It connects Fuji Station in Fuji, Shizuoka to Kōfu Station in Kōfu, Yamanashi, and the Tōkaidō Main Line with the Chūō Main Line trunk railroads.

The Fuji Horse Tramway (富士馬車鉄道, Fuji Basha Tetsudō) opened a line from Suzukawa (present Yoshiwara) on the Tōkaidō Main Line to Ōmiya (present Fujinomiya) (the southern end of the current route) in 1890.

CTC signalling was commissioned in 1982, and freight services ceased in 1987, the year that Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) took over operations of the Minobu Line following privatization of the Japanese National Railways.

The Fujikawa limited express service operates between Kōfu and Shizuoka via Fuji using JR Central 373 series EMU trains.

Stations marked with "●" local and Fujikawa limited express services stop.