History
Ōdate Station opened on 15 November 1899 on the Japanese Government Railways (JGR), in what is now Ōdate in Akita Prefecture. It became a junction with the privately owned Kosaka Line in 1909 and with the Akita Railway from 1 July 1914 (the latter nationalised on 1 June 1934 and incorporated as the Hanawa Line). The Hanaoka Line opened on 26 January 1916 and closed on 1 April 1985. After World War II the JGR became Japan National Railways (JNR), and the station passed to East Japan Railway Company (JR East) at JNR's privatisation on 1 April 1987. Passenger service on the Kosaka Line ended on 1 October 1994 and its freight operations on 12 March 2008. A third-generation station building opened on 29 October 2023.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Where the English and Japanese sources differ, this account follows the Japanese source.
Notes
The loyal dog Hachikō was born in nearby Niida and boarded a baggage car at Ōdate on 14 January 1924 to be sent to Tokyo. The first Hachikō statue erected in front of the station in 1935 was melted down for metal during World War II; a replacement was unveiled in 1987.