After the Meiji restoration, the villages of Ichibu, Nishi and Kinoue were established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889.

During the closing years of the Second World War, a major base of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Hitoyoshi Naval Air Group was located near the town.

The remains of the base extend over 36,000 m2 (390,000 sq ft) of land, and houses underground facilities in more than 10 locations, including an operations room and a large torpedo preparation area.

[3] In 2015, a full archeological survey of the site was initiated by the municipal government via the Nishiki board of education to discover more about the base and its past, with a view to eventually opening it up to tourism.

Nishiki has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral town council of 11 members.

The circle "symbolizes a reconciliation and the mountain, the river and the sun do the town located in the center of Kuma Basin which is expanding to the future".