Nezugaseki Station Year of the Rat Commemorative Admission Ticket 🛤️ Issued by Niigata Railway Operating Division / January 1, 1984 (Showa 59) Nezugaseki Station 120-yen Ticket, 2-piece set
[Introduction to Niigata Paper Ephemera] 🧐
"Nezugaseki Station Year of the Rat Commemorative Admission Ticket" 🛤️
Issued by Niigata Railway Operating Division / January 1, 1984 (Showa 59)
Nezugaseki Station 120-yen Ticket, 2-piece set
A "Year of the Rat" commemorative admission ticket issued at Nezugaseki Station, a famous station on the Uetsu Main Line at the southernmost tip of Yamagata Prefecture 🐭
A commemorative ticket rich in local color, typical of a regional station, combining the "rat" as a lucky charm with the history of Nezugaseki, which has long flourished as a port for Kitamaebune ships and a checkpoint.
A highly informative set featuring a papier-mâché rat and the station building on the front, and the history of the station and an explanation of the Edo-period checkpoint on the back 🎫
[Explanation of Contents, etc.] 🧐
○ Issued by the Niigata Railway Operating Division.
A commemorative admission ticket produced for the Year of the Rat in 1984 (Showa 59).
○ Nezugaseki Station is located in present-day Nezugaseki, Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture. It was a key location on the Uetsu Main Line near the Niigata prefectural border and an important point for transportation on the Sea of Japan side.
○ The station opened in November 1923 (Taisho 12) as an extension of the Rikuu West Line.
Later, in 1924 (Taisho 13), it was renamed the Uetsu Main Line, leading to the full completion of the line between Niitsu and Akita.
○ The back of the ticket features "The History of the Year of the Rat and Nezugaseki Station."
It introduces how the "rat" is the first of the twelve zodiac signs and has been considered auspicious since ancient times as a symbol of fertility, abundant harvests, and family safety.
○ The back of the other ticket contains an explanation of the "Edo-period Checkpoint." Nezugaseki is known as one of the "Oshu Three Checkpoints" and was a base for the traffic of Kitamaebune ships and the inspection of people and horses.
○ The photo on the ticket shows the wooden station building of the time and a lighthouse-style monument typical of a port town. It captures the atmosphere of a Showa-era local station.
○ Although it is a practical ticket specification "valid for one use on the day of sale," many were kept for preservation, making it a valuable resource for both railway and local history.
○ A regular admission ticket in 1984 (Showa 59) cost 120 yen. It conveys the sense of the era at the end of the Japanese National Railways.
📖 A "cross-section of history" told by paper
A set that layers the history of a border station and a checkpoint town onto the lucky charm of the "rat" zodiac sign.
The simple design of the papier-mâché rat and the wooden station building of the Uetsu Main Line.
Behind it lies the memory of Sea of Japan trade, Kitamaebune ships, and the Oshu Three Checkpoints. It is not just a commemorative ticket, but an item I would like to call a "local historical document that seals the history of the land into a small piece of paper" 😌
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