Tateno (Kumamoto)

Weekday departures: 38/day in the available timetable data · Sat & holiday departures: 38/day in the available timetable data

Earliest / latest departure in the available data (weekday): 5:55 / 23:14

Busiest hour in the available data: 17:00–18:00 (4)

0:00 ─ 23:00

Figures are typical departures in the timetable data, not a live service count.

Timetable data as of 2 May 2026.

The timetable data is incomplete for some or all lines at this station, so the weekday and Sat & holiday figures are departures in the available timetable data, not totals.

Lines where the timetable data is complete: Hohi Line

Lines where the timetable data is incomplete:

• Takamori Line: no timetable data

• Hohi Line: Akamizu ⇄ Seta (Kumamoto)

Tateno opened on 11 November 1916 as the eastern terminus of the Miyaji Light Rail Line, which JGR was extending east from Kumamoto. It became a through-station on 25 January 1918 when the track was pushed on to Miyaji, and on 2 December 1928 the Kumamoto - Ōita route was incorporated into the Hōhi Main Line; the Tateno - Takamori branch was separated as the Takamori Line the same day. The Takamori Line was transferred to the third-sector Minami-Aso Railway on 1 April 1986, and Tateno passed to JR Kyushu at JNR privatisation on 1 April 1987. The April 2016 Kumamoto earthquake closed the station; JR services resumed on 8 August 2020 and Minami-Aso through-services on 15 July 2023.

To climb the roughly 190-metre difference in altitude over the roughly 8 km to Akamizu, the next station along the Hōhi Main Line, trains must work through a three-stage switchback, changing direction twice: they reverse at Tateno itself, which sits at the bottom of the switchback, run back up to a reversing track at an altitude of 306 metres, and change direction again to head on towards Ōita. Tateno is one of three JR Kyushu stations with a switchback, along with Ōkoba and Masaki on the Hisatsu Line, and since 8 August 2020 it has been the only one served by scheduled trains.