Kiyokawaguchi

History

Kiyokawaguchi Station opened on 1 October 1956 as a Japanese National Railways (JNR) station on the Esashi Line, and passed to JR Hokkaido at privatization on 1 April 1987. When the Hokkaido Shinkansen opened on 26 March 2016, JR Hokkaido handed off the Goryōkaku–Kikonai segment of the Esashi Line to the new third-sector South Hokkaido Railway Company (Dōnan Isaribi Railway); the station has been sh08 on that line ever since. Its sub-name "Hokuto Shiyakusho / Kanadēru-mae" reflects its function as the closest stop to Hokuto City Hall, which sits just south of the station in central Hokuto City, Hokkaidō. Hokuto City itself was created on 1 February 2006 by the merger of Kamiiso Town (Kamiiso District) and Ōno Town (Kameda District); within the Oshima Subprefecture it was the first new non-Hakodate city in 33 years.

History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-06-10.

Notes

Hokuto City's very name was chosen by public submission and merger-committee vote: the winning idea cast the two former towns (Kamiiso and Ōno) as "two shining stars combining into one Hokuto (the Big Dipper / 北斗七星)."