History
Sakaiminato Station opened on 1 November 1902 as Sakai Station, the terminus of the government-built line then extending from Yonago. It moved to its present site in 1914 and was renamed Sakaiminato in 1919 to avoid duplication with another station of the same name. Freight services were curtailed during the postwar decades and at privatisation in 1987 the station passed to JR West as the western terminus of the Sakai Line, 17.9 kilometres from Yonago. The Sakai Line's stations carry nicknames drawn from local yōkai folklore, and Sakaiminato is designated "Kitarō Station" after the manga character associated with the city.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-06-09.
Where the English and Japanese sources differ, this account follows the Japanese source.
Notes
The station building is shaped like a lighthouse, and the road leading east from it is the Mizuki Shigeru Road, lined with bronze yōkai statues honouring the manga artist who grew up in Sakaiminato.