Kanagawa Prefecture Tokyo Yamato has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall.

With the start of the Edo period, the area was part of the tenryō territory in Sagami Province controlled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate, but administered through various hatamoto.

Under the rule of the 5th shōgun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, one of these hatamoto, Sakamoto Shigeharu (1630–1693) by virtue of his position as Ōmetsuke and Jisha-bugyō, exceeded 10,000 koku in income, and thus became daimyō of the newly proclaimed Fukami Domain in October 1682.

During the cadastral reforms after the Meiji Restoration, the area of present-day Yamato became part of Kōza District, Kanagawa Prefecture.

In 2020, the city gained international attention for outlawing walking in designated areas while using a smartphone, it was the first of its kind to do so without implementing a fine or monetary penalty.

[5][6] Yamato has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 28 members.

In terms of national politics, the city is part of Kanagawa 13th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.