A volcano in southwestern Japan erupted Thursday following a six-day hiatus, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injury.

The eruption at around 6:15 p.m. at Mt. Io, one of the Mt. Kirishima group of volcanoes straddling Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, was small in scale, the agency said. A plume of ash spewed from the 1,317-meter volcano's crater reached over 200 meters into the sky.

(Photo taken with the Japan Meteorological Agency's camera)

The agency retained the alert level of 3 on a scale of 5, restricting access to the mountain.

Mt. Io erupted on April 19 for the first time in 250 years, with ash spewing around 500 meters above it. The agency said the following day the eruptions stopped, but fumarolic activity continued and the city government of Ebino in Miyazaki restricted entry into areas within around 2 kilometers of the crater.