Idakiso Station

Idakiso Station (伊太祈曽駅, Idakiso Eki) is a railway station on the Kishigawa Line operated by the Wakayama Electric Railway. It is located in Wakayama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan.

Idakiso Station

伊太祈曽駅
Station entrance
LocationWakayama, Wakayama Prefecture
Japan
Operated byWakayama Electric Railway
Line(s)Kishigawa Line
Distance8.0 km from Wakayama
Platforms1 island platform
Construction
Structure typeAt-grade
Other information
Station code08
History
Opened15 February 1916 (1916-02-15)
Traffic
Passengers808 per day (2017)[1]

The station name is taken from a Shinto shrine named Idakiso Shrine (伊太祁曽神社), which was located nearby. Originally, the station was named "伊太祁曽駅", matching the name of the shrine. When the Kishigawa Line's ownership was transferred from Nankai Electric Railway to Wakayama Electric Railway in 2006, the station name was changed to its current name. The only difference between the two is the writing of the third kanji; the pronunciation remains the same. Some of the station's older signage retain the old writing format.[2]

Stationmaster cat
Main article: Tama (cat)

In January 2007, Kishi Station, the eastern terminus of the Kishigawa Line, named a stray calico cat named Tama as the stationmaster. The cat quickly became the face of the francise and caused a surge of tourism to the railway line.[3] In February 2012, another stray cat named Nitama (literally "Tama two") was named Tama's apprentice, and was installed as Idakiso Station's stationmaster.[4] Following Tama's death in August 2015, Nitama was reassigned to Kishi Station.[5] In January 2017, another stray cat named Yontama ("literally "Tama four") was named stationmaster at Idakiso Station.[6]

Ridership
Ridership per day [1]
Year Ridership
2011 623
2012 618
2013 656
2014 653
2015 872
2016 825
2017 808

Adjacent stations
« Service »
Kishigawa Line
Kire Local Sandō

References
  1. "国土数値情報　駅別乗降客数データ". GIS (in Japanese). MLIT. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  2. 住田至朗 (12 September 2018). "ちょっと不思議？【私鉄に乗ろう 65】". 鉄道チャンネル (in Japanese). Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  3. Goss, Rob (22 May 2019). "The cat who saved a Japanese rail line". BBC. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  4. "ニタマ伊太祈曽駅長誕生！！". Wakayama Electric Railway (in Japanese). 18 February 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  5. Wong, Maggie Hiufu (25 August 2015). "Meet Nitama, the new cat in charge at Japan's Kishi Station". CNN. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  6. "和歌山電鉄 「よんたま、あなたを駅長見習いに任命する」" (in Japanese). Mainichi Shimbun. 5 January 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2020.

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