History
Sakata Station opened on 15 September 1931 as Hōshōji Station, an intermediate stop added to the Hokuriku Main Line between Maibara and Nagahama to serve newly introduced gasoline railcar services. It closed on 1 November 1940, reopened on 1 August 1954 under JNR as Sakata Station, and was electrified together with the Maibara–Tamura section on 28 December 1962, hosting the line's AC/DC neutral section. With JNR's privatisation on 1 April 1987 the station passed to JR West, and the Lake Biwa Line nickname was adopted the following year. On 14 September 1991 the platforms were lengthened and the station was moved 200 metres towards Maibara when the neutral section was relocated. Station numbering JR-A11 was assigned on 17 March 2018.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
A statue of the Sengoku-era daimyō Yamauchi Kazutoyo and his wife Chiyo stands in the station forecourt, marking the area as Kazutoyo's mother's birthplace and the location of the Nagano family residence where he lived before entering Oda Nobunaga's service.