Camden's Karl Ayliffe and Brad Frankum, of Orangeville, upgraded their belts to a 7th Dan and 2nd Dan respectively in their Uechi Ryu Karate Do Okinawa style of karate.

A former triple world karate champion, Ayliffe lived in Okinawa in the early 1990s until moving to England to train former motor racing driver Nigel Mansell.

Ayliffe progressed to his latest grading after being graded by Okinawan karate masters.

He invited Frankum who he has trained for the past five years, to share the experience on the island which is synonymous with karate.

Ayliffe, who started training in 1986 with Arthur Moulas at his Thirlmere dojo and Frankum enjoyed their time on the peaceful island.

"For Brad, this was an opportunity to live a unique experience, training under the highly exacting eye of Sensei Takahea Gaja, a 9th Dan master who had trained me many years ago," Ayliffe said.

"It was also an opportunity to see and experience life in a very different part of the world for a short time, living like the locals.

"In Okinawa it became clear that the karate community is in some ways similar to here in Australia, with people from all walks of life training together, including a number of ex-pat Americans.

"There were differences too, however, for one thing, training sessions last up to three hours of an evening and dinner is eaten afterwards at 11pm.

"And the different teachers all have very firm views that the way they do things is the only way to do them."

Ayliffe has trained over the years, steadily moving through the dans that follow on from black belt.

Achieving a great accomplishment in being graded as a 7th Dan, Ayliffe, a personal trainer, underwent through a week of training and an assessment by his Japanese peers.

Ayliffe said the two men were shown "incredible hospitality".

"We were even honoured to be asked to do a karate demonstration for the townsfolk of Sensei Gaja's town, who gathered for a traditional celebration on the last night of our trip."