NS  Non-stop Limited Express (ノンストップ特急; nonsutoppu tokkyū) SV  Premium Express Shimakaze (しまかぜ; Shimakaze)[1] The Yamada Line was built in the late 1920s and early 1930s to provide a more direct link for pilgrims and travelers going between Osaka and Ise Grand Shrine in Ujiyamada (now Ise) and was designed to compete with the Japanese National Railways Sangū Line (now owned by JR Central).

However, at that time the Osaka Line, which was operated under a different name by Osaka Electric Railroad (Daiki), only ran to Sakurai and Sankyū managed the section from Sakurai to Ujiyamada; this railway was known as the Sankyū Main Line (参急本線, Sankyū-honsen).

It was decided that the Sankyū Main Line was the better line for this task and that Sankyū-Nakagawa Station (now Ise-Nakagawa) would serve as the three-way meeting point of trains bound for Osaka, Nagoya, and Ujiyamada.

In 1941, Sankyū and its parent company Daiki merged to form Kansai Kyuko Railway (Kankyū), the precursor to Kintetsu.

In 1944, following mergers with other Kansai area railway companies, Kankyū became Kintetsu and the line came under its current ownership and name.