Kishi Station
貴志駅
Terminus of the Kishigawa Line in Kinokawa, known for its cat stationmasters, a shrine to Tama on the platform and a station building shaped like a cat face.
The station is open during train service, from about 5:30 to 23:00. The cafe closes at 16:00. The shop and cafe close on occasional maintenance days and in bad weather or service disruption. The cat stationmasters' duty days are on the official schedule.
〒 640-0413How to get there
貴志Kishigawa Line1 min walk from the station
Kishi Station is the terminus of the Kishigawa Line, the 14.3 km railway that Wakayama Electric Railway runs from Wakayama Station to Kishi in Kinokawa, Wakayama. It is known for its cat stationmasters and for Tama Shrine (Tama Jinja, たま神社), which stands on the platform.
History
The line was built to take worshippers to three shrines along its route: Hinokuma Shrine (Nichizengu, 日前宮), Kamayama Shrine (竈山神社) and Itakiso Shrine (伊太祁曽神社). It belonged to Nankai Electric Railway until Nankai announced its withdrawal in 2004. Wakayama Electric Railway took over the line in April 2006.
In January 2007 the company appointed a cat named Tama as stationmaster at Kishi, and she became the symbol of the line's revival. Promotions followed every few years, up to acting company president in 2013. After her company funeral in June 2015 Tama was named honorary permanent stationmaster and enshrined as Tama Daimyojin (たま大明神) in the shrine on the platform.
The cat stationmasters
Nitama, who arrived from Okayama in 2012, succeeded Tama at Kishi in 2015 under the title Tama II and is now honorary special stationmaster. A second small shrine on the platform is dedicated to her. The present Kishi stationmaster is Yontama, appointed manager stationmaster in 2024. Gotama, stationmaster at Idakiso, stands in for her on some days, and Rokutama, a stationmaster candidate since 2026, works at both stations.
Station building and trains
The station building, designed by Eiji Mitooka, was completed in 2010. Its shape is modelled on a cat's face, and the roof is thatched with hinoki cypress bark (hiwadabuki, 檜皮葺). Inside are the Tama Museum shop and cafe and the stationmasters' office. The station has no ticket staff.
The company runs themed trains on the line. The Ichigo Train (Ichigo Densha, いちご電車), from 2006, takes its theme from the strawberries grown around Kishi. The Tama Train (Tama Densha, たま電車), from 2009, carries 101 drawings of Tama on its body. The Ume Star Train (Umeboshi Densha, うめ星電車), from 2016, is themed on the Nanko plum and has a Japanese-style interior.
Getting There
Planning a trip? Fit this into a trip and Oni plans the rest around it.
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