Hidden forest stations of Nagano

When one thinks of trains in Japan, this might not be the first picture that comes to mind:

However, at a brisk pace, the nearest train station is about 20 minutes away by foot. Make sure to wear proper hiking shoes.  No joke.  It can only be accessed via this trail:

It’s a trek down some 30 degree slopes through a thick bamboo forest to reach the platform.  There is no attendant, no roads from which to access the station by car, and no lights or sidewalks on the way there.  Although it seems obsolete in 21^st century Japan, these places still exist.  Several are scattered along a train line that stretches through south Nagano into rural Shizuoka prefecture.  They are called Hikyo Eki (秘境駅), and are ranked by their isolation.  That’s right, they’re categorized by their sheer inaka severity.  These are the top five in all of Japan:

Hikyo Ranking	Station name	Prefecture	Line
1	Koboro	Hokkaido	JR Muroran Main
2	Kowada	Shizuoka	JR Iida
3	Omori	Shizuoka	Oigawa Ikawa
4	Tamoto	Nagano	JR Iida
5	Yatsumori	Miyagi	JR Senzan

(ranking translated from http://hp1.cyberstation.ne.jp/hikyoueki/)

Number 4, Tamoto, is the only Nagano station of these top five, and the station described above.  Nagano, however, has more Hikyo Eki than the ones listed here.  Notice that the JR Iida line makes the list twice, with Kowada station (#2) being the very first station south of the Nagano border towards Toyohashi.  This section of railway runs through a very unique part of countryside.  The Tenryu river cuts through the mountains, leaving cliffs and steeps slopes at it’s border.  On the slope east of the river, the Iida line darts in and out of tunnels and forest where no roads have been built.  Stations mark the points where bridges link roads from east to west, but the line continues on through long stretches of untouched, undeveloped mountainside.  Here, small rural communities are only stone’s throw away up-mountain, so they have trails to the Hikyo Eki.  Five lie in the Nagano portion of the Iida line alone, with eight total in Nagano:

Hikyo Ranking	Station name	Area	Line
4	Tamoto	Yasuoka village	JR Iida
13	Kinno	Iida city outskirts	JR Iida
30	Nakaisamurai	Tenryu village	JR Iida
32	Shiteguri	Tenryu village	JR Iida
38	Chiyo	Iida city outskirts	JR Iida
45	Saku-Hirose	Minamimaki village	JR Koumi
157	Kamuriki	Chikuhoku village	JR Shinonoi
163	Hirahara	Komoro City	Shinano

(data translated from http://hp1.cyberstation.ne.jp/hikyoueki/)

A local from Yasuoka village, now in her thirties, told me stories of how she used Tamoto station (#2) every day when she went to high school, even when coming home on the trail winter evenings after dark. Amazing… but are these stations still used today?  For purposes other than tourism? 

The tea farm pictured is in Tenryu village.  According to the family who lives there, the nearest station, Nakaisamurai (#30), is still used by them and other neighbors on occasion.  Going the same distance by road might take a lot longer through the mountain s-curves.  A station only 15 minutes walk is pretty convenient, after all, isn’t it?