The Hatsukari was first introduced on 1 October 1958 as a long-distance steam-hauled limited express service operating between Ueno in Tokyo and Aomori via the J?ban Line. From 1960, new KiHa 81 series diesel multiple units were introduced on the service, reducing the journey time to 10 hours 25 minutes. From 1 October 1968, the train was routed via the more direct Tohoku Main Line using 583 series electric multiple units.