Akechitaira aerial ropeway, Nikko, c. 1940. The “Akechidaira Ropeway” was operated by the Nikko Tozan Railway and opened in 1933, twenty years after the funicular Nikko Tramway Line (aka “Nikko Steel Cable Railway Line”) first connected Nikko City with Umagaeshi Station.

See also:
Aerial cable car, Taisho Exhibition, Ueno Park, Tokyo, 1914.
Nikko Motor Bus Co. tour of Nikko, c. 1940.
Iroha-zaka, Nikko.

“The Akechidaira Ropeway was is aerial lift line operated by Nikko-Kotso, a subsidiary of the Tobu Group, in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, connecting Umagaeshi and Akechidaira.

“The 1263-meter long ropeway was opened in 1933 by Nikko Tozan Railway. During the Pacific War, it was shut down by the government as an ‘unnecessary, non-emergency line’. It reopened in 1950, the only ropeway in Japan to have been restored into service after the war.”

“Nikko Town, at that time, jointly established Nikko Electric Tramway in 1908 (Meiji 41) with Furukawa General Partnership (now Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., hereafter referred to as Furukawa Denko), and opened in 1910 (Meiji 43). It was built for the purpose of transporting passengers to tourist destinations such as Nikko Toshogu Shrine, Rinno-ji Temple, and Futarasan Shrine, as well as freight from the Furukawa Copper Refinery .

“At the time of opening, the line had 14 cars in total: 3 electric passenger cars, 2 electric freight cars, and 9 combination passenger-freight cars. It was a rare tramway: it ran along mountain roads, with the altitude along the line raising from 533m at the Nikko Station (later the JNR station) to 838m at Umagaeshi, the highest of any tramway in Japan. The result was steep track, with the steepest gradient of 60‰ (per mille) and many gradients over 50‰.

“In 1932, a cable car line operated by a subsidiary of the Nikko Tozan Railway (later the Tobu Nikko Cable Railway Line) was extended from its terminus at Umagaeshi to Akechidaira, and the following year it was augmented by the erection of the Akechidaira Aerial Rope-way, providing tourists with a more rapid transport option to Kegon Falls and Lake Chuzenji than walking or slow ascent by motor vehicle.

“The Nikko Tramway made its last run in February, 1958.”

– Wikipedia

Map: Nikko Ropeway and Cable Car, 1946.