Mato

History

Matō Station opened on 1 November 1914 as a station of the Ashio Railway, between Ashio Station and the freight terminal at Ashio-Honzan, and was nationalised on 1 June 1918. Freight and parcel services were withdrawn on 1 October 1970, when the station also became unstaffed and its switchback facilities were removed. With the 1987 privatisation it briefly came under JR East before passing to the third-sector Watarase Keikoku Railway on 29 March 1989, when the freight-only spur to Ashio-Honzan was closed. A new wooden station building was completed in 1994, and the station serves as the terminus of the Watarase Keikoku Line.

History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.

Notes

Travel writer Shunzō Miyawaki completed his ride of every JNR line at Matō on 28 May 1977; the waiting room hosts a small exhibit on his book Jikokuhyō 2-man Kiro.