RotW is my Railways of the Warrior project. Visiting all the Japanese train stations with Fuji in the name & the 12 castles with the original keep still standing wasn’t enough to satisfy my love of lists, so now I’m working through all the stations with Musashi in their name.

Click this link for more info.

Name in kanji : 武蔵引田
Kanji meaning: pull + rice field
Station opened : 1930 (as Byōinmae; name changed in 1944)
Trainlines: Itsukaichi Line
# Passengers daily : 4000
Distance from CityHillsAndSea HQ: 86km
Located in: Akiruno, Tokyo

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Things to Do

erm… there’s a big Aeon Mall, which does have a chain restaurant with an appropriately funky name:

Other local attractions near the station? The hospital, which must have been here when the station first opened in 1930, since the first name of this place was “In front of the hospital”. I imagine the architecture wasn’t quite like this back then :

You could maybe make your way down south and across the river, to Tokyo Summerland – a big water park with a Ferris wheel you’ll easily notice rising up from the plain.

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All About Musashi-Hikida Station

This little station is our first Musashi on the Itsukaichi line, a small local line that runs from Hajima to Musashi-Itsukaichi in the west. Once upon a time, this line curved on up to Musashi-Iwai – although that was only for freight. We’ll get there all in good time, never you fear.

All of the Itsukaichi line stations are part of Akiruno city, which is considered part of the Tokyo metropolis, a little curiosity to bear in mind as you breathe in the fresh air and contemplate the forests on the mountainsides in the distance.

In fact, wandering around the outskirts of this little place, it is something of a struggle to connect the rolling hills and green fields all about you with the endless noise, concrete and crowds of Japan’s capital city.

Nevertheless, this struggle is purely academic, for you can comfortably make it into Shinjuku from here in less than an hour. I found myself wondering if a lot of people would do that; live here but work in the city. Is the disconnect between these two worlds a welcome barrier or does one side call more than the other to a person traveling between them?

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Station Rating

Nothing to report here at all, to be honest – which, as I often point out, doesn’t reflect poorly on the place at all. It’s fine to be boring. It’s hip to be square. Just don’t except a lot of people to come visit you there.

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Musashi-Hikida Station Gallery

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