MAC Karate was founded by the president of Mac Karate Masahiko Watanabe (the head instructor at the headquarters in Yokohama) and Hideki Ishijima (the head instructor at the West Saitama dojo).
September, 1978: Watanabe and Ishijima studied Enshinjuku karate under Ikuo Yasuda, the former assistant instructor at the Kyokushin Kaikan Soeno dojo and founder of Enshinjuku Karate.
May, 1980: President Watanabe and Vice-President Ishijima established Enshinjuku karate branches at the Tokyo Designer Gakuin College and in Kouenji, Tokyo.
November, 1987: Yasuda converts from Enshinjuku to Taekwondo while President Watanabe and Vice-President Ishijima leave Enshinjuku and establish the “Martial Arts Club” (MAC) at the Tokyo Designer Gakuin College.
MAC achieved several successes in competitions in the Kanto region of Japan and began to make its presence known. Nevertheless, after entering the 7th Seidiokaikan All Japan Championships in Osaka for the first time in September, 1988, President Watanabe, surprised at the high level of competition at the competition, resolved to further his study of karate with the less than ten members of the club at that time.
November, 1988: President Watanabe wins the 3rd International Friendship Karate Tournament while Vice-President Ishijima places 3rd. In the same tournament in the following year Satoru Yoshihara （the current head instructor at the Ibaragi Dojo）wins the tournament. MAC members had begun making their mark.
September, 1990: “MAC” changes its name and officially commences activities as “MAC Karate.”
1991: MAC Karate establishes its first permanent dojo in Ibaragi. Currently there are 25 dojos throughout Japan and a membership of 1500. Dojos are located at the following locations throughout Japan: Komazawa University, Central Saitama, Mitaka, Edogawa, Yokohama (headquarters), Nakamachi Daido, Miyamae, Nara, Komaki in Aichi, Chiba, Ichikawa-shi, West Saitama, Kawagoe, Kanagawa, Shonan, etc
In previous years the rules and level of judging in full contact karate has been questionable. Despite the level of MAC karate, MAC karate suffered some bitter results due to their lack of name recognition.
As a result, efforts have been made to hold competitions in which karate are fairly judged based on their efforts rather than the name recognition of their dojo. In September, 1993 “The 1st Rookie Challenge Karate Tournament” a tournament for beginners to intermediate level karate was held. Since then numerous other tournaments have been held, such as the “Karate Challenge Tournament,” for advanced students and the “Japan Cup” for junior students. In March, 2007, a large scale open tournament with 1241 participants was held at the Yokohama Pool main arena. The tournament was a huge success and praised for both its level of competition and the organization of the event.
In 2004, President Watanabe approached the full contact karate organization calling for improved judging and uniformity of rules. As a result, the Japan Karate Judge Organization (JKJO) was established. The JKJO is expanding throughout Japan and JKJO sponsored tournaments such as the JKJO Junior All Japan Tournament are attracting attention from the media.
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