It is located on a steep section of the Hisatsu Line on an inverted Z-shaped switchback that made it necessary for all trains (including express trains) to stop at this station as passing was impossible.

Local volunteers set up station notes and offer special products and tea.

On 22 August 1945 a derailment accident occurred in a tunnel between Masaki and Yoshimatsu, resulting in 53 deaths, Freight services were discontinued in 1974 and baggage handling from 1984, with the station becoming unattended from 1986.

With the privatization of Japanese National Railways (JNR), the successor of JGR, on 1 April 1987, Nishi Kobayashi came under the control of JR Kyushu.

The floodwaters engulfed the village, leaving 4 people dead, 5 injured, and 28 residential and 29 non-residential houses washed away.