It was previously known as the Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship between 1947 and 2021, when it was announced the race would be discontinued on its 75th edition.

[2] However, due to popular support, a successor race, inheriting the tradition and course of the original marathon, was established the next year.

[6] The 1959 edition saw Fukuoka instated was the permanent host city for the marathon race and Japanese runner Kurao Hiroshima became the first two-time winner that year.

[12] However, on March 15, 2021, the JAAF and the Fukuoka Prefectural Government announced that a successor race would be held in December of that year "maintaining [the] history and tradition" of the original championship.

It later hosted the national championship race once every three years, on a rotational basis alongside the Lake Biwa and Tokyo Marathons.