History
Ōkishi Station opened on 10 September 1928 as Ofukeshi Station on the newly extended Chōrin Line between Shizukari and Date-Monbetsu, with the kanji of the original local place name 小鉾岸. The line was absorbed into the Muroran Main Line on 1 April 1931, and the station was renamed to its current reading Ōkishi on 1 April 1935 because the original name was deemed difficult to pronounce. Freight and parcel handling were withdrawn on 15 May 1980 and the station became unstaffed. JR Hokkaido inherited the station at privatisation on 1 April 1987. In June 2023 it was named on a JR Hokkaido shortlist of 42 low-ridership stations being considered for closure.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
The reading of the station was changed in 1935 from the original Ainu-derived "Ofukeshi" to the simpler "Ōkishi," with the Sapporo Railway Bureau noting in 1939 that the original name was "extremely difficult for the general public to pronounce."