Kita-Matsue Line

The railway grew out of pilgrim traffic to Ichibata Yakushi, a temple east of Izumo dedicated to the healing Buddha Yakushi. A licence to build a line from Imaichi to Kozakai was granted on 21 August 1911, and in 1912 the Ichibata Light Railway (一畑軽便鉄道) was founded, led by the trading house Saiga Shōkai together with the Ichibata Yakushi temple. Construction began in 1913. The first section, from Izumo-Imaichi Station (now Dentetsu-Izumoshi) to Unshū-Hirata, opened on 29 April 1914.

The line was extended from Unshū-Hirata to Ichibata, at the foot of the temple, on 4 February 1915; this stretch initially opened without electrification. The route now ran inland to the temple it had been built to serve, and for a time the temple end was its terminus rather than a through line toward Matsue.

A major change of direction came in 1923, when the company resolved to electrify the whole line and to build new branches — one diverging at Kozakainada toward Matsue and another at Kawato toward Izumo Taisha — and renamed itself the Ichibata Electric Railway (一畑電気鉄道). A licence for the Matsue extension was granted in 1924, and the line was electrified at 1,500 V DC on 1 October 1927.

The push toward Matsue was completed on 5 April 1928, when the section from Kozakainada (now Ichibataguchi) to Kita-Matsue (now Matsue-Shinjiko-Onsen) opened, giving the line its present span along the north shore of Lake Shinji. The years that followed saw a series of intermediate stations open and close as the timetable settled.

The Second World War cost the line its original temple branch. On 10 December 1944 the section between Kozakainada and Ichibata was suspended as an "unnecessary and non-urgent line", its rails reclaimed for the war effort; the suspended Ichibataguchi–Ichibata stretch was formally abandoned on 26 April 1960. Because the branch had once diverged there, a switchback remains at Ichibataguchi to this day. In the post-war decades the line was modernised: when the Izumo-shi terminal building was completed in 1964 the station was separated from the national railway and renamed Dentetsu-Izumoshi, and centralised traffic control (CTC) was introduced on 1 October 1966.

The corporate form changed again in the twenty-first century. The northern terminus, opened as Kita-Matsue and renamed Matsue-Onsen in 1970, became Matsue-Shinjiko-Onsen on 1 April 2002. On 1 April 2006, as the Ichibata Electric Railway reorganised into a holding-company structure, its railway business was transferred to a newly established operating company, Ichibata Electric Railway Co. (一畑電車), which runs the Kita-Matsue Line today as the trunk of the Bataden network.

• 191121 August: a railway licence is granted to the Ichibata Light Railway for the Imaichi–Kozakai section (762 mm gauge).
• 1912The Ichibata Light Railway is founded, led by Saiga Shōkai together with the Ichibata Yakushi temple.
• 191429 April: the first section, Izumo-Imaichi (now Dentetsu-Izumoshi)–Unshū-Hirata, opens.
• 19154 February: the line is extended from Unshū-Hirata to Ichibata, near the temple; the section opens unelectrified.
• 1923The company resolves on full electrification and new branches (toward Matsue and toward Izumo Taisha) and renames itself the Ichibata Electric Railway.
• 19271 October: the line is electrified at 1,500 V DC.
• 19285 April: Kozakainada (now Ichibataguchi)–Kita-Matsue (now Matsue-Shinjiko-Onsen) opens, completing the line to Matsue along the north shore of Lake Shinji.
• 194410 December: the Kozakainada–Ichibata section is suspended as an 'unnecessary and non-urgent line' and its rails reclaimed for the war effort.
• 196026 April: the suspended Ichibataguchi–Ichibata section is formally abandoned; a switchback remains at Ichibataguchi where the branch once diverged.
• 19641 April: the Izumo-shi terminal building is completed; the station is separated from the national railway and renamed Dentetsu-Izumoshi.
• 19661 October: centralised traffic control (CTC) enters service on the line.
• 19701 October: Kita-Matsue Station is renamed Matsue-Onsen, and Unshū-Hirata is renamed Hirata-shi.
• 197316 March: freight service is discontinued; 15 May: limited-express operation ends.
• 20021 April: Matsue-Onsen Station is renamed Matsue-Shinjiko-Onsen, the line's present northern terminus.
• 20061 April: as the Ichibata Electric Railway shifts to a holding-company structure, its railway business is transferred to the newly established Ichibata Electric Railway Co. (Ichibata Densha).