JR Zentsuji Station

About JR Zentsuji Station

JR Zentsuji Station, at Bunkyo-cho, Zentsuji City, Kagawa Prefecture, opened in 1889; its timber station building, extensively rebuilt in 1922, was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on February 14, 2002, followed on June 25 that year by the platform canopies and footbridge of the same period, four registered structures in all (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

According to the Zentsuji City Tourism Association, the station opened in May 1889 on the Sanuki Railway, a line of about 15.5 kilometres linking Kotohira, Tadotsu and Marugame that carried so many pilgrims to Zentsuji and Kotohira-gu that it was called the pilgrimage railway. Nationalised in 1906, the station was rebuilt in autumn 1922 for army grand manoeuvres held in the area. Zentsuji City notes that the building keeps a property plate dated March 30, 1889, and may be older than Kamezaki Station, often called the oldest station building in use in Japan.

Four Structures

The station building is a single-storey timber hall with a hipped, pan-tiled roof and a half-timbered carriage porch on its west front. The Platform 1 canopy, beside it, has a widened span with its western posts set into the building so that the two read as one (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Platform 2 canopy has regularly spaced square posts and king-post trusses whose plain rhythm preserves the railway scenery of its day. The footbridge has Pratt truss girders made of 1889 Barrow Steel rails and is clad, stairs included, in vertical boards to match the canopies (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting and Location

Zentsuji Station is a working station; its building can be seen from outside by anyone, while the platform canopies and footbridge lie within the station and are best seen when travelling by train. The address is 1-7-1 Bunkyo-cho, Zentsuji City. The station was recognised as a Heritage of Industrial Modernization by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2009 (Zentsuji City Tourism Association).