Kizukuri

Departure data for this station is not available on this site.

Kizukuri Station opened on October 21, 1924, in the former town of Kizukuri, on what is now the Gonō Line. Freight handling ended on September 20, 1980, and the staff was withdrawn on April 1, 1983 in favour of simplified consignment. Operational control passed to JR East with the privatisation of Japanese National Railways on April 1, 1987. The current reinforced-concrete station building, completed on August 3, 1992, is fronted by a giant statue modelled on the shakōkidogū (goggle-eyed clay figure) excavated from the nearby Kamegaoka site; the building was selected for the Top 100 Stations of Tōhoku in 2002.

The eyes of the shakōkidogū statue on the station façade have had a red-glowing mechanism from the outset, and for a time after it was installed they blinked in step with train arrivals and departures — the "Irasshai (Welcome) Beam". Complaints from nearby residents that it was frightening, and that it scared children, led to the blinking being suspended except when specifically requested. A refurbishment carried out between October 2019 and March 2020 replaced the bulbs with LEDs able to show seven colours in four patterns, restoring the illumination; by 2020 regular users said they had grown used to it, and some treat it as a signal that a train is approaching.