Mount Funabuse, on the border between Motosu and Yamagata is the highest point in the city, with an elevation of 1,040 metres (3,410 ft).

During the Edo period, much of the area was tenryō territory under the direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate.

In the post-Meiji restoration cadastral reforms, Yamagata District in Gifu prefecture was created.

Yamagata has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 14 members.

The city has one public high school operated by the Gifu Prefectural Board of Education.