Because of the widespread low-lying wetlands prone to such flooding, the old city was located on a natural embankment that was slightly higher than the surrounding area, called Minamiyama.

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

The area of Yawata was part of ancient Yamashiro Province and developed as a town in front of the gates of Iwashimizu Hachiman-gu, a Shinto shrine, which attracted a wide range of worship from the imperial family and samurai to the common people.The town of Yawata in Tsuzuki District, Kyoto were established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system.

Yawata has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 21 members.

In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Kyoto 6th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.