Nagaki Mitsuru was born in 1950 in Ehime Prefecture. Nagaki was regarded as having a promising future in judo, which he had worked hard on since his childhood. Later, when he entered the Nihon University, he studied karate under Abe Senseiʼs guidance. From that point onwards, Nagaki has devoted his life to karate. An 8th Dan holder with accuracy of technique, he is also a rare karate expert who got successful result in both Kata and Kumite. His leadership is highly respected in the world of karate, and he has created many world-class karate experts, including world champions. The secret of his teaching method to nurture strong athletes is receiving a great deal of attention not only from karate officials but also from many sports leaders.

He also never fails to practice by himself hard and broke an unprecedented record of winning 27 consecutive master class championships. Nagaki is the Chief Instructor Founder/Director of JSKA HQ and Shihankai member.

Jamsheed Jamsheed was born in 1948 in Nishabour, Iran and started karate in 1968. He joined JKA America with Nishiyama Sensei in Los Angeles in 1970 after he enrolled at the University of Southern California to study engineering.After his return to Iran, Jamsheed co-founded the Iran Karate Association and established an affiliation with JKA in 1976. He met Abe Sensei in JKA and made a strong, lifelong relationship with him.

He served as the President of Iran Karate Association in 1978-1980. With his rigorous yet humble karate instruction technique, he has created a lot of young leaders. Jamsheed is well-known as one of the great leaders who contributed to the rise of the current Iranian karate in the world. He received a 7th Dan in 2006. For many years of his great achievement, he received a 9th Dan from the Iran Karate Federation in 2019. The 8th Dan from JSKA was awarded to him in 2013. He is also the Author of “Shotokan Karate-Do” (2004) and “Karate, My Way of Life” (2019). Jamsheed is a Senior Director of JSKA HQ.

Mohammad Bahrami was born in 1959 in Tehran, Iran. He started karate training in 1974 and trained
under Sharifi Sensei’s guidance. After Iran Karate Association joined with JKA in 1976, Bahrami visited
Japan and stayed in the country for several years to train with JKA top instructors.

Whilst in Japan he earned the 2nd place of the individual and team competition as a delegation of the
Tokyo team in All Japan Championship in 1987. After his return to Iran, Bahrami became a member of
the Iran National Team from1981 to 1990 and earned his reputation in Iran as a top karate competitor.
He has been a member of the Iran Karate Federation Coaches Committee since 2006.

Bahrami is also well known in the world of karate not only as a strong competitor but also as a
professional international coach. He has served as a national coach for several countries such as Iran,
Kuwait and UAE. Bahrami received his 8th Dan from JSKA. He is JSKA Asia Director and Shihankai
member

Soon Pretorius was born in 1958. At the age of 8 years old, after a Karate demonstration presented
by Norman Robinson Sensei (current JKS 9th Dan) at his school in 1966, he decided to pursue
karate.

Since then, he has had an incredible journey with many unforgettable memories and inspiring
friends.
Being the recipient of a personal letter of adulation from the former/late state-president Nelson
Mandela after winning the 1998 JSKA World Karate Championships had rewarded his many hours
of hard training.

Pretorius is one of the most well-known and respected instructors. He is the leader for karate
development not only in South Africa but also in the other African countries.
An 8th Dan holder, Pretorius is the Director of JSKA Africa and a member of Shihankai.

Dieter Flindt started training in the Karate section of the Deutsche Judobund (DJB) in 1966 and
graduated with black belt in 1973. In 1978, as a member of the Deutsche Karate Union (DKU),
he became the instructor and grading examiner for the Schleswig-Holstein region of Germany.
He joined Shotokan Karate International (SKID) in 1981 under Nagai Akio Sensei and Kanazawa
Sensei.

Flindt was the Director of the SKID in 1983 – 1990, and appointed as a coach to the Netherlands by Kanazawa Sensei in 1986. In 1990 he left from SKID to start his own association, which became the Shotokan Karate Verband Deutschland (SKVD) and was affiliated with JKA(Matsuno section) in 1998. In 1999 while at the JKA World Championship in Japan, along with
the other 1500 participants from 45 countries, he earned the 2nd place in the veteran individual
class of Kata.

Flindt made a strong, trustful relationship with Abe Sensei and when Abe Sensei
founded his own association JSKA, SKVD was one of the first countries to join. He received an
8th Dan from JSKA in 2012. His trustful personality, excellent skills and Budo mind have earned
Flindt respect from the world’s karate instructors.

Vilaca Pinto was born in Lisbon, Portugal. He started Karate practice in 1966 and went to Japan
when he was 27 years old. Later, he lived in Japan for 5 years between 1972 – 1976. Vilaca stayed at Hoitsugan Dojo in Tokyo which Nakayama Sensei (JKA Chief Instructor) opened as his private dojo and dormitory for young foreigners. Now Hoitsugan Dojo became a legendary place where many brilliant karateka were born. Vilaca trained hard at JKA HQ Dojo as well as at
Kanazawa Sensei’s Dojo in Yoyogi.
After returning to Portugal, he established Hoitsugan Karate Portugal in 1977.

He served as the National Coach for Portugal, President Technical Council, Arbitration Director
for the National Federation FPKDA, etc. Vilaca also won in many international championships: in
1972 he earned the 1
st place Kumite and Kata championship in Belgium and 1 st place Kumite in JKA Championship in Tokyo region.

He has a lot of successful results in the other
championships representing Hoitsugan Dojo in Japan. Vilaca is currently the President and Chief
Instructor of JSKA Portugal, also a Senior member of JSKA Shihankai since 2008. He received
an 8th Dan in 2014 and has continued to contribute his professional skills in karate until now.

Zohner Szilard started his Shotokan Karate-Do in 1977. Over the last 43 years, he has
been working with great JKA Masters: Miyazaki, Asai, Kato, Mori, Tanaka, Ochi,
Sawada and Osaka Sensei. He has been teaching karate and self-defense technique since 1994.

Szilard has over 30 years of experience as a referee in WKF and Shobu Ippon system and classified as a referee in WUKO. He joined JSKA in 2008. Szilard has organized various seminars with Abe Sensei’s attendance in Hungary. He organized and hosted
the JSKA European Championships in Hungary (Sopron) in May 2017. This event was
awarded by the Shihankai members with the “Best Organized Championship” title.

A graduate of mechanical engineering specializing in advanced safety engineering, he is
now working at Budapest Airport, the biggest Airport in Hungary, as an aircraft safety expert. A devoted member of Shihankai since 2018, Szilard is always very generous in sharing his knowledge and technique.

Khosro Taghva is an Iranian Karate Master, who began to be fascinated by Martial Arts when he
was a child. Later he went to Italy to continue Karate Shotokan studies, in JKA World Federation
with Shirai Sensei. Taghva became an instructor some years after that.

He entered the SKI World Federation and continued training under several Japanese Masters and
then became the Technical Director of the Region of Lazio and remained in this federation until he
received his 5th Dan. With great passion as well as mental and physical commitment, he continued to coach his students to be instructors and reach a high level of technical and competitive skills in Karate. In 2005 Taghva entered JSKA World Federation directed by Abe Sensei.

In this Federation, he won gold medals in
the world championships in Master category. His instructors and students have ranked among the
best for many years and have kept the Italian flag flying high in the World and European
championships. Taghva holds an 8th Dan and is the Chief instructor of JSKA – Italy.