Compared with Amami Ōshima and Tokunoshima, Kikaijima is a relatively flat island, with its highest point at 214 metres (702 ft) above sea level.

Due to its relative isolation, Kikaijima is home to several rare species endemic to the island itself, or more generally to the Ryukyu archipelago.

[6] Although the Ryukyu Islands appeared in written history as Japan's southern frontier, the name of Kikaijima was not recorded in early years.

[7] The Shinsarugakuki, a fiction written by an aristocrat Fujiwara no Akihira in the mid-11th century, introduced a merchant named Hachirō-mauto, who traveled all the way to the land of the Fushū in the east and to Kika-no-shima (貴賀之島) in the west.

[7] Some articles of 1187 of the Azuma Kagami state that during the period of the Taira clan's rule, Ata Tadakage of Satsuma Province fled to Kikaijima (貴海島).

The Azuma Kagami also states that in 1188 Minamoto no Yoritomo, who soon became shōgun, dispatched troops to pacify Kikaijima (貴賀井島).

[7] The Tale of the Heike (13th century) depicted Kikaijima (鬼界島), where Shunkan, Taira no Yasuyori, and Fujiwara no Naritsune were exiled following the Shishigatani Incident of 1177.

[7] In 1306, Chikama Tokiie, a deputy jitō of Kawanabe District, Satsuma Province on behalf of the Hōjō clan, the de facto ruler of the Kamakura shogunate, created a set of documents that specified properties to be inherited by his family members, which included Kikaijima, together with other islands of the Ōsumi, Tokara and Amami Islands.

An article of 1462 in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, which records an interview from a Jeju islander who had drifted to Okinawa in 1456, states that Kikaijima was resisting Ryūkyū's repeated invasions.

Following World War II, although with the other Amami Islands, it was occupied by the United States until 1953, at which time it reverted to the control of Japan.

In 2018 resident Nabi Tajima, the last remaining person known to have been born in the 19th century, died in a local medical facility.

The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force maintains an important SIGINT station on the island, which includes a large Circularly Disposed Antenna Array.

The station was opened in 2006, and is considered a vital component of the MSDF's JOSIS (JMSDF Ocean Surveillance Information System).