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Towada-Hachimantai NP, Akita
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Medake’s 1970–71 eruption hurled glowing volcanic bombs up to 600 m above the crater; they fell within 500 m. Lava flowed 530 m down the west flank, reaching 15–30 m thick.
A JMA researcher filmed a volcanic “smoke ring” during Medake’s 1970–71 eruption and recorded its sound. His 1972 paper described it as the first such phenomenon observed in Japan.
A contemporary report counted 400–500 small eruptions in a day at Medake. Local forest guide Miura, who saw the eruption, later remembered bursts about every 2 minutes, “like fireworks.”
In 1932, 11 vents opened in 2 staggered rows at Medake’s southwest foot. A 2024 study found fresh, 53.5%-silica scoria there: hot underground water had met rising magma.
Medake’s 1932 mudflows spread across about 150 hectares, burying trees under as much as 60 cm of mud. Near the vents, mud coated treetops across roughly 200 hectares.
Local mountain lore says a deity came from Nanbu, now Iwate, riding a white horse and wandered the sandy slope partway up Medake. People said the horse’s hoofprints never disappeared.
A local tale links the name Komagatake to a horse-shaped patch of spring snow. Its head supposedly points toward Nanbu and its rump toward Akita; the horse’s “manure” foretells good harvests for Akita and poor ones for Nanbu.
