History
Sōbudaishita Station opened on 29 April 1931 as Zama-Shindo on the privately operated Sagami Railway, named for sitting on the boundary between Zama Village and Shindo. After the Imperial Japanese Army Academy relocated nearby, the station was renamed Rikushimae ("in front of the military academy") on 1 October 1938, then briefly Zama-machi from 1 November 1940 before settling on the present name fifteen days later as wartime counter-espionage stripped place names of military references. The Sagami Railway was nationalised on 1 June 1944. Freight handling ended in October 1962. JR East took over the station at the 1987 privatisation. Suica became usable in November 2001, and a new station building opened on 7 July 2016.
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
"Sōbudai" is the name Emperor Shōwa personally bestowed on the prewar Imperial Army Academy that once stood nearby, and a dedicated Imperial platform was built for him to attend its graduation ceremonies.