History
Obayashi Station opened on 2 September 1921 on the Hanshin Express Electric Railway (today's Hankyu Railway) Saihō Line, on the same day the Takarazuka–Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi section came into service, in Obayashi 2-chōme, Takarazuka, Hyōgo. The Saihō Line was renamed the Imazu Line on 18 December 1926. The station building was rebuilt in 1977, and station numbering was introduced on 21 December 2013, giving the station number HK-26. Before the railway was opened, horse-drawn coaches ran between Nishinomiya and the present-day station site, carrying playgoers from the Kobe area onward to Takarazuka.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-22.
Notes
The station name 小林 is pronounced "Obayashi" rather than the common reading "Kobayashi" used for the same characters in place- and family-names elsewhere. During the war, between 15 December 1943 and 21 September 1945, an additional station — Shio Station — was opened between Obayashi and Nigawa to carry workers to the Kawanishi Aircraft plant on what is now the Hanshin Racecourse site.