We would like to thank the West Deptford Patch for placing this announcement about the achievements of our student. She has earned this recognition, and we are proud to share her achievements!

http://westdeptford.patch.com/announcements/angelina-meduri-achieves-junior-grade-blue-belt

"The Slo Ryu Karate Do Federation would like to announce the promotion of Angelina Meduri.
Angelina was promoted to Junior Grade Blue Belt on March 19, 2012 after enduring a physical testing procedure where there are no pads and bodily contact is made. This is a full power martial art that does not use padding to soften the contact. At an adult level of training, the physical contact is much harsher. "

To see the full article use the above link.
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This is an interesting interview found on YouTube. O'Sensei Chitose's son, who is a red belt and Soke of the "new" Chito- Ryu, admits what we have always known, and what Soke Burlkhardt has always taught from 1966. The new style of Chito- Ryu is NOT the harsh style, or the same teachings, taught by Slomanski or of Slo Ryu today. It has been softened quite a bit for the masses.  The son uses the word "modified" from the much harsher and traditional style we practice, which was taught by Commissioner Slomanski from instructor to student. This was done for commercial reasons only and to gain interest of students, obviously. Dr. Chitose had said to Slomanski it was too harsh to make money from, therefore it had to be modified. This is one of the reasons Slomanski walked away from the new style.

This is all paraphrased  and you can watched the video for yourself. We may post this on a page on this site in the future and address it further. As always, we keep showing indisputable evidence of what truly took place and was hidden by so many others for decades.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNU3n2sZcX8&feature=related
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Slo Ryu Karate Do will be presenting “Don’t be a Victim”, a FREE self-defense course suitable for women of all ages and abilities. The course will focus on learning how to assess surroundings, avoid bad situations, and how to react, if encountered, to greatly increase your odds. The course includes lecture, discussion, and self-defense techniques. Instructors with law enforcement backgrounds are teaching this course along with female instructors who have R.A.D (Rape Aggression Defense) certification, and many years in self-defense.  One of our instructors is a University Security Director with years of experience in the security field and is also a certified self-defense instructor. She brings, to our program, a wealth of knowledge and experience about woman safety especially for college students. This is not a martial arts class, but is a hands-on course that will teach safety. We would like to spread the word and awareness and would greatly appreciate all the help you could lend. It may just save someone from a bad situation. We are reserving space now! Please reach out to register as things are filling up. Please join the Slo Ryu Karate Do group on Facebook for updates.
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Slo Ryu would like to say Happy Birthday to Miss Angelina Meduri. Angelina joined the Federation last year and has been diligently training. She is a tremendous asset to our team, and we look forward to watching her grow. She has been doing an amazing job so far.
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Happy New Year! 01/03/2012
 
To all our friends, we at the Slo Ryu Karate Do Federation would like to wish you a happy and healthy new year. We look forward to another exciting year. We have had a lot of success over the past year and strive to continue those successes into 2012.  Please continue to visit for our updates!


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With Gratitude 10/06/2011
 
As I grew up I always knew of the stories of karate and its historic lineage.  I was always in awe of these men who trained under the likes of Henry Slomanski, and John B. Burkhardt. I feel extremely privileged to have the opportunity to train in this Federation as they had done in the past. It has allowed me to expand my horizons in life and grow physically and harden mentally. This has been an amazing adventure for me and I am so honored to have the opportunity to attain senior grade ranks. I would not have made it this far if it were not for the great influences and tutelage of Hanshi Lester A. Whinna and Soke/Grand Master John B. Burkhardt. These men have shaped the martial artist I have become today.  I would also like to thank the various students who I have had the honor to work out with over the years. They too have influenced my training each adding another dimension.

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It is with tremendous honor and pleasure that I make this unprecedented announcement for the first time in this lineage’s history:

   As the Senior Master Instructor, I have great pride in making public for the first time since July of 1977 that Soke John B. Burkhardt has ordered and promoted one of our students to the prestigious rank of 1st Degree Black Belt. This student is only the 8th person in our esteemed history to receive a black belt from him. Soke Burkhardt has been training students for over 48 years in two states, after being trained in the United States Army Airborne in Fort Bragg N.C.. He trained under the only International Commissioner of Karate, Henry Slomanski and became one of Slomanski’s seven Master Instructors.  Out of the many hundreds of students who were trained in Burkhardt’s Dojo’s only seven have ever obtained the black belt until now. The newest black belt should be honored and proud of their hard work and achievements. With their new rank comes a lot of responsibilities. One is that they carry on the most sacred and honorable traditions of our style with its training, customs and decorum into the future.

What makes this an even more extremely distinctive announcement is that for the first time in this style’s history, a woman was able to endure the training while working her way up the ranks for all “senior” grade belts.  Not many adult men have lasted in this traditional style of Japanese Marital Arts. This rank takes more than ones physical ability alone. It is consideration and judgment of their character as well as in leadership skills in all walks of life. It takes so much more to represent what this style stands for and what Henry Slomanski accomplished in his martial arts career. This rank is also not easily obtained because of the requirements and the full power contact, while never utilizing any kind of pads for protection.


  At this time, I have the exceptional opportunity to announce, not only as the Senior Master Instructor of this style, but also as the student’s father... that Daneen A. Whinna has been promoted from Brown Belt, to the rank and title of Sensei 1st Degree Black Belt effective October 1, 2011. Grand Master John B. Burkhardt, 10th Degree Red Belt, by his authority and handed down by Commissioner Henry Slomanski has reviewed and tested Daneen’s abilities, her character, and qualifications and has seen her competent to be promoted.  He has found her capable to represent all who have gone before her, and conduct herself with honor and an able to train others as well. 

During her training Daneen has sustained many injuries while working with her all male counterparts. She has broken bones, numerous harsh bruises, and received blackened eyes. Because of my position in this style, I have made it abundantly clear that I would take a hands off approach when it comes to Daneen’s advancements. I wanted to make it unconditional and assured she was given the credit for her ability, her character and not because of who her father is.

What made this an added outstanding ceremony in Coudersport Pa., and giving Daneen so much delight is that Soke John B. Burkhardt personally designed and ordered her first embroidered black belt. He and his wife Judy paid for this beautiful belt too.

I can by no means give all the accolades to Daneen without mentioning Mrs. Judy Burkhardt who has been a major influence on Daneen, and she given her tremendous encouragement and has been a positive roll model in her entire training career. Judy was the first person to congratulate her at the ceremony that took place on October 1st 2011, in Coudersport PA. I sat by respectfully and proud as I watched my daughter and the newest black belt, Sensei Daneen A. Whinna, dawn her black belt and black gi, the symbol and right of only a black belt in this style.

Congratulations Sensei Whinna from your Senior Master Instructor and father. Continue to train, for we as students will always continue to learn everyday. Have the unrelenting thirst for knowledge and history in the annals of this art.

Hanshi Lester A. Whinna
7th Dan Black Belt
Slo Ryu Karate Do Federation
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We have added the newest version of this fantastic article. This is now live to help not only preserve Henry Slomanski's legacy, but also allow a document once lost to the confines of microfiche now come to life. We cannot express enough appreciation to  Susan Flippen (Henry's daughter) for providing this wonderful article, having the actual article has provided for a much higher resolution for the world to see.

We would also like to thank Grand Master Burkhardt and his wife Judy Burkhardt for their tireless efforts on insisting that we have accurate and detailed information, and for maintaining the integrity and history of a once in a lifetime martial arts legend. To this day, Grand Master Burkhardt spends countless time sharing stories, and communicating with the world about past and present ventures.

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We would like to once again take the time to thank some very special and important people to us in our endeavor to honor Karate Commissioner Henry Slomanski. You will read the stories of his unprecedented achievements, ones that have never been repeated in the Martial Arts to this day. Only the best of the best that the United States military had to offer were able to train under him. The new articles that are now posted on this site are of much clearer detailed pages that were displayed prior.   We would like to express our deepest gratitude to his daughter, Susan Slomanski Flippen. Two of our good friends, Charlie and Gloria Wolf researched the Nashville Tennessee newspaper for these articles written in 1960.  Content and dates of these articles are very important in the true history of what Henry Slomanski was able to do. Charlie and Gloria were only able to obtain them in microfiche. Needless to say the copies were not the best quality due to the age.  We would like to thank Daneen Whinna, if not for her diligent research alone this article would have been lost forever.  Susan was so gracious to make photocopies of her original newspaper . We cannot express our gratitude enough to Charlie and Gloria Wolf for the research they performed. However, so much appreciation and thanks is to be given to Susan Slomanski Flippen for being so helpful.

It is our hopes that you, the reader, enjoy these articles and it sheds all new light into what really took place. In today’s world of Martial Arts, diluted styles and made up names, these articles discredit a lot of misnomers that have been told to date.

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We wanted to congratulate Paul Masso on receiving his Senior Grade Green Belt on Thursday August 4, 2011. He has been assiduous and perfecting his skills, not to mention being a mentor to our younger students.  He is a great asset to our Slo Ryu family. We are proud of him and look forward to his continued training. Paul, enjoy your rank, you earned it!

Always remember, the pain and bruises go away, the lessons learned and practiced last a lifetime~
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