Kominato Railway Ama-Ariki Station Building

A Hipped-Roof Station with Bargeboards

The Kominato Railway Ama-Ariki Station Building (小湊鉄道海士有木駅本屋, Amaariki) is a single-storey timber station built around 1925 in Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture; it was extended in 1932 and 1985 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on May 2, 2017.

Ama-Ariki lies about 3 kilometers southeast of Kazusa Murakami, and its building dates from the railway's opening years.

Restrained Ornament

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the Kominato Railway Ama-Ariki Station Building as single-storey timber with a tiled roof and a building area of 64 square meters. A hipped-roof core holding the office and waiting room has had a rest room and other spaces added.

The walls are clad in overlapping horizontal boards. Front and back, a lean-to roof projects one ken (about 1.8 meters), and its ends are trimmed with bargeboards. The agency singles out this understated detail as capturing the feel of the period.

The agency's note on neighboring Kazusa Yamada describes Ama-Ariki as the same standard design used at the line's opening. Ride from station to station and you can watch one basic type evolve through different additions.

Seeing It

The Kominato Railway Ama-Ariki Station Building is still in use, and the waiting room is open to passengers. From the forecourt, look at how the bargeboards on the lean-to sit below the hipped tile roof; the track side has a matching projection.

The station is unstaffed but has a ticket machine. As of September 25, 2026, trains between Goi and Kazusa Ushiku were running normally.