The first award-winner from outside those continents was American Sean Kennard, who finished fifth in the 2004 competition's piano category.

[4] It was established in 2001 to commemorate Sendai City's 400th anniversary,[5] and has been a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC) since 2005.

[4] In the preliminary, semi-final, and final stages of the competition the performances are chosen from a predetermined repertoire; the contestants must choose a different piece for each round.

Chinese Mengla Huang and Bulgarian Svetlin Roussev topped the violin category and the Italian Giuseppe Andaloro took first prize in the piano section.

In the second tournament in 2004, Japanese Saeka Matsuyama won the violin part in the final and Xiaotang Tan from China came in first place in the piano category.