History
Sawajiri Station opened on 11 July 1928 as a stop on the privately built Akita Railway, serving the town of Jūnisho in Akita Prefecture; it was demoted to a seasonal halt in December 1929. The line was nationalised on 1 June 1934, at which point Sawajiri became a full station of the JGR. Operations were suspended from 11 November 1944, and the station only reopened on 1 February 1962 under the Japan National Railways. With the privatisation of JNR on 1 April 1987 it joined JR East as a station on the Hanawa Line, 86.6 km from the terminus at Kōma. The platform is short enough that trains of three or more cars use door-cut, opening only the front two cars at this stop.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Sawajiri's platform is too short for full trainsets, so three-car or longer services use "door cut" — only the front two cars open their doors at the station.