Suizenji Line

The line dates from the first phase of Kumamoto's municipal tramway. On 1 August 1924 the section between Suidōchō and Suizenji — the stop now called Suizenji-kōen — was opened, bringing into service the Shin'yashiki-machi, Ōe-shako-mae, Miso-tenjin-mae, Suizenji-eki-dōri and Suizenji (now Suizenji-kōen) stops. The roadway between Suidōchō and Miso-tenjin-mae had been laid out expressly so that the tramway could be built along it.

Adjustments to the young line came in the mid-1930s. In February 1935 the Ōe-shako-mae stop was renamed Denki-kyoku-mae ("in front of the electricity bureau") and the Suizenji-eki-mae stop was renamed Suizenji-eki-dōri. The following month, on 26 March 1935, the Kuhonji stop was opened along the route.

The Pacific War years reshaped the line. On 28 December 1943 the Shin'yashiki-machi, Kuhonji and Kokufu stops were all closed, though Kokufu would later reopen. On 1 June 1944 the Denki-kyoku-mae stop was renamed Kōtsū-kyoku-mae, reflecting the renaming of the operating bureau itself. On 6 May 1945, as the new Kengun Line opened, the Suizenji stop was relocated.

In the post-war decades a chain of stop renamings followed. By some point before 1950 the Yūsei-kyoku-mae stop had opened on the site of the former Shin'yashiki-machi stop. On 1 October 1959 that Yūsei-kyoku-mae stop was renamed Denpō-kyoku-mae, and on 1 April 2002 it was renamed again, to Kuhonji-kōsaten.

The most recent change reflected an interchange with the national railway network. On 1 March 2011 the Suizenji-eki-dōri stop was renamed Shin-Suizenji-eki-mae, where the line passes Shin-Suizenji Station on JR Kyūshū's Hōhi Main Line by way of a grade separation. Today the Suizenji Line forms an eastern segment of the Kumamoto City Tram, carried over double track between Suidōchō and Suizenji-kōen and served by the system's A and B route patterns running through to Kengun-machi. As one of the relatively few municipally operated tramways still running in Japan, it continues to link central Kumamoto with the eastern arm of the network.

• 19241 August: the Suidōchō–Suizenji (now Suizenji-kōen) section opens; the Shin'yashiki-machi, Ōe-shako-mae, Miso-tenjin-mae, Suizenji-eki-dōri and Suizenji (now Suizenji-kōen) stops open with it.
• 1935February: the Ōe-shako-mae stop is renamed Denki-kyoku-mae, and the Suizenji-eki-mae stop is renamed Suizenji-eki-dōri.
• 193526 March: the Kuhonji stop opens.
• 194328 December: the Shin'yashiki-machi, Kuhonji and Kokufu stops are closed (Kokufu later reopened).
• 19441 June: the Denki-kyoku-mae stop is renamed Kōtsū-kyoku-mae.
• 19456 May: with the opening of the Kengun Line, the Suizenji stop is relocated.
• 1950Before 1950: the Yūsei-kyoku-mae stop opens on the site of the former Shin'yashiki-machi stop.
• 19591 October: the Yūsei-kyoku-mae stop is renamed Denpō-kyoku-mae.
• 20021 April: the Denpō-kyoku-mae stop is renamed Kuhonji-kōsaten.
• 20111 March: the Suizenji-eki-dōri stop is renamed Shin-Suizenji-eki-mae.