A magnitude 6.9 earthquake has been recorded off the coast of Honshu in northern Japan, the country’s meteorological agency says.

The quake was measured at a depth of about 10 kilometres and struck just after 8:00am (local time).

The epicentre was 210 kilometres east of the town of Miyako, the agency said.

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There were no immediate reports of injuries or casualties following the quake, local media said.

A tsunami advisory has been issued, with a one-metre wave expected to hit Iwate prefecture about 8:30am.

The city of Ofunato in Iwate issued an evacuation advisory to more than 1,350 households.

Television footage has so far shown no major change in sea levels around the seashore in Miyako, eastern Iwate.

Large areas of the coastline covered by the advisory were damaged by the 2011 quake and tsunami that killed more than 18,000 people and triggered a nuclear accident in Fukushima.

Japan is hit by around a fifth of the world’s powerful quakes every year and sits at the conjunction of several tectonic plates.

There was no damage to any of the nuclear reactors in the region as they have been offline since 2011, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said.