Karasuma Line mascot train

Overview

The Karasuma Line (K) is Kyoto's north-south spine and the older of the city's two subway lines, opened in 1981 and completed to Kokusaikaikan in 1997. Its 15 stations run about 13.7 km from Kokusaikaikan in Iwakura down to Takeda, almost entirely under Karasuma-dori — one of the straightest lines in the whole game. Kintetsu trains through-run beyond Takeda towards Nara.

Along the route

From Kokusaikaikan the line drops southwest past Matsugasaki and Kitayama, then straightens out at Kitaoji and holds a dead-level course down the middle of the city: Kuramaguchi, Imadegawa below the Imperial Palace, Marutamachi, and Karasuma Oike, the single interchange with the Tozai Line. Shijo and Gojo cover the downtown blocks before Kyoto — the JR and Shinkansen station, and the busiest stop on the line — then Kujo, Jujo, Kuinabashi and Takeda finish the run south.

Why play it

The numbered stations are the hook: Shijo, Gojo, Kujo, Jujo come at you in a stream, and shijo / gojo / kujo / jujo are four names separated by a single kana each. Add Kokusaikaikan at the top — five morae of pure vowel rhythm — and this is a line that punishes reading ahead too fast far more than it punishes slow typing.

Line data

Everything below is derived from the station data the game runs on, so it always matches what you actually type on the 烏丸線 — all 15 stops of it.

Operator
Kyoto Municipal Subway
Line symbol
K
Stations
15
Shape
Terminal to terminal
Termini
国際会館 — 竹田

How much typing is this?

Typing every station name on this line takes 128 keystrokes, an average of 8.5 per station. The longest name is 国際会館 (kokusaikaikan) at 14 keystrokes; the shortest is 五条 (gojo) at 5. Those counts come from running each name's kana through the game's own romaji engine, so they are what your fingers actually do — not the length of the printed spelling.

Along the way: 0 names contain a small っ, which doubles the next consonant; 5 contain a small ゃ, ゅ or ょ, where the engine accepts both the Hepburn and Kunrei spellings (sha or sya, shu or syu); and 1 end in ん, whose trailing n folds into whatever comes next rather than standing alone.

Where you can change trains

1 of the 15 stations on this line connect to another line in the game. Follow any symbol to that line's guide.

Every station on the line

All 15 stations in order, with the official station number, the name in kanji, the kana the typing is derived from, and its Hepburn romaji.

#No.StationKanaRomaji
1K01国際会館こくさいかいかんkokusaikaikan
2K02松ヶ崎まつがさきmatsugasaki
3K03北山きたやまkitayama
4K04北大路きたおおじkitaoji
5K05鞍馬口くらまぐちkuramaguchi
6K06今出川いまでがわimadegawa
7K07丸太町まるたまちmarutamachi
8K08烏丸御池からすまおいけkarasuma-oike
9K09四条しじょうshijo
10K10五条ごじょうgojo
11K11京都きょうとkyoto
12K12九条くじょうkujo
13K13十条じゅうじょうjujo
14K14くいな橋くいなばしkuinabashi
15K15竹田たけだtakeda