Wajima occupies the northwestern coast of Noto Peninsula and is bordered by the Sea of Japan on the north and west.

The island of Hegurajima, located 47 kilometers from the north coast of Noto Peninsula is administratively part of the city of Wajima.

Ishikawa Prefecture: Wajima has a humid continental climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by mild summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall.

[2] Per Japanese census data,[5] the population of Wajima has declined by roughly 50 percent over the past 50 years.

The area around Wajima was part of ancient Noto Province, and was a noted seaport for trade with the Asian continent.

It was raised to city status on March 31, 1954 after merging with the neighbouring villages of Oya, Kawarada, Konosu, Nishiho, Mii, and Najimi.

On March 25, 2007, the 2007 Noto earthquake caused one death, 279-356 injuries (26 of them seriously), and damage to property in Wajima and other parts of Ishikawa Prefecture.

Each year during the last week of September, the names of two couples are drawn as part of a nationwide lottery to have their wedding ceremony at Senmaida.

[13][14] Playing gojinjo-daiko is strictly restricted to residents in Nafune, a small village within Wajima, where only 250 people live.

Because local people had no weapons, they resisted by beating war drums and wore ferocious looking devil masks with seaweed on their heads to scare off their enemies.

[19] Kamakura, in the northern part of the Noto Peninsula, is a small village which celebrates an annual light festival (matsuri) in which the residents place one candle in each of 20,000 glass sake cups and arrange them in geometric configurations after dark while listening to traditional Japanese music.