Fujisaki Line

The line's origins lie with the Kikuchi Tramway (菊池軌道), a predecessor company that began building a light tramway north of central Kumamoto in the early twentieth century. A track licence for the undertaking was granted on 3 March 1909, and on 1 October 1911 the Kikuchi Tramway opened its first section, from Ikeda — the station later known as Kami-Kumamoto — to Sentanbata, the stop later renamed Fujisakigū-mae. This original line was built to the narrow 914 mm gauge typical of Japanese tramways of the period.

The tramway was then extended northward. On 27 August 1913 the section from Hiromachi (the present Fujisakigū-mae) onward through Miyoshi to Takae was opened, completing the through route from Ikeda to Kumafu, the stop afterwards known as Kikuchi. The 1913 opening of this surviving section is the date the present line carries as its formal founding. Over the following decade the company began upgrading the railway from a roadside tramway into a fully fledged electric railway: on 2 August 1923 the Kami-Kumamoto–Murozono section was regauged to 1,067 mm and electrified.

The legal status and the corporate identity of the line both changed in the 1940s. On 1 May 1942 the Fujisakigū-mae–Kumafu section was converted from a tramway operating under the Tramway Act into a railway operating under the Local Railway Act. On 1 January 1948 the operating company adopted its present name, the Kumamoto Electric Railway. The route itself was then rearranged: on 1 April 1949 the Fujisakigū-mae–Kamei service was switched from running via Murozono to running via Kita-Kumamoto, and on 1 October 1950, when the Kami-Kumamoto–Kita-Kumamoto section opened, the network was formally divided. The Kami-Kumamoto–Kita-Kumamoto–Kumafu axis became the Kikuchi Line, while the Kita-Kumamoto–Fujisakigū-mae–Kami-Kumamoto stretch was designated the Fujisaki Line — the line in its modern sense.

The Fujisaki Line's western arm did not survive the 1950s. On 26 June 1953 the Kami-Kumamoto–Fujisakigū-mae section was put out of service by the great West Japan flood of that year, and on 1 June 1954 that section was abolished outright, its right-of-way being transferred to the Kumamoto City Transportation Bureau. The bureau reopened the alignment as the Tsuboi Line of the Kumamoto City Tram on 1 October 1954; that streetcar line in turn lasted until it too was abolished on 1 May 1970. From 1954 onward the Fujisaki Line was reduced to the short Kita-Kumamoto–Fujisakigū-mae segment that remains today.

The later twentieth century saw the line shed its goods traffic and modernise its operations. On 1 August 1979 the freight interchange with the Japanese National Railways at Kami-Kumamoto came to an end, and all freight trains and freight handling on the Fujisakigū-mae–Kita-Kumamoto–Horikawa section were discontinued; parcel handling followed on 1 February 1984. On 11 January 1988 the signalling was changed from tablet block to a special automatic block system using electronic code-checking, and on 1 March 1988 Fujisakigū-mae Station became unstaffed. A new station building at Fujisakigū-mae was completed on 14 February 1997, and automatic train stop (ATS) equipment was introduced over the Fujisakigū-mae–Kita-Kumamoto–Miyoshi section on 17 December 2003.

In the twenty-first century the line has been brought into line with modern commuter expectations. A timetable revision on 1 April 2009 pushed the last train on the Fujisakigū-mae–Miyoshi service much later into the evening, and on 1 April 2015 the line adopted the regional transit IC card (the "Kumamon no IC CARD"). On 22 February 2017 a derailment near Fujisakigū-mae Station forced a full-day suspension; through running was restored over the whole line on 7 March 2017. Station numbering was introduced across the line on 1 October 2019, at the start of the Reiwa era. Today the Fujisaki Line carries trains roughly every thirty minutes, all of them continuing beyond Kita-Kumamoto onto the Kikuchi Line toward Miyoshi.

• 19093 March: a track licence is granted for the tramway undertaking that becomes the Fujisaki Line.
• 19111 October: the Kikuchi Tramway opens its first section, Ikeda (now Kami-Kumamoto)–Sentanbata (now Fujisakigū-mae), at 914 mm gauge.
• 191327 August: the Hiromachi (Fujisakigū-mae)–Miyoshi–Takae section opens, completing the Ikeda–Kumafu (later Kikuchi) through route; this is the present line's formal opening date.
• 19232 August: the Kami-Kumamoto–Murozono section is regauged to 1,067 mm and electrified.
• 19421 May: the Fujisakigū-mae–Kumafu section is converted from a tramway under the Tramway Act to a railway under the Local Railway Act.
• 19481 January: the operating company adopts its present name, the Kumamoto Electric Railway.
• 19501 October: after the Fujisakigū-mae–Kamei service was rerouted via Kita-Kumamoto on 1 April 1949, the opening of Kami-Kumamoto–Kita-Kumamoto splits the network — Kami-Kumamoto–Kita-Kumamoto–Kumafu becomes the Kikuchi Line and Kita-Kumamoto–Fujisakigū-mae–Kami-Kumamoto becomes the Fujisaki Line.
• 195326 June: the Kami-Kumamoto–Fujisakigū-mae section is suspended by the 1953 West Japan flood.
• 19541 June: the Kami-Kumamoto–Fujisakigū-mae section is abolished and its land transferred to the Kumamoto City Transportation Bureau; it reopens on 1 October as the Kumamoto City Tram's Tsuboi Line (itself abolished 1 May 1970).
• 19791 August: the freight interchange with the Japanese National Railways at Kami-Kumamoto ends and all freight trains and freight handling on the Fujisakigū-mae–Kita-Kumamoto–Horikawa section are discontinued; parcel handling follows on 1 February 1984.
• 198811 January: the block system is changed from tablet block to special automatic block (electronic code-checking); on 1 March, Fujisakigū-mae Station becomes unstaffed.
• 199714 February: a new station building at Fujisakigū-mae is completed.
• 200317 December: automatic train stop (ATS) is introduced over the Fujisakigū-mae–Kita-Kumamoto–Miyoshi section.
• 20151 April: the line adopts the regional transit IC card ('Kumamon no IC CARD').
• 201722 February: a derailment near Fujisakigū-mae Station causes a full-day suspension; through running over the whole line is restored on 7 March.
• 20191 October: station numbering is introduced across the line.