History
Hinoharu Station opened on 21 December 1904 on the Japanese Government Railways Chūō Main Line, when the line was extended between Nirasaki and Fujimi. Sitting on a steep section of the Shichirigan plateau in Hokuto, Yamanashi Prefecture, the station was originally built as a watering point for steam locomotives, a role that continued until the line between Kōfu and Kami-Suwa was electrified on 23 August 1964. The station passed to East Japan Railway Company with the privatisation of JNR on 1 April 1987 and was added to the Tokyo suburban zone in April 2014.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-22.
Notes
Local legend held that an ancient pine on this site once flew Takeda Shingen's battle standard; the pine died in 1914 from locomotive smoke, and a 1933 monument outside the station marks where it stood.