Empress Nagako performed her ceremonial duties in a traditional manner. She initially came to live in the palace during the time when people there spoke an archaic imperial form of Japanese that has largely disappeared. During the
Second World War, Nagako was largely confined to palace grounds and her duties involved tending to wounded generals and writing to families who had lost loved ones during the war. Nagako, who was tradition-conscious, sided with those who criticized Michiko for breastfeeding her children, carrying them in public, and raising them herself. She accompanied Hirohito on his European tour in 1971 and later on his state visit to the United States in 1975. Their marriage lasted nearly 65 years, the longest of any Japanese imperial couple. A talented artist, two collections of Nagako's paintings, which she signed as
Toen or Peach Garden, were published and she gifted the UK's
Queen Elizabeth II with one of her pieces in 1971. She also wrote
waka, a collection of which was published in 1974. She was reported to have enjoyed singing, and played the piano, violin and Japanese harp. Nagako suffered a fall in July 1977, injuring her spine. Following another serious fall, she began using a wheelchair in 1980, and used one for the remainder of her life. The last public ceremony she took part in was her husband's 86th birthday celebrations in April 1987. ==Empress dowager==