Kinosaki Onsen Station is on the JR West Japan San-in Line and is the closest station to Kinosaki Onsen. Kinosaki Onsen has been a famous hot spring resort since the Edo period (1603-1868), but it was not until the opening of the railroad in 1909 that it became nationally famous and began to develop in earnest, especially since it appeared in a number of literary works, including “At Kinosaki” by Naoya Shiga in 1917 (Taisho 6), which increased its name recognition and made it a representative hot spring resort in Kansai. The station was located in an area outside the hot spring resort when it was first established. When the station first opened, it was located outside of the hot spring resort, but as the number of passengers increased, the area in front of the station began to bustle, and the town eventually became an integral part of the hot spring resort area. The Kitatajima Earthquake of May 23, 1925 devastated Kinosaki Onsen, and the station building also collapsed. On May 21 of the following year, the second station building of reinforced concrete construction was completed. This was initially simple in appearance, but the reconstruction work completed on May 11, 1949, gave the station its present appearance, a Japanese style with a tiled roof. On July 7, 2000, “Ekisha Onsen Satonoyu” opened in front of the station building, and on October 14, 2000, it was selected as one of the first 100 stations in the Kinki region.