泰久寺駅（旧国鉄倉吉線廃線跡） Taikyuji Station (Former Kurayoshi Line)
hello again and welcome to another
video now way back in the Japan National
Railways days before the railways in
Japan were privatized as JR there was a
line called the kurayoshi
line it was a local line which linked
kurayoshi a small City in toori
prefecture with yamamori
station kurayoshi is on the Japan sea
and from there the line headed Inland
towards the chugoku
mountains the plan was to build the
railway as far as chugo katama station
on the kishin line but this plan was
never realized and the line only ever
went as far as yamamori
station the whole line all 20 km of it
closed on April the 1st
1985 however here near taii station
on the outskirts of kurayoshi City some
of the line Still
Remains the remaining section is open to
the public as you can see I’m walking
along the railway
now and in fact it’s known as the most
beautiful closed Railway in
Japan so today I’m here to take a walk
along the remaining part of the line and
see if it really is that beautiful and I
hope you’ll come along with
me I I caught the bus today from
kurayoshi station to the bus stop called
taii
iguchi from there you can get onto the
line but this first part of line on an
embankment doesn’t last for long in fact
we’re coming up to the end of it right
now from here you can see where the line
was truncated and there’s a nice view
back towards where Sean station would
once have been
it’s easy in a way to appreciate how
rural a line this must have
been after the part of the line on the
embankment ends you need to drop down to
a small I suppose it’s a farm track
really um to follow where the railway
would have
continued the flat part on the left is
where the line would have been but Pres
presumably the embankment would have
continued so at some point after the
line was closed that embankment must
have been
removed by the way this part of the Walk
is not really that interesting so I sped
it up to three times
speed and as you can see after a while
we rejoin where the embankment would
have
been so we’re climbing up to where the
original level of the line was
I wonder if there was a bridge or some
sort of Viaduct over this part it seems
strange that only part of the embankment
was removed
really anyway as we get back up to the
old level of the line the rails start
again very much in
place right we’re back to normal speed
now anyway looking at where the track
ran it’s amazing really that there are
houses so close if it were a a Tramway
then I could understand that but this
was a full Railway
line depending on how you feel about
Railways it must have been wonderful or
a nightmare to have trains running so
close to your
house anyway this next stretch as far as
taiq station itself is not really so
interesting so once again I’ll speed it
up from just up here the old track bed
with its track still remaining is on a
completely separate alignment from the
road as you can
see it’s amazing really that it survived
for nearly 40 years pretty much
[Music]
intact having said that though the sanor
line which joined mioshi in Rosa
prefecture and GSU in shiman prefecture
was basically left as it was when it was
closed in
2018 so maybe this is basically the same
thing maybe in 40 years time the sanor
line to will have become a tourist
attraction as I say there’s not a great
deal to see on this section of the line
apart from the railway itself of course
but the landscape in this area is very
pleasant it’s a very typical farming
landscape
bucolic and in the background always
there are the cha
mountains looking at a map it seems that
if the line had been built all the way
to chok katama station it would have
been maybe another 60 km so not that far
a distance but nevertheless
those mountains would have been in the
way I suppose it’s not really so
difficult in the end to see why the line
was never
built anyway a bridge has been
demolished here but just after the
bridge is taii
station we have to go down onto the road
just to pass the section where the
bridge is no longer there but after that
it’s only maybe 20 or 30 m to the
station
itself and here we are this is what I
assume would once have been the for
court for the station so first of all
let’s go up onto the platform
itself the old platform is completely
remaining in fact it even has a station
sign although to be honest I think
that’s a replica of the original
it’s a fairly short
platform I would say one carriage or
maximum two carriages length it goes
just a little bit further on down here
but this is the
end ta Cuji station was opened in 1958
the very end of 1958 in fact when the
line was extended from seian to the
Terminus at yamamori
it was closed in 1985 obviously with all
the other stations on the line so it
only had a life of 27 years which for a
station I think is quite short
really I suppose it just shows how
priorities changed in the intervening 30
years in the 1950s it was still feasible
to build or extend lines whereas in the
1980s the focus was very much on closing
lines it’s a shame really anyway this is
the station
sign whether it’s a replica or not it’s
unfortunately pretty faded
now anyway from taqi station is the
really picturesque part of the remaining
section of line so let’s go and take a
look the sleepers on the track are very
definitely showing their age now I mean
it’s 40 years since the line was closed
basically but the track itself seems to
be in Fairly good condition and I
suspect it wouldn’t take a great deal of
work to reopen the line not that that’s
ever going to happen of course but it’s
nice to
dream this is one part of the line where
serious work would be needed
though the trees have grown underneath
the track completely distorting
it actually though it sort of adds to
the atmosphere of the
[Music]
place okay so we’re coming up to the
Bamboo Grove that the railway line runs
through this is possibly the main reason
why it’s regarded as is the most
beautiful closed Railway in
Japan the site that you always see on
posters social media websites and so on
is the site we’re just coming up to
now right in the very middle of the
track there are two bamboo
plants we’ll take another look at those
bamboo plants on the way back I think
but first of all
I’m going to walk as far as I
can I can sort of see why people do call
this the most beautiful closed line in
Japan it’s not that the scenery here is
or inspiring or anything like that there
are no rugged mountains or precipitous
valleys or anything like
that I think if anything it’s more the
sense of sort of a gradual Return To
Nature
I think that’s where the beauty of this
place comes from more than anything else
and it really is quite
appealing somehow and I can’t quite put
my finger on why it reminds me of the
poem oim mandas by
Shelly anyway we’re coming up to not the
end of the line but the end of where you
can walk
to there are walking tours once once a
month that individuals can join which go
through this tunnel all the way to
yamamori station but for me as an
individual this is it this is as far as
I can
go it’s a remarkable Place really it’s
so still quiet it seems amazing really
that there was ever a railway here let
alone that that Railway has remained as
it has
anyway it’s time to start heading back I
think there aren’t that many buses to
this area and if I miss the next one I
think I have another 90 minutes to
wait I’m really enjoying visiting tyui
but I don’t really think I need another
hour and a half here
I don’t think many people would disagree
if I said that the Bamboo Grove here is
the real star of the whole of the
remaining part of the kurayoshi
line in a way just to stand in the very
middle of a Grove like this is not
really something you can do that
often and of course it’s an even rarer
opportunity to be able to stand in a
bamboo Grove with an Old Railway running
through
it the very high height of the bamboo is
just quite overwhelming
really and then of course the whole
Bamboo Grove is just so densely
packed I think you’d have real trouble
walking through that Grove of bamboo let
alone in a straight
line I’m not going to try walking
through the Bamboo Grove though because
I saw a sign a while back warning
against poisonous snakes
I think it’s probably still too early
for snakes but that’s not a risk I’m
willing really to
take anyway we’re coming up again to the
bamboo between the
[Music]
tracks I saw somewhere um I think it was
on kurayoshi City’s tourism
website that the bamboo is trimmed
fairly regularly but
these two plants are left because of
their
position I know that bamboo grows pretty
fast but just look at the height of
those two bamboo plants especially the
one in the foreground which curves
over I’d say they must have been growing
for a good few
years anyway here’s another view with
the Bamboo Grove in the
background it really is is quite an
interesting I suppose atmospheric
spot I think it’s a really good place to
visit if you’re looking for somewhere in
Japan that’s just a little bit off the
Beaten Track ah sorry about the pun
there to be honest I expected it would
be busier but I’ve only seen two or
three people so
far I have to say I rather like this
view as well
the way the track runs between those two
trees is quite nicely
appealing from this angle though it’s
very easy to see just how much the track
has been
distorted it’s almost like the trees are
swallowing the railway
gradually I suppose it’s another example
of how everything is returning slowly to
Nature also from this part of the
Railway the views out towards the choka
mountains are quite impressive
too as I said earlier it’s a very rural
bucolic sort of
scene and even though it’s the beginning
of April I’m pretty sure that snow still
on that mountain over
there anyway just one last thing before
I catch the boss back to
kurayoshi the G in taq uji the station
name means
Temple normally if you have a station
called something Temple then logically
there’s a temple
nearby and sure enough tyji the temple
is on the way back from tyui the station
to the bus stop so a little detour I
think in terms of architecture I’d say
the temple is fairly standard although I
can hardly claim to be any sort of
expert it looks like a pleasant enough
place I
suppose anyway I really do need to hurry
back to the bus stop now so I think it’s
just about time to end this video taqi
station and the remaining part of the
old kurayoshi line is not the easiest
place to get to but I would personally
say that it is very definitely worth
making making the
effort please do leave a comment if
you’ve paid a visit before or if you’re
planning to pay a visit in the future
anyway thank you very much for watching
this video for joining me on this
journey today and I hope to see you in
another video very soon for now though
goodbye
This video is of a short (half-day) visit to the JNR (Japanese National Railways) Kurayoshi Line.
The Kurayoshi Line was a short rural railway line running inland from Kurayoshi City, towards the Chugoku Mountain Range. Opened originally in 1912, with extensions in 1941 and 1958, the whole line (to Yamamori) was closed in 1985.
Now, a section of the line, centred around the former Taikyuji Station, remains with its rails intact, and can be walked along. The views out towards the Chugoku Mountains are of a peaceful, rural landscape, and part-way along the remaining section, the railway runs through a bamboo grove. The view of bamboo plants growing between the railway lines is excellent. Indeed, the remaining section of line is known as the most beautiful closed line in Japan.
If you’re looking for a hidden gem off the beaten track in Japan, the Kurayoshi Line is well worth a visit.
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