Salonika dojo

Sensei: 
renshi Velissariou
Sempai: 
sensei Dervas
Sempai: 
sensei Ikonomidis
Sempai: 
sensei Vlachos

Salonika dojo was founded in the Autumn of 1998 following a successful four year operation of the Suibukan Club of The Aristotle Univercity of Thessaloniki (A.U.TH.), which at that time had already fourty members.

Only a few months before, headquartered at Thessaloniki, the PANTHESSALONIKIAN HELLENIC SUIBUKAN CLUB had been founded.

The building of the dojo begun on the 15th of October and it was completed after a month and a half of devoted and hard work from all the members of the club. The first official training session took place on the 1st of December 1998. Since then practicing in martial arts never stops.

The dojo functions as the core of the club activities, the main training area and the meeting point for all its members

The main training facility has an area of 1000 square feet (110 sqm) and is decorated by the portrait of Archangel Michael, painted by Georgoudakis Dimitris who was an active dojo member for many years.

At the beginning of year 2005 the dojo had its first descendant. Sensei Tasos Karagkiaouris, one of the personal apprentices of shihan Velissariou, created a new core of students in Ano Poli of Thessaloniki, which right now comprises the dojo of Sykies.

One of the milestones in Salonika Dojo's history was the first seminar of hanshi Yamashita that took place in the dojo facilities on December of 2006. Since then the same event was repeated for the years from 2007 to 2009.

During its 12 year course the Salonika dojo is now a landmark of culture, not only for the local area but for the City of Thessaloniki as well.

Dojo instructor

Shihan Velissariou Panagiotis is a personal student of kyoshi Polychronopoulos and he has been participating in all the seminars of Hanshi Yamashita since the year 1990. He holds a 5th Dan in Kobayashi Shorin Ryu Karate do and a 3rd Dan in Matayoshi Kobudo. He has a 20 year long experience in martial arts and he is in charge of the dojos in Thessaloniki and the chief trainer in the dojo of Toumba.

Dojo sempai