The city of Yamato Koriyama is located in the northern part of Nara Prefecture, in the central part of the Nara Basin. The city occupies 42.5 square kilometers of land and has a population of 95,300.

Early in the eighteenth century (in 1724, to be exact), a feudal lord named Yanagisawa Yoshisato took charge of Yamato Koriyama, and the city flourished as the only castle town in Nara Prefecture.

Yamato Koriyama is also known as the center of Japan's goldfish industry. Raising goldfish is the legacy of Yanagisawa Yoshisato, who brought the industry here and fostered its development. Under Yanagisawa's encouragement, lower-ranking warriors in Yamato Koriyama got into raising goldfish as a side business, and ultimately this business grew into the huge industry it is today. Goldfish raising is now the leading industry in this part of Japan; some 80,000 goldfish of over 30 varieties are shipped from this area each year--over half of Japan's national total. Goldfish and carp raised here are shipped both domestically and overseas.

This area hosts a unique recreational event here every August. Known as the National Goldfish Scooping Championship, it is a competition of skill in which players try to scoop up goldfish that are swimming in a tub onto a sheet of paper or other material that tears easily. Goldfish scooping is a popular game at festivals and fairs held throughout Japan. The National Goldfish Scooping Championship in Yamato Koriyama attracts around 700 competitors each year, who come from both within and outside Nara Prefecture to try their skills here.

Other leading industries in Yamato Koriyama include the manufacture of men's shoes and the production of knitted fabric used to make sweat suits and other garments. Yamato Koriyama's chief agricultural products are melons, strawberries, peaches, and persimmons.