About Us
JKS - Bulgaria was founded in 2026 after a decision of the General Assembly of the IJKA - Bulgaria clubs to restructure the organization and change the membership. JKS - Bulgaria is the official representative for Bulgaria of JAPAN KARATE SHOTO FEDERATION (JKS), whose aim is the study and distribution of Traditional Karate in harmony with traditions bequeathed by Shoto (Gichin Funakoshi). JKS - Bulgaria is a department of the Bulgarian Federation Shotokan Karate-Do.
Shotokan Karate Do we are practicing in our department is based on the ideas and principles taught by Tetsuhiko Asai Sensei and Sadashige Kato Sensei.
The official JKS honbu website.
About JKS and IJKA
The Japan Karate Shoto Federation (JKS) and the International Japan Karate-Do Association (IJKA) were formed in 2000 with Tetsuhiko Asai Shihan (1935 - 2006) as World Chief Instructor and Sadashige Kato Shihan (1943 - 2020) as IJKA Europe Chief Instructor. While still a mainstream ‘Shotokan’ organisation it also promotes Asai Sensei’s unique style of karate and Kato Sensei's new technology and aplications. While it was Asai Shihan’s unbelievable ability to demonstrate his style, it was, Kato Shihan’s ability to interpret and teach that has seen the organisation grow and gain popularity with the karate instructors who are still hungry for knowledge. After Asai Sensei"s passing in 2006, Masao Kagawa Shihan took over as a chief instructor of the JKS.
At the 2007 IJKA congress held in Budapest, Hungary following one year of respect for Asai Shihan, Kato Shihan 9th dan was asked to take over the mantel of World Chief Instructor. According to Japanese tradition, one year after the passing of Kato Sensei, IJKA resumed its activities. The new structure of the organization according to the will of Kato Sensei is as follows:
Mr. Avnija Hafuzi, President of IJKA
Sensei Brian Toomey, Secretary General of IJKA
Sensei Takato Utsumi, World Chief Instructor of IJKA
Sensei Latchezar Nenov, Director of the Technical Committee of IJKA (on 16.01.2026 officially resigns and withdraws his membership from IJKA)
JKS seminars
JKS has a large team of highly qualified instructors working under the leadership of Kagawa Shihan. Among the young instructors are multiple WKF world champions in kata and kumite. JKS manages to combine traditional karate with modern sport karate, as well as preserve the unique legacy of Asai Sensei.
IJKA seminars
Sadashige Kato Sensei has lived in the United Kingdom and taught karate around the world for more than 50 years. His unique teaching style and his attention to the historical details of Shotokan karate, on the basis of which the new technologies developed by him rested, made his coaching seminars mandatory for every Shotokan karateka. Today, these seminars are led by his longtime students. For the past 20 years, Kato Sensei's desire has been to train highly qualified European instructors. Thus, he developed his instructor program, which was implemented through a five-year intensive course for international instructors. We can be proud that our Bulgarian chief instructor Latchezar Nenov Sensei has graduated from the first class of this course and he is a certified international instructor of IJKA. JKS membership offers karate-ka the opportunity to travel around the world, compete, attend seminars held in other clubs and countries, exchange experiences and learn from JKS's top instructors.
