Ichibata Electric Railway Co., Ltd. is the name of two related, yet different companies in Shimane Prefecture

Shimane Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on Honshū island. The capital is Matsue. It is the second least populous prefecture in Japan, after its eastern neighbor Tottori. The prefecture has an area elongated from east to west facing the Chūgoku Mountain Range on the south side and to...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Ichibata Denki Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha was a railway operator until 2006, when it became a holding company

Holding company

A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...

 of the Ichibata Group, spinning off its railway division to the newly founded Ichibata Densha Kabushiki-gaisha . Although the two have different names in Japanese, their official English names are completely same.

Railway

The rail link in Shimane Prefecture opened in 1911. The railway currently only has two lines:

• the Kita Matsue Line

It runs for 33.9 km from Dentetsu Izumo-shi Station in Izumo

Izumo, Shimane

is a city located in Shimane, Japan. Izumo is known for Izumo soba noodles and the Izumo Taisha Shinto shrine.-Demographics:The modern city was founded on November 3, 1941....

 to Matsue Shinji-ko Onsen Station in Matsue

Matsue, Shimane

is the capital city of Shimane Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan.As of August, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 207,000, following its most recent merging with Higashi-Izumo...

.

• the Taisha Line

It runs for 8.3 km, entirely in the city of Izumo, from Kawato Station (on the Kita Matsue Line) to Izumo Taisha-mae Station, near Izumo Taisha

Izumo Taisha

is one of the most ancient and important Shinto shrines in Japan. No record gives the date of establishment. Located in Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, it is home to two major festivals. It is dedicated to the god Ōkuninushi , famous as the Shinto deity of marriage.A style of architecture,...

.

Dentetsu Izumo-shi Station is adjacent to Izumo-shi Station of the Sanin Main Line of West Japan Railway

West Japan Railway Company

, also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group companies and operates in western Honshū. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka.-History:...

 (JR West).

Part of the Kita Matsue Line runs along Lake Shinji

Lake Shinji

is a lake in the northeast area of the Shimane Prefecture in Japan. The lake is the seventh largest in Japan, with a circumference of 48 km. It is enclosed by the Shimane peninsula to the north, and the Izumo and Matsue plains to the west and east respectively...

.

External links

• Ichibata Electric Railway (The holding company)
• Ichibata Electric Railway (The railway company)