About Our Dojo

Our History

I/we began in Mr. Harlan's laundry room in his house on Lincoln Ave in Ephrata, Pa. It didn't take long until we relocated to several different places to train. One was in Mr. Harlan's in-laws' garage, Reamstown Community Center, then to a place along Rt.272 near the current Weis Market. The Harlans bought a house in Akron where several of us helped build a dojo in his backyard.

I eventually spread my wings, with the permission of Sensei Harlan and USEWF President Sensei C.T. Patterson, I began teaching at the Denver Rec Center. I eventually relocated to the Adamstown YMCA in the mid-1980s where I had a dojo until 2022. During the time I held classes at the YMCA, I was asked if I would like to also teach at the Ephrata Rec Center due to Mr. James Harlan moving to Florida and his son, Mr. Matthew Harlan moving to Smyrna, Tenn. I could not have done the following without the wonderful help from our black belt instructors - I took over the Rec Center classes traveling back and forth between the YMCA and Ephrata Rec Center until February 2022, which then I combined the two class locations into one at our current location along Rt.272 at 1832 N. Reading Rd. Stevens, Pa. 17578. To this day, our current dojo is blessed with those same instructors who continue to teach our students.

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