The above patch is the one that most practitioners use today, but the original patch looked like this:
Note the shapes of the two patches. They both are vertically shaped. This is to represent the vertical fist of Isshinryu. The old patch is actually in the shape of a fist.
Working your way into the patch, starting with the border, you will begin to notice some differences. The new patch has an orange border. This orange color represents the ring of fire that surrounded Shimabuku in his dream. The yellow border of the old patch portrays the idea that karate is golden.
The background in both patches is grey. This grey can represent many things, but one of the concepts that is easiest to understand is the idea that the beginner's belt is white and the belt of one with experience is black. When these two levels are combine, we get the grey color. The grey represents the ranks in between white and black.
There is a dragon in the top right corner of both of these patches. This is another element that can represent several different things. One idea about the dragon has to do with Master Shimabuku. Shimabuku's birth name was Shinkichi, but he changed it when he was young to Tatsuo. Tatsuo means "dragon boy" or "dragon man". The designer of the original patch, Arsenio Advincula, may have had the origin of Shimabuku's name in mind when he put the dragon on it.
The Japanese writing on the top left side of the patches means "Isshinryu" which when translated from Japanese means "One Heart Way". The fact that Isshinryu is already written on the patch in Japanese kanji may be why it isn't written again in English, like on the new patch.
The woman in the middle of the patches is Mizu Gami. She is a Shinto water goddess. The reason she is in the patch pertains to Shimabuku's dream. Both patches feature her, because her hand positioning is very important.
Isshinryu remains a very traditional style but even traditional styles change. This can clearly be seen in the evolution of the patch. There are many other things that can be said about both of these patches. In order to understand the patch better, one must learn about Shimabuku's dream.
