Itoigawa has a Humid climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm, wet summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall.

After the Meiji restoration, with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889, Itoigawa became a town within Nishikubiki District, Niigata.

These beads and axes were traded throughout Japan and the Korean Peninsula and were produced by the world's oldest known jadeite-using culture, centered on the Itoigawa region.

[6][7] Itoigawa has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 20 members.

In terms of national politics, the city is part of Niigata 6th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.