Hombu Dojo promotes MAC instructors to 6th and 7th dan

MAC instructors received significant promotions in 2024 and 2025.

Every second Sunday of January, Aikido World Headquarters in Tokyo holds a Kagami Biraki ceremony to signify the first training session of the new year. During this ceremony, the names of senior aikidoists promoted to the next rank are announced. The promotions cover recognized aikido organizations worldwide.

Kagami Biraki 2024:
In the January 2024 Kagami Biraki, three MAC instructors were promoted to rokudan (6th dan). They are Sensei Dam Amaranto, MAC Chief Instructor; Sensei Billy de Leon; and Sensei Bruno Lamblin.

Sensei Bruno Lamblin is originally from Lille, France. Before moving to the Philippines, he had founded and run two dojos, both of which still operate under Sensei Bruno's former students. Sensei Bruno's promotion was from France's national aikido organization. Sensei Bruno joined MAC in 2022, just after the COVID lockdowns ended in the Philippines.

A fourth promotee of January 2024 was Sensei Benson Rafanan, founder and Chief Instructor of Sacred Heart Aikido Center Cebu (SHACC). Sensei Benson is a former longtime student of MAC and continues to have strong ties to MAC.

Kagami Biraki 2025:
In the Kagami Biraki of 2025, Sensei Royce Reyes, MAC Administrator, was promoted to nanadan (7th dan). He personally received his promotion credentials from Doshu Moriteru Ueshiba in Tokyo in November 2025.

Two former MAC members were also promoted to 7th dan that January: Ma. Lourdes Macapawa of Kannagara Dojo in Davao City and Abraham Chavez of Musubi Aikido, both of whom had gone on to found their own dojos in the 1990s. The three are the first fully Philippines-grown aikidoists to be promoted to 7th dan by Japan Aikikai Hombu Dojo.