During the conflict, Nakano Takeko took part in the Battle of Aizu, using her naginata and as the head an ad hoc body of female warriors, which included her mother and sister.

Furuya Sakuzaemon [ja], a Shogunate Army colonel commanding elements of the 11th and 12th Infantry Regiments, designated Nakano as the leader of the unit of women the day before her death.

On the morning of 16 October 1868 at the Yanagi bridge, Nishibata area in Fukushima, Nakano launched a charge against Imperial troops from Domain of Ōgaki, commanded by a man named Shaguma, who were armed with rifles.

Rather than letting the enemy take possession of her head as a trophy, Nakano asked her sister Yūko to behead her in order to prevent her capture, as well as give her an honourable burial.

Hirata Kochō was saved by Jinbo Yukiko in the battle and, being the vice-commander, assumed command of the troop to defend Aizuwakamatsu Castle after she was killed, while the deputy became Yamamoto Yaeko.

After the battle, Nakano's head was taken by her sister to the nearby Hōkai temple of her family, modern Aizubange, in the prefecture of Fukushima, and buried with honour by the priest under a pine tree.

[4] During the annual Aizu Autumn Festival, a group of young girls wearing hakama and white headbands take part in the procession, commemorating the actions of Nakano and her band of women fighters of the Joshigun.