Sakurajima (, ) is an active stratovolcano, formerly an island and now a peninsula, in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. It is the most active volcano in Japan.

, the volcanic activity continues, The former island is part of the city of Kagoshima which is only across the bay. The surface of this volcanic peninsula is about .

thumb|290px|A map of Sakurajima in 1902, showing it as a distinct island.

Sakurajima is part of the Kirishima-Kinkowan National Park, and its lava flows are a major tourist attraction. The area around Sakurajima contains several hot spring resorts. One of the main agricultural products of Sakurajima is a huge basketball-sized white radish (Sakurajima daikon).

Geology

Sakurajima is in the -wide Aira caldera, which formed in an enormous "blow-out-and-cave-in" eruption around 28,000 years ago.

Volcanic activity at Kita-dake ended around 4,900 years ago: later eruptions. have been centered on Minami-dake. Initially since 2006, activity was centred on Showa crater, to the east of the summit of Minami-dake, but by 2025 had moved to the summit crater. Most of its eruptions are Strombolian,

1914 eruption

The 1914 eruption (also known as Sakura-Jima eruption) began on 11 January and was the most powerful in twentieth-century Japan. The volcano had been dormant for over a century until 1914. Almost all residents had left the island in the previous days; several large earthquakes had warned them that an eruption was imminent.

Initially, the eruption was very explosive, generating eruption columns and pyroclastic flows, but after a very large earthquake on 12 January, and another the day after, it became effusive, generating a large lava flow.

Lava flows are rare in Japan—because the silica content of the magmas is high, explosive eruptions are far more common—but the lava flows at Sakurajima continued for months.

In light of the dangers it presents to nearby populations, Sakurajima was designated a Decade Volcano in 1991, identifying it as worthy of particular study as part of the United Nations' International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction.

thumb|290px|Sakurajima erupting on 10 March 2009On 10 March 2009, Sakurajima erupted, sending debris up to . An eruption had been expected following a series of smaller explosions over the weekend. It is not thought there was any damage caused. An eruption occurred from the Minami-dake summit crater at 5:38 on Sunday, 9 August 2010, sending debris up to 5000 m (16,000 ft). In 2011 and 2012, Sakurajima experienced several significant eruptions; volcanic activity continued into 2013. On 18 August 2013, the volcano erupted from Showa crater and produced its highest recorded plume of ash since 2006, rising 5,000 metres high and causing darkness and significant ash falls on the central part of Kagoshima city. The eruption occurred at 16:31 and was the 500th eruption of the year. In August 2015, Japan's meteorological agency issued a level 4 emergency warning, which urges residents to prepare to evacuate.

Scientists warned that a major eruption could soon take place at the volcano; it eventually did erupt around 20:00 on 5 February 2016. After a long pause of eruptions at the vent, the eruptions abruptly stopped there and returned to the Showa crater, on 4 April 2016, some 8–9 days preceding major earthquakes on the Median Tectonic Line near Kumamoto, Japan. Then, three months later, on 26 July, it spewed volcanic ash into the air.

On 3 October 2020, at 07:35 UTC, the volcano erupted once again, this time from the Aira caldera. A volcanic ash advisory for aviation was issued by the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center Tokyo (VAAC) at 07:43 UTC, showing the ash cloud to be stationary and reaching FL100 (10,000 feet). On 24 July 2022, at 20:05 JST, an explosive eruption occurred at the summit crater of the volcano, and cinders scattered up to from the crater. Following this eruption, at 20:50 JST, the Japan Meteorological Agency raised the eruption alert level from Level 3 to Level 5, the highest level, and urged maximum precaution and evacuation.

On 9 February 2023, an eruption occurred at the Showa crater on Sakurajima at 10:52 JST. The plumes had risen to at 11:10 JST, according to the Kagoshima Meteorological Office. On 14 February 2024, an eruption occurred at the southern peak's Minamidake crater on Sakurajima at 18:33 JST, emitting plumes of over in height and spewing rocks as far as away. Minamidake crater again erupted on 18 October 2024, with a plume above . Between 15 and 16 May 2025, multiple small eruptions with volcanic plumes up to high occurred disturbing local air travel. On 16 November 2025, Minamidake crater erupted at 00:57 JST with an eruption plume that reached high. On 11 April 2026, another eruption occurred at the Minamidake crater at 12:04 JST. The plume reached a height of with large volcanic rocks reaching the volcano's 7th station ejected. Alert level 3 remains in effect. On 8 May 2026, Minamidake crater erupted creating a high eruption column.

Summary of eruptive history

{| class="wikitable sortable" width=100%

|+ Summary of known eruptions

|-

! data-sort-type="number" width=95px | Start Date

! class="unsortable" width=95px | Years before 1950 (BP) Since 2024 a predictive model based on local ground inflation has been in place at the local volcanic observatory that may give short term warning of eruption and ash fall distribution from contemporary minor eruptions.

See also

  • List of volcanoes in Japan
  • Flag of Kagoshima Prefecture, which features Sakurajima

Notes

References

  • Townley, S.D. (1915). "Seismographs at the Panama-Pacific Exposition," Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. Stanford, California: Seismological Society of America.
  • Teikoku's Complete Atlas of Japan, Teikoku-Shoin Co., Ltd. Tokyo 1990

Further reading

  • Aramaki S. (1984), Formation of the Aira Caldera, Southern Kyūshū, ~22,000 years ago, Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 89, issue B10, p. 8485.
  • Guide-books of the Excursions: Pan-Pacific Science Congress, 1926, Japan. Tokyo: Tokyo Printing Co.
  • Johnson, H & Kuwahara, S (2016), Sakurajima: Maintaining an island essence, Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures, vol. 10, no.1, pp. 48–66.
  • Sakurajima: National catalogue of the active volcanoes in Japan - Japan Meteorological Agency
  • Sakurajima Volcano Research Center - Kyoto University
  • Aira / Sakurajima, Global Volcanic Program
  • Footage of the March 2009 eruption - BBC
  • Schoolchildren in Kagoshima wearing helmets to protect against stones thrown out by the nearby Sakurajima volcano (which is in background)
  • Google Earth air view
  • Google Earth ground view approaching Sakurajima from the mainland
  • Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program (GVP) (entry for Aira /Sakurajima)