History
The station opened on 20 November 1920 under the name Gonohara (神原), as the southern terminus of the Hōshū Main Line which JGR was extending south. It became a through-station on 26 March 1922 when the line reached Shigeoka, and after the link-up with the Miyazaki Main Line the entire route was renamed the Nippō Main Line on 15 December 1923. Gonohara was renamed Naokawa on 20 March 1961, goods service ended in 1962, and parcels and staffing were both withdrawn in 1984. JR Kyushu took over at privatisation on 1 April 1987. In 2017 Typhoon Talim closed the line east of Saiki, with bus substitution running until services resumed on 25 September.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-22.
Notes
The original timber station building was demolished around December 2003, and the platform's wartime toilet block was sealed in concrete during that work; a replacement public toilet was installed on the former station-building footprint in March 2009.