Sarakurayama Cable Car

The funicular opened on 12 November 1957, running between Ogura-kōen and Hobashirayama. It was built to carry sightseers and worshippers up Mount Sarakura, whose summit commands a sweeping panorama of the Kitakyūshū conurbation and the surrounding sea. The first cars were two vehicles built by Hitachi, numbered 1 and 2 and nicknamed "Hobashira" and "Sarakura" respectively. For its first four decades the line ran with this original equipment and under the Hobashira Cable name.

The line was operated under the Hobashira Cable name for most of its history. On 13 April 1985 its two stations were given more descriptive names: the lower terminus Ogura-kōen became Sanroku ("mountain foot") Station and the upper terminus Hobashirayama became Sanjō ("mountain top") Station. The basic alignment — a single climb of about 1.1 kilometres from the foot of the mountain to the summit-side station — has remained unchanged since the opening.

After more than four decades the original equipment was life-expired, and the line closed for renewal at the end of service on 9 October 2000, the first-generation Hitachi cars making their final runs that day. New rolling stock built in Switzerland by CWA was installed, and the funicular reopened on 30 June 2001, timed to coincide with the Kitakyūshū Expo (Kitakyūshū Hakurank-sai 2001). The two new cars — a yellow vehicle nicknamed "Haruka" and a blue one nicknamed "Kanata" — could run at 18 km/h (5.0 m/s), described at the time as the fastest cable-car speed in Japan, and because they drew power for lighting from on-board batteries the overhead wire and its supporting poles were removed, improving the view from the cars.

On 1 April 2015 the line adopted the customer-facing nickname Sarakurayama Cable Car, and the operating company, until then known as the Hobashira Cable Company, was renamed the Sarakura Tozan Railway, a change intended to raise the line's public profile under the better-known Mount Sarakura name. The new cars are designed for night operation: their cabin lighting can be dimmed so that passengers can take in the celebrated night view as they ascend, and as the vehicles carry no air-conditioning, fixed coolers on the station platforms blow cold air into the cars through the windows while they wait in summer.

Today the Sarakurayama Cable Car is the principal means of reaching the upper slopes of Mount Sarakura, running at intervals of 20 to 30 minutes with a journey time of about six minutes. At its upper terminus, Sanjō Station, it connects with the Sarakurayama Slope Car, an inclined people-mover that carries visitors on to the summit and which replaced the earlier Hobashira Skyline chairlift after the latter ceased operation in 2006. The line remains owned by the city of Kitakyūshū and operated by the Sarakura Tozan Railway, carrying sightseers up the mountain for its daytime panorama and its night view of the city below.

• 195712 November: the funicular opens between Ogura-kōen and Hobashirayama as the Hobashira Cable, with two Hitachi-built cars (No. 1 "Hobashira" and No. 2 "Sarakura").
• 198513 April: the two stations are renamed — the lower Ogura-kōen becomes Sanroku Station and the upper Hobashirayama becomes Sanjō Station.
• 20009 October: the line closes for equipment renewal at the end of service this day; the original Hitachi cars make their final runs.
• 200130 June: the funicular reopens with new Swiss-built CWA cars, timed to the Kitakyūshū Expo 2001 — the yellow "Haruka" and blue "Kanata", able to run at 18 km/h (5.0 m/s).
• 200631 August: the Hobashira Skyline chairlift, which had run from the upper station onward, ceases operation; it is later replaced by the Sarakurayama Slope Car.
• 20151 April: the line adopts the nickname Sarakurayama Cable Car and the operating company is renamed from the Hobashira Cable Company to the Sarakura Tozan Railway.