History
Okunakayama-Kōgen Station opened on 1891-09-01 as Nakayama Station of the private Nippon Railway. The line was nationalised in November 1906, making it part of the Tōhoku Main Line. It was renamed Okunakayama on 1915-09-11 to avoid confusion with Nakayama Station on the Yokohama Line; the intended prefix had been Mutsu, but the kanji 陸 was accidentally dropped during the renaming. The building was rebuilt in 1940, and an imperial train carrying Emperor Shōwa stopped here on 1947-08-10 during his post-war tour, before visiting the Okunakayama pioneer farm. Freight handling ended on 1971-08-15, parcels on 1984-02-01, and the station was unstaffed from 1985-03-14 with ticket sales continuing under dispatched staff. JR East inherited the station in 1987. With the Tōhoku Shinkansen extension to Hachinohe on 2002-12-01 the line was transferred to IGR Iwate Galaxy Railway and the station gained its current name.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
A Yorkshire Terrier named "Maron" served as the station's honorary stationmaster from June 2008 until his death from bronchitis in August 2009, accompanied to work by his keeper, a commissioned station agent.