First Phase Line

The corridor traces back to the Kagoshima Electric Tramway, the private company that introduced electric street trams to the city in the 1910s. After the company's first route — the Taniyama Line — had opened in 1912, the operator built this in-town section as a second stage, and it is from that sequence of construction that the line takes its name, the "First Phase" of the street-running network in the urban core.

The line was opened in a rapid series of extensions through 1914. The Kagoshima Electric Tramway first opened the Takenohashi–Yamanokuchi-baba section on 3 July 1914, then pushed north to Tenmonkan-dōri on 22 July and on to Asahi-dōri on 3 October. A further extension reached Fudan-kōin — the site of the present-day Shiyakusho-mae (City Hall) stop — on 16 October, and on 20 December 1914 the final stretch from Fudan-kōin to Kagoshima-Ekimae opened, completing the through route from Takenohashi to Kagoshima Station.

Kagoshima City took the tramway into public ownership in the late 1920s. The line was transferred to the city's newly established Electric Bureau (鹿児島市電気局) on 1 July 1928, ending its existence as a private undertaking. The municipal operator was then successively reorganised — into the city Transport Section (交通課) in January 1933 and finally into the Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau (鹿児島市交通局) in October 1952, the name it still bears today.

Like the rest of the network the line lost several stops over its history. Yamanokuchi-chō, Hioki-uramon-dōri and Kanaimachi stops, all present in the early municipal era, were abolished on 5 May 1943, and a handful of others — including Shichō-dōri and Izumiyamachi — disappeared at dates the records do not fix precisely. In later years two surviving stops near the prefectural offices were renamed: Kenchō-mae became Kenchō-ato on 6 November 1996, and Kenchō-ato in turn became Suizokukan-guchi in August 1997.

Today the First Phase Line carries the city's two principal tram services. Route 1 (Taniyama–Takenohashi–Kagoshima-Ekimae) runs the whole length of the line at roughly seven-and-a-half-minute intervals, while Route 2 (Kōrimoto–Kagoshima-Chūō-eki-mae–Kagoshima-Ekimae) shares the Takamibaba–Kagoshima-Ekimae section, the two routes alternating along that common stretch. With its frequent service through Tenmonkan and on to the JR station forecourt, the line remains the busiest spine of a tram network that has served Kagoshima for over a century.

• 19143 July: the Kagoshima Electric Tramway opens the first segment of the line, Takenohashi–Yamanokuchi-baba.
• 191422 July: the line is extended from Yamanokuchi-baba to Tenmonkan-dōri.
• 19143 October: the line is extended from Tenmonkan-dōri to Asahi-dōri.
• 191416 October: the line is extended from Asahi-dōri to Fudan-kōin (the present-day Shiyakusho-mae / City Hall stop).
• 191420 December: the final section from Fudan-kōin to Kagoshima-Ekimae opens, completing the through route from Takenohashi to Kagoshima Station.
• 19281 July: the line is transferred to the city's newly established Electric Bureau (鹿児島市電気局), ending private operation.
• 1933January: the municipal operator is reorganised into the city Transport Section (交通課).
• 19435 May: the Yamanokuchi-chō, Hioki-uramon-dōri and Kanaimachi stops are abolished.
• 1952October: the municipal operator is reorganised into the Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau (鹿児島市交通局), its present name.
• 19966 November: the Kenchō-mae stop is renamed Kenchō-ato.
• 1997August: the Kenchō-ato stop is renamed Suizokukan-guchi.