Kanda (Fukuoka)

History

Kanda Station was established on 1 April 1895 as 刈田 Station on the privately run Kyushu Railway. After the line was nationalized on 1 July 1907, the kanji was changed to 苅田 in November of that year and, from 16 October 1918, the pronunciation was officially switched from "Kanda" to "Kanta" to avoid confusion with Tokyo's Kanda Station; it reverted to "Kanda" on 1 October 1959. Freight handling ended on 10 March 1975 and parcel service on 1 February 1984. A new station building opened on 19 March 1987, just before JR Kyushu took over on 1 April 1987. A further renovation was completed on 22 April 2006 to coincide with the opening of Kitakyushu Airport.

History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-06-09.

Notes

The official pronunciation flipped twice — from Kanda to Kanta in 1918 and back to Kanda in 1959 — to manage confusion with Tokyo's Kanda Station before that station's rise diminished the risk.