History
Nate Station opened on 1 October 1901 on the privately built Kiwa Railway in what is now Kinokawa, Wakayama Prefecture, after a long dispute among local committee members over its exact siting. The line was acquired by the Kansai Railway in 1904 and nationalised in 1907, becoming part of the Wakayama Line under the 1909 line-naming reforms. Freight handling ended on 1 October 1971 and parcel service on 20 October 1984. JNR's 1 April 1987 privatisation passed the station to JR West, and IC card ICOCA service began on 14 March 2020. The station became fully unstaffed on 1 June 2020, and a southern entrance opened in August 2024.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
The station's 1901 opening was preceded by a 67-day deadlock between Naka village committee members from each side of the Nate-tani river — only after a written pledge of land and 1,000 yen toward construction costs did the rail company resume the project.