Higashiyama Line

Planning for a Nagoya subway was approved by the national government in January 1950, and construction of the first segment, between Nagoya and Sakaemachi stations, began in August 1954. That 2.4 km segment opened on 15 November 1957 as Line 1, becoming the first underground railway in Nagoya; Series 100 cars entered commercial service on the same day. The new subway was built to standard gauge with third-rail power, a configuration the line still uses.

The line was then extended step by step across the city. It reached Ikeshita on 15 June 1960, Higashiyama Kōen on 1 April 1963, and Hoshigaoka on 30 March 1967, the last of these accompanied by the debut of Series 300 cars. On 1 April 1969 two further segments opened on the same day — westward from Nakamura Kōen to Nagoya and eastward from Hoshigaoka to Fujigaoka — and the stretch between Issha and Fujigaoka became the Nagoya subway's first above-ground section. Shortly afterwards, on 25 April 1969, the nickname "Higashiyama Line" was adopted for Line 1, coming into use from 1 May.

The western end was completed in the following decade. After Series 5000 cars began running on 1 July 1980, the final segment from Takabata to Nakamura Kōen, 3.1 km long, opened on 21 September 1982, giving the line its present extent from Takabata to Fujigaoka. Along the way the central stations had been renamed: on 1 June 1966 Sakaemachi became Sakae and Fushimimachi became Fushimi.

Rolling stock turned over steadily as the line matured. Series 5050 cars, the line's stainless-steel update, entered service on 17 May 1992, and the original Series 100 cars had already been withdrawn in July 1988. The current N1000 series began commercial operation on 26 March 2008, and the older Series 5000 was retired in 2015 as automatic train operation was reintroduced.

In its modern era the Higashiyama Line was equipped throughout with platform screen doors: installation began at Takabata on 7 September 2015 and was completed at Fujigaoka on 29 February 2016, by which point every station on the line had the movable barriers. With the doors in place and automated operation restored, one-person (driver-only) operation was extended to the whole line on 1 July 2017. Today the line carries the heaviest passenger loads of any route on the Nagoya Municipal Subway, linking the city's main railway gateway at Nagoya with its commercial centre at Sakae and the residential east.

• 195715 November: the Higashiyama Line opens as Line 1 between Nagoya and Sakaemachi (now Sakae), 2.4 km — Nagoya's first subway; Series 100 cars enter service.
• 196015 June: extended from Sakaemachi to Ikeshita (3.6 km).
• 19631 April: extended from Ikeshita to Higashiyama Kōen (2.5 km).
• 19661 June: Sakaemachi Station is renamed Sakae and Fushimimachi is renamed Fushimi.
• 196730 March: extended from Higashiyama Kōen to Hoshigaoka (1.1 km); Series 300 cars enter service.
• 19691 April: two segments open the same day — Nakamura Kōen–Nagoya (3.5 km) and Hoshigaoka–Fujigaoka (4.4 km); the Issha–Fujigaoka stretch is the Nagoya subway's first above-ground section.
• 196925 April: the nickname 'Higashiyama Line' is adopted for Line 1, coming into use from 1 May.
• 19801 July: Series 5000 cars begin commercial operation.
• 198221 September: the final segment, Takabata–Nakamura Kōen (3.1 km), opens, completing the line from Takabata to Fujigaoka.
• 1988July: the original Series 100 cars are fully withdrawn.
• 199217 May: Series 5050 cars begin commercial operation.
• 200826 March: the current N1000 series begins commercial operation.
• 201629 February: platform screen doors are completed at Fujigaoka, finishing line-wide installation (begun at Takabata on 7 September 2015).
• 20171 July: one-person (driver-only) operation is extended to the entire line.