山陽線

San'yôsen literally means "Mountain Sunshine Line," but the name refers to the Sanyo region of Japan—the southern side of the western panhandle of Honshu. The line travels through Hyogo, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, and Fukuoka prefectures, from the western frontier of the Kansai metropolitan area to the northern tip of Kyushu.

The line was built in stages between 1888 and 1901 by the private Sanyo Railway firm, and was brought into the Japan National Railways system in 1906. Until World War II, it was extensively used to bring passengers and freight from Osaka and Kobe to the shipping terminal at Shimonoseki. In 1942, when the Kanmon Tunnel across the Shimonoseki Strait was completed, the Sanyo Line became the only land link between Honshu and Kyushu.

Since the 1970's, the Sanyo Line has been paralleled by a Shinkansen line, intuitively called the Sanyo Shinkansen. Nowadays, most long-distance travelers use the Shinkansen instead of the old line (after all, it is the world's fastest scheduled train service), but there are still some reasons you might want to use the Sanyo Line for intercity travel: it's much cheaper than the Shinkansen (especially if you have a Seishun 18 ticket or something similar), and it's much more scenic.

In 1987, when JNR was broken up and privatized, the Sanyo Line ended up under the control of the West Japan Railway (except for the segment in Kyushu, which is part of the Kyushu Railway).

The busiest portion of the line, between Okayama and Hiroshima, is very well-serviced, and you can catch a rapid service train every fifteen minutes even on a slow day. Towards the western end, services slow down to every 30 minutes or so, and on the eastern end, trains only pass by once an hour.

As far as travel times go, it's not difficult at all to travel the length of the Sanyo line in a day. The entire journey from Himeji to Kokura takes about ten hours. It's possible to get from Osaka to Fukuoka in a day, but if you start in Tokyo at the crack of dawn, you'll only get as far as Hiroshima before the trains stop running at midnight.

At its eastern terminus, the Sanyo Line becomes the Kobe Line. At its western terminus, it becomes the Nippo Line.

Station          Distance  Transfers                                     
Himeji                     Shinkansen, Kobe Line, Kishin Line, Bantan Line
Agaho               4.6
Aboshi             10.3
Tatsuno            16.2
Aioi               20.7    Shinkansen, Ako Line
Une                28.3
Kamigori           34.8    Chizu Kyuko Railway
Mitsuishi          47.6
Yoshinaga          54.7 
Wake               60.0
Kumayama           64.6
Mantomi            68.7
Seto               73.2
Joto               77.9
Higashi-Okayama    81.3    Ako Line
Takashima          84.1
Okayama            88.6    Okayama Railway, Shinkansen, Tsuyama Line,
                           Kibi Line, Uno Line, Seto-Ohashi Line
Niwase             95.1
Nakasho            99.8
Kurashiki         104.5    Mizushima Rinkai Railway, Hakubi Line
Nishi-Achi        108.5
Shin-Kurashiki    113.8    Shinkansen
Konko             120.1
Kamogata          124.6
Satosho           127.6 
Kasaoka           132.3
Daimon            139.4
Higashi-Fukuyama  142.7
Fukuyama          146.9    Shinkansen, Fukuen Line
Bingo-Akasaka     152.7    
Matsunaga         156.6
Higashi-Onomichi  160.5
Onomichi          167.0
Itozaki           176.1
Mihara            178.5    Shinkansen, Kure Line
Hongo             188.0
Kochi             200.3
Nyuno             204.7
Shiraichi         209.1
Nishi-Takaya      213.5
Saijo             218.1
Hachihommatsu     224.1
Seno              234.7    Skyrail
Nakano-Higashi    237.6
Aki-Nakano        239.6
Kaitaichi         242.5    Kure Line
Mukainada         245.8
Hiroshima         249.9    Hiroden, Shinkansen, Geibi Line
Yokogawa          252.9    Hiroden, Kabe Line
Nishi-Hiroshima   255.4    Hiroden
Shin-Inokuchi     259.5    Hiroden
Itsukaichi        262.0    Hiroden
Hatsukaichi       265.2
Miyauchi-Kushido  267.0
Ajina             270.0
Miyajimaguchi     271.7    Miyajima Ferry
Maezora           273.5
Onoura            276.6
Kuba              281.6
Otake             286.0
Iwakuni           291.3    Nishikigawa Railway, Gantoku Line
Minami-Iwakuni    295.9
Fuju              298.6
Tsuzu             303.8
Yu                306.8
Kojiro            312.0
Obatake           317.1
Yanai-Minato      321.6
Yanai             324.4
Tabuse            330.6
Iwata             336.1
Shimata           341.1
Hikari            345.9
Kudamatsu         352.1
Kushigahama       356.7    Gantoku Line
Tokuyama          360.1    Shinkansen
Shin-Nanyo        364.2
Fukugawa          367.1
Heta              370.9
Tonomi            379.7
Hofu              386.6
Daido             394.4
Yotsutsuji        399.2
Shin-Yamaguchi    404.4    Shinkansen, Yamaguchi Line, Ube Line
Kagawa            408.4
Hon-Yura          412.9
Koto              423.2
Ube               429.7    Ube Line
Onoda             433.2    Onoda Line
Asa               439.5    Shinkansen, Mine Line
Habu              447.8
Ozuki             454.0
Chofu             460.2
Shin-Shimonoseki  466.1    Shinkansen
Hatabu            469.8    Sanin Line
Shimonoseki       473.3
Moji              479.6    Kagoshima Line
Kokura            485.1    Kitakyushu Monorail, Shinkansen, Nippo Line

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