Welcome back Jim!... Welcome Chris!... Thank you Russ and Tim for posting the patches.
Chris, from what I can remember about the blue patch with the two headed dragon; The artwork was drawn by one of his students in the Parsippany dojo. The kanji symbols on this is the same as on the brown patch saying "Isshinshorinji Ryu Okinawa-Te". Note the dragon only has 3 legs emphasizing the value of the number 3 (take it for what you want, 3 pillars, mind/body/spirit, etc...), the dragon is stepping out of the yin/yang circle, and the two heads indicating an attack is possible from both sides.
I'm not sure why he chose the colors for the one's you posted. I figure since it was designed back in the day, brown and yellow were very popular.
Regarding the eagle patch Russ placed over the Society of Black Belts patch. I know that it is what Soke wanted to start using along with another one... Russ, is this a new one for you or did you have it before?
Regarding the Academy of Martial arts patch; the symbol in the middle has something to do with a particular weapon... I'll think about it a little more but want to emphasize that 'symbolism' was not stressed in my training as much as application, theory, and form were.
Soke loved his eagles and the symbolism with america. He emphasized the fact that we are in the US and should talk, dress, and name things as such. He emphasized practicality and de-emphasized 'tradition for tradition's sake'... On a side note, I wonder why he didn't use a patch with a black lab on it as he also loved his dogs!?
But I'm glad things are picking up with regards to discussion again!
Carl
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"There is no right or wrong way, just a better way"... Soke Robert Murphy