The ship aided survivors of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake in September 1923. From the early 1920s through the late 1930s, "Hyūga" often cruised off the coast of China. Little detailed information is available about her activities during the 1920s. The ship was in 1927–1928, during which her forward superstructure was enlarged and her aviation facilities improved. Beginning on 27 March 1932, she patrolled off the coast of China after the First Shanghai Incident, together with her sister ship and the battlecruisers and . On 14 June 1932, she was taking part in an exercise off Kyushu near the Mishima Islands in which a group of submarines practiced a mock combined attack on the 1st Battleship Division when the submarine unexpectedly surfaced in front of her. "Hyūga", zigzagging at , took evasive action at the last minute and managed to avoid a direct collision with the stationary "I-4", although "Hyūga" suffered minor damage to her hull plating when her bow grazed "I-4"′s hull.