Our Whole Armor Martial Arts ® Senior Instructors
Tim Merriam
Head Instructor
5th Dan Karate-do
1st Dan Iaido
Tammi Neblock
4th Dan Karate-do
Andrew Colson
Whole Armor Martial Arts, King County WA.
4th Dan Karate-do
Fernando Perez
Whole Armor Martial Arts, Valparaiso, IN.
4th Dan Karate-do
Our Whole Armor Martial Arts ® – Shiho Karano Ryu Black Belts
Tom Ruhe
Whole Armor Martial Arts, King County WA.
3rd Dan Karate-do
Janey Hume
3rd Dan Karate-do
Olivia Miller
3rd Dan Karate-do
Ian Melhorn
2nd Dan Karate-do
Gregg Chastain
2nd Dan Karate-do
Zachary Traphagen
1st Dan Karate-do
Lisa Williams
1st Dan Karate-do
Charles Kerr
1st Dan Karate-do
James Coder
1st Dan Karate-do
Parker Zaemann
1st Dan Karate-do
Stefen Lake
1st Dan Karate-do
“A Black Belt is just a white belt that never quit!”
So what does “Dan” mean anyway? Simply put, “Dan” refers to a level in the Black Belt ranks. At Whole Armor Martial Arts we use a traditional ranking system comprised of “Kyu” levels for color belt students, and “Dan” levels for Black Belt students. “Shodan” means “beginning degree”, and is one of the terms used for 1st degree Black Belt. 1st Dan is also used, then 2nd Dan or Nidan for 2nd degree, 3rd Dan or Sandan for 3rd and so on.