A veteran martial arts practitioner, Rod Sacharnoski leads Juko-Kai International, located in Flower Mound, Texas, as president, founder, and head of family. With a history extending to the early 1960s, the martial arts organization is among America’s oldest and functions as the International Okinawan Martial Arts Union’s Western headquarters. Dai-Soke Rod Sacharnoski has attained an Asian recognized 10th Dan Sokeship (foundership) of his arts identified as Juko-ryu Bujutsu.
Rod Sacharnoski has authored two books in his area of expertise and has been featured as a martial arts demonstrator on numerous nationally broadcast television programs. His responsibilities with Juko-Kai International include administrative oversight and developing the organization’s training standards at a level consistent with an international martial arts association.
A longtime law enforcement officer, Rod Sacharnoski possesses a military background that includes honorable service with the United States Army and United States Marine Corps, as well as the New Jersey National Guard. He has conducted training in police defensive tactics with a number of law enforcement agencies across the United States. In his free time, Mr. Sacharnoski enjoys reading historical works that cover diverse aspects of Asian martial arts.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
ZKSBBR: America’s First Sokeship Commission
Rod Sacharnoski is one of very few recognized non-Asian Soke in the martial arts. Having achieved the ninth degree grandmaster ranking in traditional Okinawan Shorin-ryu Karate, Rod Sacharnoski founded the first recognized Sokeship Commission in the United States which is known as the Zen Kokusai Soke Budo/Bugei Renmei, under Juko-Kai International.
Zen Kokusai Soke Budo/Bugei Renmei (ZKSBBR) was established in 1973. It joined the elite formal division of Juko-Kai International in the same year. In ancient Japanese martial arts, Sokeship was administered in the Orient, where everything else concerning martial arts also originated. The ZKSBBR has been structured on these traditional Asian methods, including those of certifying Head Founders and Head Successors.
To become a ZKSBBR Soke, applicants must have attained an Asian recognized Shihan rank (the fifth dan or above) in an Asian recognized Soke/Ryu. Since its inception, the ZKSBBR has recognized a very small number of non-Asians to the position of Soke, many of whom earned their Shihan rank in Juko-Kai under Soke Sacharnoski.