Former Taisha Station

The Former Taisha station is a Japanese-style station building that opened in 1912, and operated until 1990 when the JR Otsu line became discontinued. The building, platform, railroad tracks, and traffic lights were all left intact, and this beautiful Taisho era architecture, with its great attention to detail, was designated as an important cultural property of the country in 2004.
As a gateway to the Izumo Oyashiro Shrine, this building is visited by many people, and the “Izumo” direct express train to and from Tokyo operated for 10 years from 1951 to 1961.
The interior of the station is spacious, with nostalgic woodwork waiting rooms and a VIP room that the royal family once used.
Everything is kept as it was, which makes visitors feel like they’ve travelled back to the Taisho and Showa eras.
Contrasting with the Izumo Taisha-mae Station of the Ichibata Electric Railway, which adopted a modern, Western architecture style, both stations are designated as a Heritage of Industrial Modernization by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry.