Tama the Cat: The Legacy of Kishi’s Super Stationmaster

Built in 1916 as the Nankai Kishigawa Line, the main purpose of the line was to help visitors easily get to the Wakayama Sanzan Shrines. However, as cars became more commonplace, the number of passengers declined sharply over the years. In 2003 Nakai Railways decided to abandon the line, but since there were still people who rely on the Kishigawa Line to commute, the prefecture decided it would purchase the line. They re-named it the Wakayama Railway and let a train company in Okayama run the line.

It was around this time when the railway was changing hands that a stray cat took up residence in a small storage building next to the station. Every day, the cat would make her way around the station. Somehow, she got the name Tama and her friendly demeanor made her a favorite with customers.

However, the city decided to take down the storage building to make room for parking lot. The new president of the Wakayama Railway took pity on Tama, and decided to let her replace the recently deceased human stationmaster, so she could stay at the station.

Once she became stationmaster, people from all over the world came to see her. Even big news companies from overseas, like CNN and BBC, came to see Tama. The station started to make Tama the Cat merchandise, which tourists happily bought up. In fact, they sold so much Tama merchandise that the train company was even able to pay off its debts! Because of her contributions to the company, Tama got promoted, and became a chief executives of the company.

Later in her life, Tama earned the title of “Ultra Stationmaster”, making her stationmaster of all of Wakayama Railways stations. Finally, at the age of 16, Tama the Cat passed away. Of course she had a funereal, which attracted some 3,000 people including the governor and mayor of Wakayama.

After her death, Tama had one last accomplishment, godhood. Sanctified as Tama Daimyojin, her little shrine is in front of Kishi Station.

After her passing, her apprentice, Nitama, became the stationmaster of Kishi Station. Wakayama Railway also placed another cat, Yontama in charge of nearby Idakiso Station. In the spirit of Tama, both Nitama and Yontama welcome hundreds of visitors every day. They even opened a little café and museum to Tama the Cat in Kishi Station.