<Tr> <Td> 000000001894 - 10 - 22 - 0000 October 22, 1894 </Td> <Td> 7.0 M </Td> <Td> 1894 Shōkai earthquake </Td> <Td> 庄内 地震 </Td> <Td> Shōnai Jishin </Td> <Td> Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture </Td> <Td> 000726 726 (Official confirmed) </Td> <Td> According to the official confirmed report, 14,118 houses and buildings were damaged and 2,148 were burned . There were 726 human fatalities and 8,403 people injured in the damaged area . A large - scale fire broke out in Sakata, and around the Shonai plain area, many instances of cracked earth, sinking ground, sand boils, and fountains were observed . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 000000001896 - 06 - 15 - 0000 June 15, 1896 </Td> <Td> 8.5 M </Td> <Td> Meiji - Sanriku earthquake </Td> <Td> 明治 三陸 地震 </Td> <Td> Meiji Sanriku Jishin </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 022000 22,000 + </Td> <Td> This quake occurred off the coast of Sanriku in Iwate Prefecture, which caused a tsunami of 25 m (82 ft) to strike 35 minutes after the quake, destroying hundreds of houses and killed over 22,000 people . Tsunami were also observed as far away as Hawaii and in California . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 000000001923 - 09 - 01 - 0000 September 1, 1923 </Td> <Td> 8.3 M </Td> <Td> 1923 Great Kantō earthquake </Td> <Td> 大正 関東 地震 (関東 大震災) </Td> <Td> Taishō Kantō Jishin (Kantō Daishinsai) </Td> <Td> Izu Ōshima </Td> <Td> 142800 142,800 </Td> <Td> An earthquake which struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11: 58 on the morning of September 1, 1923 . Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes . The quake had an epicenter deep beneath Izu Ōshima Island in Sagami Bay . It devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, and the surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka, and caused widespread damage throughout the Kantō region . The power and intensity of the earthquake is easy to underestimate, but the 1923 earthquake managed to move the 93 - ton Great Buddha statue at Kamakura . The statue slid forward almost two feet . Casualty estimates range up to about 142,800 deaths, a figure including approximately 40,000 who went missing and were presumed dead . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 000000001925 - 05 - 23 - 0000 May 23, 1925 </Td> <Td> 6.8 M </Td> <Td> 1925 Kita Tajima earthquake </Td> <Td> 北 但馬 地震 </Td> <Td> Kita Tajima Jishin </Td> <Td> Toyooka in Hyogo Prefecture </Td> <Td> 000428 428 </Td> <Td> This earthquake's epicenter was (35.6 degrees north latitude, 134.8 degrees east longitude), in the Maruyama River estuary . According to the Japanese government's official report, there were 428 human fatalities, 1,016 people injured, 7,863 buildings destroyed, and 45,659 houses damaged by collapse or fire . This quake caused extensive damage to the town of Toyooka and the Maruyama River area . Just before the shaking could be felt, a sound like a cannon was reportedly heard intermittently from the direction of the estuary near the Maruyama River . During the earthquake, the ground in the town of Tokyooka experienced strong seismic vibrations for 16 seconds . As most of the buildings of the time were wooden, many of them were destroyed at once during the initial earthquake . In the fire that broke out subsequently, half of Toyooka was burned down, with many deaths resulting (a reported 8% of the town's population .) 272 deaths were confirmed to have occurred in the Kinosaki area . </Td> </Tr>

How many times has japan been hit by a tsunami