Kawanishi Town, Higashiokitama District, is located in the southwestern part of the Yonezawa Basin in southern Yamagata Prefecture. The Mogami River flows to the north and the Onimo River to the south, forming the town's borders. The south is mountainous, with the Kurokawa and Inukawa rivers flowing from southwest to northeast. The town's name comes from its location on the west side of the Mogami River. When British traveler Isabella Bird visited Kawanishi Town in the early Meiji period, she praised the Yonezawa Plain as the Garden of Eden and an Asian paradise. Agriculture is the town's primary industry, and it is known as the second largest rice-producing region in the prefecture after the Shonai Plain. Yonezawa beef is also raised here. A major tourist attraction is the Shimokomatsu Burial Mounds, a nationally designated historic site.