The station building is a steel frame structure which houses a waiting room and an automatic ticket vending machine.

The track was extended westwards in phases, with this station opening as the new western terminus on 23 November 1922.

By 1928, the track had been extended further west and had linked up with the Miyagi Line (宮地線) reaching eastwards from Kumamoto.

On 2 December 1928, the entire track from Kumamoto through Ogata to Ōita was designated as the Hōhi Main Line.

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