Kokura Station

Kokura Station (小倉駅, Kokura-eki) in Kokura Kita ward is the main railway station in Kitakyushu, Japan. It is part of the JR Kyushu network and the Sanyo Shinkansen stops here. It is the second largest station in Kyushu with 120,000 users daily. Kokura station was recently expanded and remodelled.

JR lines

JR limited express trains

Monorail

Tracks

History

Kokura

Kokura (小倉市, Kokura-shi) is an ancient castle town and the center of Kitakyushu, Japan, guarding, via its suburb Moji, the Straits of Shimonoseki between Honshu and Kyushu. Kokura is also the name of the penultimate station on the southbound Sanyo Shinkansen line, which is owned by JR West. Ferries connect Kokura with Matsuyama on Shikoku, and Busan in Korea.

History

Edo period

The Ogasawara and Hosokawa clans were Daimyos at Kokura Castle during the Edo period (1603–1868). Miyamoto Musashi, samurai swordsman, author of The Book of Five Rings and founder of the Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryū, famous for its use of two swords, lived in the Kokura castle under the patronage of the Ogasawara and Hosokawa clans briefly during 1634.

Meiji period

After the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Kokura was the seat of government for Kokura Prefecture. When the municipal system of cities, towns and villages was introduced, Kokura Town was one of 25 towns in the prefecture, which later merged with Fukuoka Prefecture. Kokura was upgraded to city status in 1900.