What do all these stations have in Common?
They have two things in common
1) they are all on the JR Iida Line which runs through Aichi, Shizuoka & Nagano Prefectures,
2) they are all so called “Hikyo Eki”(秘境駅 or “secluded stations“.
What are Hikyo Eki (秘境駅)?
Hikyo Eki (*) translates to “Secluded Stations” and is a term that was first used in Japan, but has spread to some other countries. Hikyo Eki are basically situated in the middle of “no where”, usually rural areas.
Some of these stations will not see a single passenger on many days…
The key thing is that they are used by very few passengers, sometimes as low as 1 or 2 a day on average, which means on some days they see no passengers. They generally once served local communities that over the years have become depopulated or even disappeared completely. They are of interest to rail fans and tourists because of the station buildings and / or surrounding scenery.
JR Iida Line, famous for its Hikyo Eki…
The Iida Line, operated by JR Tokai, is famous for the many “Hikyo Eki” it has on its route. Nine stations in particular are listed by “Tabi and Tetsudo Magazine” (旅と鉄道 which specializes in rail travel for tourists and rail fans). All these stations average less than 10 passengers daily (most only 1 or 2). Many other stations on the line also qualify as Hikyo Stations.
Tabi & Tetsudo Magazine lists a total of 216 such stations nationwide (as of 2021).
(*the term Hikyo Eki was devised byTakanobu Ushiyama who ran a website and authored a book on these stations and since many rail fans and others have become interested)
JR Iida Line
The Iida Line is operated by JR Tokai and runs between Toyohashi in Aichi Prefecture and Tatsuno in Nagano Prefecture via the cities of Iida & Ina. For a large part of the route the rail line runs along the Tenryu River or the river is not far away.
196km (122miles) in 7 hours!
As well as being well known for its Hikyo Eki, the Iida Line is also famous amongst rail fans and others for being one of the slowest railway lines to travel on. The Iida Line is 195.7km (121.6miles) long but takes about 7 hrs by local train (longer if you have to change trains on route). This means the average speed is less than 30km/h (less than 20mph)!
(you can take the Limited Express Inaji between Toyohashi and Iida which is 129.3kms and takes 2hrs and 40 minutes…but that is less fun for rail enthusiasts! and there are only 2 trips in each direction a day)
Why does it take so long?
The main reasons are that there is 94 stations (average 1 every 2kms), it is mostly single track, meaning there are some long stops to allow for passing trains
(so there are opportunities to get out and stretch your legs), and there are many curves as most of the line goes through mountainous areas.
But there are some very beautiful views that you can only see from the train…
As already mentioned, the railway line runs for some part of its route along the Tenryū River (天龍川), which is the 9th longest river in Japan. Its source is Lake Suwa in Nagano Prefecture and the river runs out into the Pacific Ocean.
There are good views of the river and mountains on route, some of which you will only get from the train.
JR Tokai operates an occasional special express train that calls at some of the Hikyo Eki for extended time so passengers can take pictures at these isolated but often scenic locations.
Although parts of the line only have trains every 2 to 3 hours, it is quite well served considering how rural the area it serves is (see below).
Is it worth travelling on this line?
That really depends on how much time you have. It is a scenic way to travel between Matsumoto and Nagoya, but there is another scenic and much faster route via the Chuo Main Line. If you however want to really get off the beaten track, this may be a route for you!
Iida City is the main intermediate city served by the line. Tenryukyo Station, is the access point to Tenryukyo (天竜峡 means Tenryu (river) gorge)
where you can go on traditional sightseeing boats and view the magnificent natural scenery around the river. As in most of Japan, the scenery changes by season.
As well as the Tenryū River there are other things to do in Iida City. It is also an Onsen (hot Spa) resort – please see the Visit Iida website
Travel Information / Rail Fan Information
There are two Limited Express services in each direction that operate between Toyohashi and Iida (Limited Express Inaji)
Although there are several trains each hour between Toyohashi and Toyokawa, for most of the rest of the line frequencies range from around hourly (Toyohashi~Hon Nagashino), every 2 to 3 hours between Nagashino and Tenryukyo and roughly hourly between Tenryukyo and Okaya (on the Chuo Main Line). There are some journeys that go all the way from Toyohashi to Okaya, others you need to change on route.
At Toyohashi you can connect with the Tokaido Shinkansen (Kodama and some Hikari services), JR Tokaido Main Line (for services to Shizuoka and Nagoya) and Meitetsu Nagoya Line (for Nagoya). At Tatsuno and Okaya, you can connect to the Chuo Main Line (for Shiojiri and Matsumoto via the Chuo Line Branch at Tatsuno and for Matsumoto, Kofu and Shinjuku at Okaya).
We would advise that you carefully plan your trip (& TS Japan Rail can help with that).
For Rail Fans
The Iida Line is electrified throughout and operated mostly by JR Tokai 213 and 313 series. Between Tatsuno and Iida JR East Nagano branch 211 series are also used for some services.
The Limited Express Inaji is operated using 3 car 373 series Limited Express trains.
As already mentioned the line is mostly single line, although the section between Toyohashi and Toyokawa is double track. This section also has some freight traffic.
The current day Iida Line is an amalgamation of 4 private railway lines which were nationalized into Japanese Government Railways and later Japan National Railways and privatized and taken over by JR Tokai in 1987.
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