History
Wataze Station opened on 7 June 1891 as an intermediate stop on the privately operated Kyushu Railway, added between the earlier termini of Kurume and Takase (now Tamana) shortly after the line had been extended south from Kurume. The Kyushu Railway was nationalised on 1 July 1907, placing the station under Japanese Government Railways. The track was redesignated as part of the Hitoyoshi Main Line on 12 October 1909 and then as the Kagoshima Main Line on 21 November 1909. Following the privatisation of Japanese National Railways on 1 April 1987, Wataze passed to JR Kyushu, which still operates it as a local-only stop on the Kagoshima Main Line.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Plans to name the station "Futakawa" after the host village were abandoned because Tōkaidō Main Line had already opened its own Futakawa Station in Aichi Prefecture in 1896.