Secluded 'hikyo' train stations

[bill937ca]

Wikipedia article:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiky%C5%8D_station

 

From the Mainichi Daily News

 

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/travel/news/20101106p2a00m0na019000c.html?inb=rs&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mdn%2Fall+%28Mainichi+Daily+News+-+All+Stories%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

 

Secluded railway stations surrounded by nothing but nature are gaining increasing popularity as tourist destinations among city residents. What is it about small, old stations in the middle of nowhere that appeals to so many people? Visitors will hardly find locals or even the usually ubiquitous vending machines around such lonely places.

 

I took part in a Central Japan Railway (JR Tokai) train tour to popular so-called "hikyo stations" (secluded stations in scenic locations) on the single-track Iida Line to figure out why people travel hours to visit these remote mountain spots only accessible by train.

 

As our train went through a narrow tunnel, the small platform and the old, wooden structure of JR Kowada Station came in sight, with a steep mountainside and the Tenryu River right beside the railway track.

 

As the doors of the crowded three-car train, named the "Hikyo-go," opened, some 170 passengers stepped down onto the platform and lined up to take photographs of the station building with a zinc roof, built in 1936.

 

"There truly is nothing here," one passenger said.

 

The JR Iida Line, which connects the Aichi prefectural city of Toyohashi and the Nagano prefectural town of Tatsuno, is some 200 kilometers long. The train tour stops at Kowada, Nakaisamurai, Shiteguri, Tamoto, Kinno and Chiyo stations located along a 50-kilometer stretch of track from northern Aichi Prefecture to Iida, Nagano Prefecture, along the Tenryu River gorge.

 

JR Tokai offered a train tour visiting the six hikyo stations for the first time during the Golden Week holidays in May, and all the available seats were booked immediately after reservations opened.

 

"We planned the tour targeting railway fans. Unexpectedly, it was also popular among middle-aged customers and families," said a company spokesperson.

 

In response to the tour's unforeseen popularity, the railroad company decided to operate the train almost every month through February next year. The train has so far made a total of 26 trips, and about 90 percent of the seats were filled on average, making the project extremely successful for a rural train line.

 

The JR Iida Line was once used to transport construction materials for the Sakuma hydroelectric dam on the Tenryu River, and Kowada Station boasted a full-time staff. It's said there were over 40 households around the area when the timber industry was prosperous, but following the completion of the dam, a number of villages were submerged. Those residents who chose to remain have also since trickled away from the area as they grew older.

 

The only residents who still live near the station today are 85-year-old Shigemasa Miyashita and his wife Shigee, 84.

 

"We only saw postal carriers before, but recently a lot of people visit the area. I suppose they like the fact that there is nothing here," Shigee said.

 

An average of two passengers per day use Kowada Station today.

 

Tamoto Station, which is the third stop from Kowada, is also a small station with a narrow 100-meter-long platform standing between two tunnels. It takes over 20 minutes on foot to get to the nearest village from the station.

 

Most passengers on the "Hikyo-go" are middle-aged, with the number of male and female participants being almost equal. Many of them are from big cities like Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.

 

A man in his 70s from Nagoya on the tour with his wife, said, "I was fascinated by the sound of the term 'hikyo station.' I was able to forget about the stresses of urban life."

 

Another male participant from Higashi-Osaka explained the attraction of the tour, saying, "Seeing the remnants of bygone days through old stations and houses is charming."

 

Some people who visit these stations do so on their own, while Japan Airlines offers an organized tour to Koboro Station on JR Hokkaido's Muroran Line, another popular hikyo station in Hokkaido.

 

"These stations are located in isolated, inconvenient places. However, they offer an extraordinary opportunity to remember old times, making them nostalgic. I think that is why people are so attracted to hikyo stations," said Takanobu Ushiyama, the author of "Hikyo-eki e Iko!" (Let's Go to Hikyo Stations!), which triggered the current boom. (By Takashi Nakamura, Nagano Bureau)

[miyakoji]

There are some books/videos by this guy Ushiyama Takanobu called "Hikyou Eki e Ikou"

 

http://hp1.cyberstation.ne.jp/hikyoueki/

 

He ranks them--Kowada Station on the Iida Line, mentioned in the Mainichi article that Bill linked, is #2.  #1 is Koboro on the Muroran Main Line in Hokkaido.  Bikkuri, do you know this one?

 

http://hp1.cyberstation.ne.jp/hikyoueki/koboro.htm

 

Terrifying.  I once found myself at Bingo-Ochiai on the Geibi Line, it's like a metropolis compared to this.  It's #187 on this list, and the only one named at which I actually stepped off the train.  Loads of the top 100 are in Hokkaido or Tohoku, mostly the former.  On this guy's scale, it looks like the most isolated I've been through is Uchina (#77), not far from Bingo-Ochiai, followed by Nunohara (#78), also not far from Bingo-Ochiai.

 

Others that I remember as isolated don't even make his list of 200: Tsuge, where JR West's Kusatsu Line and Kansai Main Line meet, Iyo-Miyoshi on the Yosan Line (JR Shikoku), and Mimasaka-Emi on the eastern half of the Kishin Line.  I like this idea, but of course I don't want to travel to a station in a car, but I also don't want to get stranded there!

[bikkuri bahn]

#1 is Koboro on the Muroran Main Line in Hokkaido.  Bikkuri, do you know this one?

 

Yep, but never been there.  I rarely get down past Chitose, much less Tomakomai or Muroran (I'm a Hakodate Main Line fan).  I'll have to make a visit someday, but in the warmer months.

 

Tsuge, though not really a hikyou station (there is a nice little cafe across the street that I always visit whenever passing through), is one of my favorites, mainly because it's a junction station where the architecture hasn't changed much.  In steam days up to the early 70's, you could see D51-pulled freights here, and there was a steam servicing facility with a turntable in the Osaka/Nara direction, as well as a lever operated signal box.

 

http://blog.zaq.ne.jp/tanino/img/img_box/img20090530165555915.jpg

 

http://www.geocities.jp/okazu1945/asuka/asuka2w.jpg

[marknewton]

http://blog.zaq.ne.jp/tanino/img/img_box/img20090530165555915.jpg

http://www.geocities.jp/okazu1945/asuka/asuka2w.jpg

 

Nice! The concrete water tank is an interesting feature. Why was there a loco facility there? Bank engines?

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[bikkuri bahn]

Why was there a loco facility there? Bank engines?

 

Possibly, the Kansai Main Line has some grades, including a switchback.  Also, the Kusatsu line ended there, so perhaps it also served to turn and coal/water locomotives assigned to that line.

 

Additional pics of this location:

 

overall view:

http://kai-ko.underthetree.jp/index.php?plugin=attach&refer=%C4%D3%BF%A2%B1%D8%A4%BD%A4%CE%A3%B2&openfile=%C4%D3%BF%A2_007_058dc_197202.jpg

 

kiha 58 on the Kasuga express service and the Tsuge signal box:

http://kai-ko.underthetree.jp/index.php?plugin=attach&refer=%C4%D3%BF%A2%B1%D8%A4%BD%A4%CE%A3%B2&openfile=%C4%D3%BF%A2_008_058dc_197202.jpg

 

Looking at the opposite end from the first picture, the track curving towards the viewer is the Kansai Main Line, the track going straight is the Kusatsu Line, behind that you can see the concrete water tank:

http://kai-ko.underthetree.jp/index.php?plugin=attach&refer=%C4%D3%BF%A2%B1%D8%A4%BD%A4%CE%A3%B1&openfile=%C4%D3%BF%A2_002_D51_197012.jpg

 

website where the above pics came from(the Kansai Main Line Tennoji-Tsuge before electrification):

good stuff

[marknewton]

 

Why was there a loco facility there? Bank engines?

 

Possibly, the Kansai Main Line has some grades, including a switchback.  Also, the Kusatsu line ended there, so perhaps it also served to turn and coal/water locomotives assigned to that line.

 

Yeah, that would make sense. I rather like those little loco depots stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Lovely website, thanks for posting that!

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.