Shiga Prefecture Kusatsu has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall.

It has been a transportation hub for east-west travel on the ancient Tōsandō and Tōkaidō highways connecting the capital of Heian-kyō with the provinces of eastern Japan from the end of the Nara period onwards.

In 1422, when Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimochi made a pilgrimage to Ise, he built a palace, the "Kusatsu Goshō" in this location.

Around 1568, Oda Nobunaga forced Ashikaga Yoshiaki to cede the Kusatsu area, which he viewed as strategically critical to controlling the approaches to Kyoto.

The town of Kusatsu was established within Kurita District, Shiga with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889.

Kusatsu has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 24 members.