4350 BC Eruption of Kikai

Name: 4350 BC Eruption of Kikai
Location: Kikai, Japan

4350 BC · VEI 7 · Deaths: many

Kikai in Japan erupted in 4350 BC with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7.

Where it erupted

Kikai, Japan, with its other significant eruptions.

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The eruption

Date: 4350 BC
Volcano: Kikai, caldera
Country: Japan
Volcanic Explosivity Index: 7, colossal (eruption column over 25 km)
Killed by: Pyroclastic flows, surges and direct blasts
Location: 30.793° N, 130.305° E

The toll

Deaths: Many (about 101 to 1,000)
Damage: Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
Houses destroyed: Many (101 to 1,000)

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.

Major ash eruption and pyroclastic flows, from Japan's largest Holocene eruption, devastated S Kyushu. Fatalities likely large, but not estimated. Kyushu not resettled for 300-800 years. (reference #9675)

Every eruption in 4350 BC The 4300s BC Kikai Earthquakes near Kikai

Sources

Volcanoes and significant eruptions 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. Volcano numbers are the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program’s. NCEI event 4468.