History
The station opened on 25 September 1897 as Shōe Station on the private Hōshū Railway when the line between Yukuhashi and Yanagigaura was inaugurated. The Hōshū Railway was absorbed by the Kyushu Railway in 1901, which was itself nationalised in 1907. The route was redesignated the Hōshū Main Line on 12 October 1909 and renamed the Nippō Main Line on 15 December 1923. The station was renamed Buzen-Shōe on 1 May 1945 to avoid confusion with Matsue Station on the San'in Main Line, which shared the same kanji but a different reading. Freight handling ended on 1 October 1961, parcel handling on 1 February 1984, and at the 1 April 1987 JNR privatisation control passed to JR Kyushu.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-06-09.
Where the English and Japanese sources differ, this account follows the Japanese source.
Notes
The station's wooden building, completed in 1932, has a name-board carved on a camphor-wood plaque by a local Buzen-born calligrapher; the plaque was renewed in December 2003 and replaced again in August 2023 by another local calligrapher after it had faded.