-ji in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Nakajima had contributed a haiku poem to a literary magazine.

He commented that the official educational policy vilifying Ashikaga Takauji as a traitor to the nation for his betrayal of Emperor Go-Daigo should be re-evaluated.

The article was discovered by ultrarightists and militarists eager to find leverage to embarrass and to bring down the Saito administration.

Nakajima was called before the House of Peers, where he was browbeaten by retired General Baron Takeo Kikuchi and others, who forced his resignation on 2 February 1934, a date making the 600th anniversary of the Kemmu restoration.