The average temperature is 11 °C, the yearly precipitation is 1042 mm, and amount of snowfall is 95 cm, with the snowy period lasting for 120 days.

The area of present-day Katashina was part of the tenryō holdings within Kōzuke Province administered directly by the Tokugawa shogunate during the Edo period.

On April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system after the Meiji Restoration, Katashina village was established within Tone District, Gunma.

Katashina has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral village council of ten members.

In terms of national politics, the town is part of Gunma 1st district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.