Kidonanzoin-Mae

History

Kido-Nanzōin-mae Station opened on 25 May 1968 as Kido Station, an intermediate stop on the Japanese National Railways Sasaguri Line when the track was extended east from Sasaguri to Keisen in Sasaguri, Fukuoka Prefecture. It became unstaffed in March 1974, and JR Kyushu inherited it at the 1 April 1987 privatisation of JNR. After Nanzōin temple installed a 41-metre-long bronze reclining Buddha in 1995, pilgrim traffic to the temple surged, and the station was renamed Kido-Nanzōin-mae on 15 March 2003 to reflect its role as the pilgrim railhead. The station building was reclad in cedar and copper in 2000 to give a temple-style exterior, and the waiting room and toilets were refurbished by 26 December 2023 to mark the 20th anniversary of the rename.

History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-22.

Notes

Among JR Kyushu's many stations, electric point heaters are installed only here and at Shin-Tabaru on the Nippō Main Line within Fukuoka Prefecture — a quiet sign of the inland Sasaguri Line's exposure to winter cold compared with the prefecture's coastal routes.