At 07:45, while the ground was still moving, a phreatic eruption began at the fumaroles approximately 100 meters upslope from the Kaminoyu hot spring resort on the flank of Ko-Bandai.

Each explosion was accompanied by thunder and a black eruption column ascending to a height of 1300 meters.

Several villages were completely buried under landslides, which also considerably altered the topography of the region by diverting rivers and creating a number of new lakes.

Japanese geologists Seikei Sekiya and Y. Kikuchi from the Imperial University of Tokyo visited Bandai within days of the eruption.

After spending several months studying the new crater and the devastated areas, they published a report in English (“The eruption of Bandai-san” Tokyo Imperial University College of Sciences Journal 3 (1890), pp 91–171), which is considered a classic in volcanology.