Amanohashidate Cable Car

On 21 June 1924 a railway licence was granted to the firm Tango Jidōsha, and on 5 December 1925 the company Nariai Electric Railway (成相電気鉄道) was established. On 5 May 1926 Tango Jidōsha was permitted to transfer its railway-laying rights to Nariai Electric Railway, which then built the funicular.

The cable line opened on 13 August 1927, when Nariai Electric Railway began operating between Fuchū and Kasamatsu. Later that year, on 22 December 1927, the company renamed itself the Amanohashidate Cable Railway (天橋立鋼索鉄道), the name that the line still carries today. Built as a route to Nariai-ji temple, the line also offers a view of Amanohashidate.

On 5 August 1929 the company began running connecting buses between Kasamatsu and Nariai-ji, linking the top of the funicular to the temple that was the route's ultimate destination.

The Pacific War brought the line to a halt. On 11 February 1944 the funicular was closed as a "non-essential line" (不要不急線), its facilities requisitioned by the state; the closure was carried out at government direction to support the war effort. On 31 May 1944 the Amanohashidate Cable Railway company itself was dissolved, and the line remained closed for several years.

After the war, a new local-railway licence for the Fuchū–Kasamatsu section was granted to Tango Kairiku Tetsudō on 18 May 1950, and on 12 August 1951 the line reopened under the operator Tango Kairiku Kōtsū. The Shōwa Emperor and Empress Kōjun used it on 22 April 1962, during an imperial visit to the prefecture.

The line's present car bodies were built in 1975 by Alna Kōki and, at 7.95 metres long, rank among the shortest passenger funicular cars licensed under Japan's Railway Business Law. Trains run at fifteen-minute intervals on a four-minute trip, with seasonal operating hours, and Fuchū Station's platform sits on a 78-per-mille slope, gradual enough to be a ramp rather than a stepped staircase. On 9 August 2025 the line began running with replacement winding machinery transferred from the Myōken-no-Mori Cable of Nose Dentetsu, a sister line within the Hankyu Hanshin Tōhō Group that had closed in 2023.

2 stations tracked on the map, listed alphabetically. Select any to read its page.

• Fuchu (Kyoto)府中
• Kasamatsu (Kyoto)傘松

• 192421 June: a railway licence is granted to Tango Jidōsha.
• 19255 December: Nariai Electric Railway (成相電気鉄道) is established.
• 19265 May: Tango Jidōsha is permitted to transfer its railway-laying rights to Nariai Electric Railway.
• 192713 August: Nariai Electric Railway opens the Fuchū–Kasamatsu funicular; on 22 December the company is renamed the Amanohashidate Cable Railway (天橋立鋼索鉄道).
• 19295 August: connecting bus service begins between Kasamatsu and Nariai-ji temple.
• 194411 February: the funicular is closed as a 'non-essential line' (不要不急線), its facilities requisitioned by the state for the war effort; on 31 May the Amanohashidate Cable Railway company is dissolved.
• 195018 May: a new local-railway licence for the Fuchū–Kasamatsu section is granted to Tango Kairiku Tetsudō.
• 195112 August: the line reopens under the operator Tango Kairiku Kōtsū, restoring service between Fuchū and Kasamatsu.
• 196222 April: the Shōwa Emperor and Empress Kōjun use the line during an imperial visit to Kyoto Prefecture.
• 1975The line's present car bodies are built by Alna Kōki; at 7.95 m long they are among the shortest passenger funicular cars licensed under Japan's Railway Business Law.
• 20259 August: the line begins running with replacement winding machinery transferred from the Myōken-no-Mori Cable of Nose Dentetsu, a Hankyu Hanshin Tōhō Group sister line closed in 2023.