History
What is now Ishibashi began as a temporary terminus at Izumo-machi installed on 27 December 1916 (Taishō 5) for the opening of Nagasaki Electric Tramway's second-phase Ōura Branch. On 4 June 1917 (Taishō 6) the provisional terminus was abolished and replaced by Izumo-machi Station at a relocated site, which has been the branch terminus ever since. The stop was renamed Ōura-Ishibashi in April 1930 (Shōwa 5) and shortened to Ishibashi on 10 June 1983 (Shōwa 58), although the destination display had been showing "Ishibashi" earlier. An approach-display board went into service on 4 March 1997 (Heisei 9), and on 20 February and 30 March 2002 (Heisei 14) the alighting and boarding platforms were respectively rebuilt with shelter-style roofing replacing the corrugated-iron one. Ishibashi carries stop number 51, is the terminus of the Ōura Branch, and is served by route 5 — making it the southernmost tram stop in Nagasaki Prefecture.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-22.
Notes
Ishibashi is the closest tram stop to Glover Garden via the Glover Sky Road, a slope elevator that connects the densely built hillside neighbourhood to the garden above. The road by the stop is narrow — until 2002 there were no platforms on the road side, and only that year's improvements made it possible for front-and-mid-door tram cars (the 360 and 500 series) to call here. The line ends at Ishibashi because the slope beyond rises too steeply to extend rail. Nearby is the Confucius Shrine and Museum of Chinese Imperial History — a colourful Sino-Japanese landmark down the road from the stop.