Tanakura Station was opened on 13 March 1896 as a station on the Nara Railway, when the line was extended from Tamamizu Station to Kizu Station. The Nara Railway merged with the Kansai Railway in 1905 and was nationalized in 1907.With the privatization of
Japanese National Railways (JNR) on 1 April 1987, the station came under the control of JR West. Station numbering was introduced in March 2018 with Tanakura being assigned station number JR-D17. ==Passenger statistics==