History
Ono Station opened on 4 December 1988 at Kosei 1-chōme, Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture, between Wani and Katata on the JR West Kosei Line. It was a petition station, paid for in full by Keihan Electric Railway as the rail access for the Biwako Rose Town residential development (a similar arrangement to Matsuiyamate Station on the Katamachi Line). It was the first new station opened on the Urban Network within JR West's name-coverage area after JR West's formation, and is the only infill station added since the Kosei Line opened in 1974. The Midori-no-Madoguchi ticket window opened on 1 November 1992, automatic ticket gates entered service on 1 October 1998, ICOCA support was added on 1 November 2003, and a major fittings upgrade — adding an elevator, electronic display board, and waiting room — was completed alongside the 15 March 2008 timetable revision. From the 26 March 2016 timetable revision, the slow-line through-trains were withdrawn from the station. Station numbering was introduced on 17 March 2018 (JR-B24). The Midori-no-Madoguchi window closed on 29 July 2022.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-22.
Notes
The station name "Ono" predates the area's most famous resident, the 7th-century envoy Ono no Imoko, who is said to have been a member of the local Ono clan and to have come from this area. Onsite features echo this connection: the station-building and forecourt lighting use a boat-motif design (referencing the maritime route of Imoko's mission to Sui-dynasty China), Ono-Imoko-jinja and his tumulus (Karausu-yama Kofun) are nearby, and the station forecourt itself is called "Ono Imoko Park."