Mitake Tozan Funicular

The line had its origins in the late 1920s. On 23 March 1927 a railway licence was granted to the Mitakesan Denki Kōsaku Tetsudō (御岳山電気鋼索鉄道, the Mitakesan Electric Cable Railway), and on 18 November that year the concern notified a change of name to Mitakesan Tozan Tetsudō. Two days later, on 20 November 1927, the company was formally established as the Mitake Tozan Railway. From the outset the venture was bound up with the mountain's religious traffic and with regional capital — its largest shareholder in the late 1930s was the Ōme Electric Railway.

The funicular itself opened on 31 December 1934, linking Takimoto Station with Mitakesan Station near the summit. The opening was recorded in the official government gazette (Kanpō) of 15 January 1935. The original cars, built by Kisha Seizō with a capacity of eighty passengers, carried pilgrims and walkers up the steep mountainside and remained in service for more than three decades. (English-language sources sometimes date the start of operations to 1935; Japanese sources give the opening as 31 December 1934, and that date is followed here.)

During the Second World War the line fell victim to wartime austerity. In 1944, as Japan's military position worsened, the Takimoto–Mitakesan funicular was designated a non-essential, non-urgent line (fuyō-fukyū-sen) and suspended, with material stripped for the war effort. The company was renamed Ōtama Kankō Kaihatsu on 31 October 1947, and the funicular finally resumed operation on 29 June 1951, six years after the end of the war. The firm took back the name Mitake Tozan Railway on 1 July 1961.

In the post-war decades the operation expanded and modernised. On 18 July 1959 a chairlift (a special-category ropeway) was opened higher up the mountain, between Mitakedaira Station and Daitenbōdai Station, extending the reach of visitors beyond the funicular's upper terminus. The line's ageing original cars were retired in 1968 and replaced by a second generation of vehicles, the Ko-1 and Ko-2 types built at Hitachi's Kasado works. On 29 May 1972 the Mitake Tozan Railway came under the management of Keio Teito Electric Railway — today the Keio Corporation — and so became part of the Keio Group, to which it still belongs.

A significant engineering change came in 1991. The line was closed from 1 June to 5 July that year, and on 6 July the track gauge was altered from the original 1,067 mm to 1,049 mm in conjunction with a replacement of the rails, whose heavier profile required the slightly narrower gauge; the cars were modified to suit. This unusual 1,049 mm gauge has remained the line's standard ever since and distinguishes it from most Japanese railways.

The line continued to keep pace with modern travel in the 2000s. PASMO electronic money was introduced at the ticket gates on 18 March 2007, initially for one-way adult fares only, and from 24 November 2011 it could also be used for children's fares. The second-generation cars were withdrawn on 11 March 2008; after a short closure the third generation entered service on 22 March 2008. To mark the line's eightieth anniversary, the cars were given a fresh design on 16 October 2014 and renamed Musashi and Mitake.

Today the Mitake Tozan Funicular operates roughly every twenty minutes through the day, with extra services at busy times and all-night running on New Year's Eve to carry visitors to the Musashi-Mitake Shrine for their first shrine visit of the year. Reached from Mitake Station on the JR Ōme Line by a Nishi Tokyo Bus service to the Cable-Shita stop, it remains a small but distinctive mountain railway — and, unusually, one that welcomes dogs and other pets aboard its cars without requiring them to be caged, having begun carrying dogs in 2009 in keeping with the shrine's wolf-deity tradition.

• 192723 March: a railway licence is granted to the Mitakesan Electric Cable Railway (御岳山電気鋼索鉄道); the company is formally established as the Mitake Tozan Railway on 20 November.
• 193431 December: the funicular opens between Takimoto Station and Mitakesan Station (recorded in the Kanpō gazette of 15 January 1935).
• 1944The Takimoto–Mitakesan funicular is designated a non-essential, non-urgent line (fuyō-fukyū-sen) and suspended amid wartime austerity, with material stripped for the war effort.
• 194731 October: the company is renamed Ōtama Kankō Kaihatsu.
• 195129 June: the funicular resumes operation, six years after the end of the war.
• 195918 July: a chairlift (special-category ropeway) opens higher up the mountain, between Mitakedaira Station and Daitenbōdai Station.
• 19611 July: the company takes back the name Mitake Tozan Railway.
• 1968The original cars are retired and replaced by second-generation vehicles, the Ko-1 and Ko-2 types built at Hitachi's Kasado works.
• 197229 May: the railway comes under the management of Keio Teito Electric Railway (now Keio Corporation), joining the Keio Group.
• 1991Closed 1 June–5 July; on 6 July the gauge is changed from 1,067 mm to 1,049 mm in conjunction with a rail replacement, and the cars are modified to suit.
• 200718 March: PASMO electronic money is introduced at the ticket gates (initially one-way adult fares only).
• 2008The second-generation cars are withdrawn on 11 March; after a short closure, third-generation cars enter service on 22 March.
• 201124 November: PASMO can also be used for children's fares at the gates.
• 201416 October: to mark the line's 80th anniversary, the cars are redesigned and renamed Musashi and Mitake.