Uzumasa Station (太秦駅)

Uzumasa Station, located in Uzumasa Tarumiyama-cho, Ukyo Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, is a stop on the Sanin Main Line (Sagano Line), which is operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West).

The cable address of the station name is 'Osautsu.'

ICOCA and J-Through Card, both of which are IC cards, are available for railway fare payment at this station; for information on which IC cards are compatible with ICOCA, please refer to the article about ICOCA. Uzumasa Station is a stop in Kyoto City, where the JR railway fare system of specific metropolitan and urban areas is applied.

Railways near to Uzumasa Station
Keifuku Electric Railroad Co., Ltd.: Arashiyama Main Line/Kitano Line (Katabiranotsuji Station/Tokiwa Station (Kyoto Prefecture))

Station layout
It is an aboveground station having with two separate platforms that face each other with two sets of tracks running between, and it is equipped with facilities that enable two trains to pass each other. The station building is located on the north platform.

Uzumasa Station employs "Issen-through," the system of speeding up the prioritized train of two trains, which come from both ends of a single track, by limiting the prioritized train's running line to one track of the specially equipped double track in the station; to promote passenger convenience, some local trains for Sonobe Station that don't wait for another train to go first at this station and all local trains for Kyoto Station stop at Platform 1, which faces the subsidiary main track and adjoins the station building. Because the rapid train and limited express don't stop at this station, they basically pass through Platform 2.

On March 18, 2007, the operation pattern of trains on the Sagano Line was significantly changed, and the trains for Sonobe Station restarted to leave and arrive at Platform 2 during the daytime.

Additionally, the station's operation is consigned to JR West Kotsu Service.

Passenger use
The average daily number of passengers who used this station in fiscal year 2006 was 4,364.
(According to the Kyoto Prefecture Statistics Report)

Tourists use the station by associating the name of Uzumasa with 'Toei Movie Land (Kyoto Uzumasa Eigamura)'; moreover, houses and other buildings stand around the station, so the number of passengers is relatively large in comparison to the station.

Before the opening of Emmachi Station, many passengers would get off the train here at Uzumasa Station and then board another train at Randen (Keifuku) Katabiranotsuji Station on the Kitano Line in order to go to Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine or Ritsumeikan University Kinugasa Campus.

Station surroundings
Katabiranotsuji Station is 300 meters south of Uzumasa Station, but considerable numbers of passengers change trains between the two stations. The neighborhood is a residential area.

Koryu-ji Temple, Toei Kyoto Movie Studios and Toei Movie Land (Kyoto Uzumasa Eigamura) are all about 500 meters to the east of Uzumasa Station, but one can go to Toei Movie Land more easily and in a slightly shorter time from Hanazono Station (Kyoto Prefecture) than from Uzumasa Station. During "Golden Week," Japan's vacation period from late April to early May, production activity at Toei Kyoto Movie Studios also ceases, so the facilities are open to the public and are occasionally used as a special parking lot or as the back door of Toei Movie Land.

Additionally, if you want to go to Toei Movie Land from Uzumasa Station on foot, please take the following route:
First, leave the station building and turn to the right, but do NOT go across the railway crossing of the Sanin Main Line; instead, go straight to the north (your left) about 200 meters and turn at the atypical four-road junction to the east (your right);
keep following Shimodachiuri-dori Street about 500 meters--along the way you'll see Kyoto Prefectural Sagano High School on your left and will go across the railway crossing of Keifuku (Randen) Kitano Line--and then turn at a three-lamp signal at a junction to the south (your right);
and go straight about 200 meters--along the way you'll cross under the overhead railway of the Sanin Main Line for the first time--and finally you'll arrive at Toei Movie Land.

History
March 11, 1989: Uzumasa Station opened.

Adjacent stations
West Japan Railway Company (JR West)
Sagano Line (Sanin Main Line)
Rapid
Nonstop
Local
Hanazono Station (Kyoto Prefecture) - Uzumasa Station - Saga-Arashiyama Station

[Original Japanese]