Station

Hokoku

方谷

Hokoku
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Train service

Weekday departures: 30/day · Sat & holiday departures: 30/day

First / last train (weekday): 5:13 / 23:38

Busiest hour: 7:00–8:00 (3)

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0:00 ─ 23:00

Counts are departures in the timetable data shown on our live map.

Adjacent stations

Location

History

Hōkoku Station opened on 25 October 1928 with the Ministry of Railways' Hakubi Line extension from Bitchū-Kawamo to Adachi, though regular train operations through the new section did not begin until 25 November of that year. Goods handling ended on 1 October 1971, parcel handling on 1 February 1984, and the station was made unattended on 31 March 1984. With JNR's privatisation on 1 April 1987 it passed to JR West. ICOCA support began on 13 March 2021. The wooden station building dates from the 1928 opening and was registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2014. The unattended station, station number JR-V15, lies in Takahashi, Okayama Prefecture, between a cliffside and the Takahashi River.

Notes

There is no place called Hōkoku near the station — the name honours Yamada Hōkoku (1805–1877), a Bitchū-Matsuyama Han scholar known as the "Sage of Bitchū," making it Japan's first station to be officially named after a person, with locals arguing the name could also be read as a local geographic compound to overcome rail-ministry objections.

Sources