October 30, 1662 Tsunami: Hiuganada, Japan
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake began at Hiuganada, Japan on October 30, 1662 at 14:00 UTC. The water rose as high as 5 meters. Its effects were recorded at 6 places. It killed 200 people, counting the earthquake or eruption that caused it.
Where the waves reached
The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
The tsunami
- Date
- October 30, 1662, 14:00 UTC
- Source
- Hiuganada, Japan
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.9
- Maximum water height
- 5 m (16.4 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 6
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 2.5
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 2
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 31.700° N, 132.000° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 200
- Damage
- Extreme (about $25 million or more); Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses destroyed
- 2,500
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
October 30, 1662 at 23-01 [local time]. 10 boats wrecked in Beppu Minato. 32 km of coastline inundated, water depth 1 m. 2,500 houses destroyed including 246 submerged. 20 deaths. (reference #150)
1662, October, on the night of the 30-31. The entire southeast coast of Kyushu Island suffered to some degree, most of all the coast between the Oyodo and Kaeda Rivers. 1,213 homes were destroyed. On the Osumi peninsula, ten ships loaded with rice were sunk. Five residents died at Beppu, and in all about 200 peopled died. The tsunami may have been observed on the Izu Peninsula. (reference #414)
Hondo et al. (1908, reference #1897) states: "Oct. 30, 1662. Sea waves on the coast of Hiuga and Osumi; several square miles of land lost under sea."
Reference #79 lists many deaths.
The tsunami heights were estimated to be least 4–5 m along the coast in Miyazaki City, as estimated from historical records (Hatori, 1985). The 1662 tsunami was much larger in scale than those usually generated by the repeated M7 class interplate earthquakes that occur in this subduction zone […] It is possible that the 1662 Hyuga-nada earthquake is the largest in Hyuga-nada in historical records, caused by large slip at the active source area of slow earthquakes. (reference #13668)
Every runup
Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.
| Where | Country | Km from source | Water height, m | Inland, m | Measured by | First wave, UTC | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miyazaki City | Japan | 56 | 5 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Tonoura (Miyazaki) | Japan | 62 | 3 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Nobeoka | Japan | 105 | 4 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Kyushu Island | Japan | 172 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Beppu | Japan | 182 | 1 | Eyewitness observation of water height | 5 | ||
| Izu Peninsula, Honshu | Japan | 737 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1662The 1600sTsunamis of JapanThe earthquakeThis day in weather historyAlerts in force
Sources
Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 291.