History
Kitakami Station opened on 1 November 1890 as Kurosawajiri Station, the work of Nippon Railway. The Yokoguro Line — today's Kitakami Line — branched off here on 25 March 1921, and the station took its current name on 10 November 1954. The Tōhoku Shinkansen called at Kitakami from its opening on 23 June 1982. JR privatisation on 1 April 1987 split operations between JR East and JR Freight, and a faster Yamabiko service began making one daily round trip on 30 March 1996 to replace the Akita Relay limited express during Tazawako Line construction; Yamabiko calls were regularised on 22 March 1997. Scheduled freight ended on 26 September 2001, automatic gates entered service on 3 December 2008, and Suica acceptance began on 27 May 2023.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-06-09.
Notes
An Oni Kenbai stone monument has stood in the east-side plaza since 1990, paying homage to the demon-mask sword dance that is one of Kitakami's signature folk performances; it has been relocated several times during station-front redevelopment.