Beloved Pierce County dojo that taught rare Viking martial art to close
.jpg "Students of Warrior Life Martial Arts, a studio that offered classes in martial arts forms including Japanese juijtsu until its closure in August 2025, in Gig Harbor, Wash.")
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Warrior Life Martial Arts will close in August 2025 due to declining enrollment.
- Founder Karri Rahkonen cited financial strain and post-pandemic shifts in demand.
- The studio was one of few U.S. facilities teaching ancient Viking martial art glima.
A law enforcement officer working to arrest a suspect safely. A woman who fought off an attacker with her self-defense skills. An emergency room doctor trying to contain an aggrieved patient without causing injury.
These are just a few of the people who’ve learned what martial arts teacher Karri Rahkonen calls “the small lessons.”
“And then I had people who really interpreted the big lessons, the confidence lessons, and took them to get out of abusive relationships, or develop the confidence to really try for their dream career,” he said.
In a way, it was confidence that brought Warrior Life Martial Arts, a studio at 6615 38th Ave. NW in Gig Harbor, to life years ago. Rahkonen, the studio’s founder, said he was working in the advertising industry and feeling burned out when he decided to open his own martial arts dojo in Gig Harbor.
“ ... I kind of gambled,” he said. “I took my last paycheck, moved back home to Gig Harbor and bought a few mats, rented a space at the Boys and Girls Club in Gig Harbor and started teaching classes.”
At the end of the studio’s 15-year run teaching kids, teens and adults jujitsu and other martial arts, Rahkonen said he looks back on the ride with gratitude.
“I can’t say it enough that the student body, the people that we had this whole time, have just made it the greatest experience,” he said.
The studio recently announced that it would be closing at the end of August. The last day of classes was Aug. 29 and they hosted a farewell party on Aug. 30 for everyone who’s been part of the community to come and say goodbye, said Rahkonen.
The studio has faced downward enrollment trends, particularly in its youngest age group of students, since the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of students ages 4 to 7 has dwindled from 30 to 35 kids a day to four or five, and he noticed that small kids seemed “less inclined for a high energy, high noise environment” after the pandemic, he told The News Tribune.
It came to a point where the studio just couldn’t pay the bills, he said.
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“We never planned on closing, but we just got to a place where the numbers didn’t add up this month,” he said.
He said it’s “heartbreaking” to close the dojo, but necessary to ensure his family’s financial stability. Rahkonen plans to reenter the workforce and is enrolled in some professional development courses. A GoFundMe to support his family as they seek new sources of income raised over $5,600 as of Wednesday.
Besides teaching Japanese jujitsu, a martial art that Rahkonen described as “a lot about learning how to use your body weight and leverage to bring a person to the ground,” the dojo also teaches glima, an ancient Scandinavian martial art practiced by the Vikings and passed down to their children.
“ ... glima is more about standing up and tripping or tossing a person to the floor, again with the intention of discouraging further aggression,” he said. “In the Viking era, it would be when a person is down at that point, you would arm yourself and then convince them, in no uncertain terms, that they made a mistake.”
Rahkonen said he said he’s only aware of four martial arts facilities that teach glima in the country, including Warrior Life Martial Arts.
Last summer, Warrior Life Martial Arts sent a team to Costa Rica to represent the U.S. in an international glima competition. One athlete took home a gold medal, and another took home a silver medal for their respective weight classes, Rahkonen said. Before the decision to close, the studio planned to send another team to Norway in May 2026.
“We are trying really hard to find a way to keep the team together and keep training,” he said.
Jeremy Simler said his 18-year-old son, Jaron, started taking classes at the dojo when he was 8.
“He said, ‘Dad, this feels like home to me,’” Simler recalled. He credits what Jaron learned at the dojo with influencing his interest in the stunt industry, leading him to enroll in a three-week program at The International Stunt School in Seattle and defer his entrance to college. The school’s website indicates that graduates have gone on to perform stunts for a long list of films and TV shows, from “Avengers: Infinity War” to “Westworld.”
Mason Ward headed to the dojo in August 2017 after leaving the military. He was looking for something different and opportunities to help his body heal, he said. Ward was later hired as an assistant instructor in May 2018.
“ ... Karri was great,” Ward said. “He was always very honest and always put his whole soul into the place. And the environment was never malicious, it was never anything that was like, ‘I’m better than you.’ It was always about how do we grow together to be better people.”
Some students are looking for a new home after the dojo closes. Geoff Barcalow said he’s booked time at the PenMet Parks recreation center and a dozen current students have committed to come and continue training together. He initially joined the dojo to spend time with his daughter, who’s been attending classes for six years, he said.
Simler said the word that came to mind when he learned of the dojo closing was “gutted.”
“We were so sad, because no matter what, it seemed like you always knew that the dojo was just down the road,” he said.
This story was originally published August 31, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
