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

Inhabited since the Japanese Paleolithic, the city area nurtured paddy field agriculture in the fertile Nara Basin since ancient times.

Numerous large keyhole-type burial mounds (kofun) were constructed in the northwestern part of the city around the 5th century.

Masakatsu Yoshida, elected as new major in April, 2003, has had to cope with the deteriorating financial problems combined with a curtailed national subsidy and mounting unpaid city tax.

Yamatotakada has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 17 members.

In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Nara 3rd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.