He succeeded as the head of the Kitashirakawa-no-miya house upon his father's unexpected death in an automobile accident in France in 1923.

After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Prince was assigned to the North China Area Army.

However, on 14 September 1940, Captain Prince Kitashirakawa died in an airplane crash while on duty in Mengjiang, thus becoming the first member of the Imperial Family killed in World War II .

The Prince received a posthumous promotion to major and the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum.

Prince Nagahisa's widow, Princess Sachiko became a commoner in 1947 with the abolition of the collateral branches of the Japanese imperial family during the American occupation of Japan.