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Do American Ninja Warriors Make Any Money

For other uses of Sasuke, see Sasuke.

Sasuke
Sasuke Title.jpg

The title card for Sasuke.

Also known as Ninja Warrior
Sasuke Rising
Sasuke Ninja Warrior
Genre Sports entertainment,
Obstacle course
Created by Ushio Higuchi
Directed by Ushio Higuchi (1997–2011)
Masato Inui (1997–2005, 2012–present)
Voices of Takashi Matsuo (1997)
Tsutomu Tareki [ja] (1998–2005)
Ken Taira [ja] (2005)
Kiyoshi Kobayashi (2006–2011)
Yuya Takagawa [ja] (2012–present)
Masato Obara [ja] (2014)
Narrated by Ichiro Furutachi (1997–2003)
Takahiro Tosaki [ja] (1997)
Keisuke Hatsuta [ja] (1998–2008, 2010–14)
Wataru Ogasawara [ja] (2005–2011, 2019–present)
Fumiyasu Sato [ja] (2009–2011, 2018)
Tomohiro Ishii [ja] (2012–14)
Ryusuke Ito [ja] (2010, 2015)
Shinya Sugiyama [ja] (2016–present)
Kengo Komada [ja] (2004, 2015–18)
Shinichiro Azumi [ja] (2018–present)
Country of origin Japan
Original language Japanese
No. of episodes 38 competitions (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer Ushio Higuchi [ja]
Producers Yoshiyuki Kogake
Makoto Fujii
Production locations Midoriyama, Aoba-ku, Yokohama[1]
Running time 120 to 360-minute specials in Japan;
30-minute episodes (United States, France, Finland, Estonia, Indonesia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and others);
30- or 60-minute episodes (Singapore);
50-minute episodes (Czech Republic, Serbia)
Production companies Monster9 [ja]
(1997–2011)
Tokyo Broadcasting System
(2012–present)
Release
Original network Tokyo Broadcasting System
Picture format HDTV 1080i
Audio format Stereo
Original release 27 September 1997 (1997-09-27) –
present
Chronology
Preceded by Kinniku Banzuke
Related shows Kunoichi,
Pro Sportsman No.1,
Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course
External links
Website

Sasuke (サスケ; stylized in Japan as SASUKE ) is a Japanese sports entertainment game show television series, airing since 1997, in which 100 competitors attempt to complete a four-stage obstacle course. An edited version, named Ninja Warrior , is screened in at least 18 other countries.

Development [edit]

Recorded on location at a Midoriyama studio in Yokohama, it airs on Tokyo Broadcasting System between Japanese television drama seasons. The show's name Sasuke is named after Sarutobi Sasuke, a fictitious character in Japanese storytelling.[2] Each three-hour special (with the exceptions of Sasuke 24 and 36 which lasted 5 12 hours and 6 hours respectively) covers an entire competition; there are normally 100 participants. There have been 38 specials produced, approximately one new special per year (twice per year before Monster9's bankruptcy, now reduced to once per year since 2012, then became twice again since 2017). The show is produced by TBS and is one of the spin-offs of Muscle Ranking (筋肉番付, Kinniku Banzuke), another sports entertainment competition, which aired on G4 under the name Unbeatable Banzuke. Until the 10th competition, Sasuke was broadcast as a special part of Muscle Ranking, but it became an independent program when Muscle Ranking was discontinued. The first competition was held indoors, marking the only time Sasuke did not take place outside. Competitions generally start in the daytime and continue until completed regardless of weather or darkness.[3] After Monster9's bankruptcy in November 2011, all rights to the show fell completely into the hands of its broadcaster, Tokyo Broadcasting System. Following their acquisition of all rights to Sasuke, TBS renamed the show Sasuke Rising for the 28th, 29th and 30th editions, but have since reverted to the original name. TBS has renamed the show once again, to Sasuke Ninja Warrior since the 35th edition. TBS changed the show's logo for the 36th edition.

Applicants are interviewed or auditioned and trial rounds are held to test their physical ability until the field is narrowed to 100 competitors. Sasuke consists of four stages of increasing difficulty; competitors must complete a stage to advance. Before the 18th tournament, a 1,200-meter run was held in order to determine the competitors' starting positions. Each competition is taped prior to the air date, edited for time, and broadcast as a three-hour show. Exceptions may be made as in Sasuke 24's case should TBS decide the broadcast should go over three hours, but this is a rare exception.

In its 38 seasons, all four stages of the course were only completed a total of six times, by four different competitors. These were Kazuhiko Akiyama[4] in the 4th competition (1999), Makoto Nagano in the 17th competition (2006), Yuuji Urushihara in the 24th (2010) and 27th (2011) competitions,[5] and Yusuke Morimoto in the 31st (2015) and 38th (2020) competitions.

Popularity [edit]

The popularity of Sasuke has led to the creation of a number of spin-off shows and international versions of the show. Kunoichi, perhaps the most well-known spin-off, is a version of Sasuke restricted to female competitors with an emphasis on speed, balance, and stability.

American Ninja Warrior is the United States version of the show. Originally integrated with Sasuke (with American finalists participating on the Sasuke course in Japan), it was at one point the G4 network's highest rated show.[6] As of season 4, American Ninja Warrior's popularity has allowed it to move to the NBC network and expand as a stand-alone spin-off with a full replica course in Las Vegas, although Americans have continued to enter Sasuke even after the inception of ANW.

Other international versions of the format have aired in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Turkey, Sweden, Denmark, United Kingdom, Bahrain, China, Indonesia, Russia and Vietnam, with versions also launching in France (TF1), Germany (RTL), Italy (NOVE of Discovery Networks) in 2016, and Israel (Keshet Media Group) in 2018. An Australian version launched on Nine Network in July 2017. Netflix also started airing Ultimate Beastmaster, broadcast in six different languages in 2017, a Sasuke inspired show.

Competitors [edit]

The show hosts a broad spectrum of participants. While most are from Japan, national television personalities and Olympians from other countries, including the US, Bulgaria, China and Korea, have taken part in the competition. Some of the more enthusiastic competitors dress up in costumes, bring props to the starting stage, or show off some of their talents.[ citation needed ]

Sasuke All-Stars [edit]

The Sasuke All-Stars were a group of six favored competitors, established by the TBS network, originally thought to be the most likely to clear all four stages. It included two of the men to complete the Sasuke course, Kazuhiko Akiyama (1999, 4th tournament) and Makoto Nagano (2006, 17th tournament). The membership of the All-Stars has remained unchanged despite other successful competitors in later tournaments, notably, Yuuji Urushihara who completed the course in the 24th and 27th tournaments. The All-Stars were officially 'retired' in the 28th tournament. Two of them continue to compete independently, and are now referred to as 'former All-Stars'.[ citation needed ]

The six consisted of:

  • Kazuhiko Akiyama [ja] , a crab fisherman and massage therapist. He is known for being the first contestant to ever achieve total victory. He has not been able to repeat his success, being hindered by an eye condition known as degenerative retinitis that has been affecting him for years. Overall, he has competed 20 times and has been officially retired since Sasuke 28 in 2012. An offer was made for Akiyama to return for the 30th anniversary tournament in 2014, but he declined and has remained retired since.[ citation needed ]
Akiyama's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
2nd 100 Failed Wall Lifting Second
3rd 99 Failed Wall Lifting Second
4th 86 Kanzenseiha (6.0 seconds to spare) Final
5th Did not compete
6th 100 Failed Jump Hang First
7th 99 Failed Jump Hang First
8th 99 Failed Jump Hang First
9th 100 Failed Quintuple Step First
10th 98 Failed Warped Wall First
11th 99 Failed Body Prop Third
12th 97 Failed Pipe Slider Third
13th 91 Failed Crooked Wall First
14th 71 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
15th 81 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
16th 71 Failed Metal Spin Second
17th 71 Failed Circle Slider First
18th–19th Did not compete
20th 1901 Failed Halfpipe Attack First
21st Did not compete
22nd 20 Failed Halfpipe Attack First
23rd Did not compete
24th 62 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
25th 98 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
26th–27th Did not compete
28th 96 Failed Spinning Bridge First
  • Makoto Nagano, a fisherman and fishing boat captain. Known for reaching the Final Stage more than anyone else, five times in total, and being the second person to complete the entire course. He wears #100 most of the time (15 out of his 26 competitions). Overall, he has competed 26 times, a number surpassed only by three of his fellow All-Stars: Katsumi Yamada, Toshihiro Takeda and Shingo Yamamoto, and has been officially retired since Sasuke 32 in 2016.
Nagano's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
7th 87 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
8th 41 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
9th 61 Failed Pipe Slider Third
10th 999 Failed Jump Hang First
11th 96 Failed Rope Climb (about 20 m up) Final
12th 100 Failed Rope Climb (by 0.11 seconds) Final
13th 100 Failed Rope Climb (about 22.4 m up) Final
14th 100 Failed Jumping Bars Third
15th 100 Failed Metal Spin Second
16th 100 Failed Devil Swing Third
17th 99 Kanzenseiha (2.56 seconds to spare) Final
18th 96 Failed Shin-Cliffhanger (Disqualified) Third
19th 100 Failed Flying Chute First
20th 2000 Failed Downhill Jump Second
21st 100 Failed Gliding Ring Third
22nd 100 Failed Slider Jump First
23rd 100 Failed G-Rope* (by 0.2 seconds) Final
24th 100 Failed Jumping Spider First
25th 99 Failed Circle Slider First
26th 99 Failed Jumping Spider First
27th 100 Failed Ultimate Cliffhanger Third
28th 100 Failed Second Warped Wall (time out) First
29th 100 Failed Second Warped Wall (time out)(injured) First
30th 2999 Failed Swap Salmon Ladder (Disqualified) Second
31st 98 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
32nd 100 Failed Lumberjack Climb (time out) First
33rd-37th Did not compete
38th 98 Failed Dragon Glider First

† – Nagano touched the top of the Shin-Cliffhanger after swinging from the second to the third ledge. He disqualified himself, admitting his error and bowing out after he reached the next platform.

* – Nagano was allowed a second attempt at the First Stage due to a malfunction of the Slider Jump.

  • Toshihiro Takeda [ja] , a firefighter. Known for reaching the Third Stage more than anyone else. He can usually be seen wearing his trademark orange firefighter pants and dark blue shirt, though he changed his trademark clothes since Sasuke 30 after he quit his firefighter job. However, he is the only All-Star that hasn't made it to the Final Stage yet. Overall, he has competed 26 times and continues to compete to this day. The only times he didn't appear were in Sasuke 26 and Sasuke 27, thus avoiding any risk affecting his new job as a Helicopter Rescue Jumper.
Takeda's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
5th 74 Failed Spider Walk Second
6th 93 Failed Body Prop Third
7th 96 Failed Rope Climb First
8th 71 Failed Pipe Slider Third
9th 97 Failed Globe Grasp Third
10th 997 Failed Jump Hang First
11th 97 Failed Body Prop Third
12th 95 Failed Pipe Slider Third
13th 98 Failed Cliffhanger Third
14th 97 Failed Cliffhanger Third
15th 96 Failed Devil Swing Third
16th 98 Failed Cliffhanger Third
17th 91 Failed Pipe Slider Third
18th Failed Salmon Ladder Second
19th 96 Failed Warped Wall First
20th 1995 Failed Rope Ladder First
21st 98 Failed Ascending Climb Third
22nd 92 Failed Jumping Spider First
23rd 97 Failed Spider Flip Third
24th 98 Failed Spider Flip Third
25th 70 Failed Double Salmon Ladder Second
26th–27th Did not compete
28th 97 Failed Rolling Escargot First
29th 95 Failed Hedgehog First
30th 2980 Failed Swap Salmon Ladder Second
31st 93 Failed Rolling Hill First
32nd 98 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
33rd 90 Failed Salmon Ladder Kudari Second
34th 91 Failed Salmon Ladder Kudari Second
35th 91 Failed Dragon Glider (time out) First
36th 85 Withdrew on Dragon Glider (injured) First
37th Did not compete
38th 87 Failed Altered Fish Bone First

† – Takeda had no number in the 18th tournament. He was around the 86th person to run the course. Takeda injured his shoulder when running the Wing Slider in 36th tournament.

  • Shingo Yamamoto [ja] , a gas station manager. Only person never to miss a single tournament. He is also the only person to have attempted the first and second version of the Final Stage in Sasuke 3 and Sasuke 7. He can be seen wearing his trademark gas station uniform shirt and cap (always with Esso/Mobil branding); he has only competed without it seven times (the 1st, 4th, and 28th since he changed his job). He continues to compete to this day.
Yamamoto's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
1st 7 Failed Dodging Hammer Second
2nd 20 Failed Pipe Slider Third
3rd 13 Failed Rope Climb Final
4th 98 Failed Balance Bridge First
5th 98 Failed Pipe Slider Third
6th 96 Failed Rolling Log First
7th 97 Failed Spider Climb (injured) Final
8th 98 Failed Rope Climb First
9th 98 Failed Rumbling Dice Third
10th 998 Failed Rope Climb First
11th 98 Failed Cliffhanger Third
12th 96 Failed Cliffhanger Third
13th 76 Failed Wall Lifting Second
14th 98 Failed Curtain Cling Third
15th 95 Failed Body Prop Third
16th 97 Failed Jump Hang First
17th 98 Failed Body Prop Third
18th 61 Failed Flying Chute First
19th 81 Failed Jumping Spider First
20th 1981 Failed Halfpipe Attack First
21st 71 Failed Flying Chute First
22nd 31 Failed Halfpipe Attack First
23rd 93 Failed Arm Rings (injured) Third
24th 96 Failed Tarzan Rope First
25th 90 Failed Balance Tank Second
26th 94 Failed Rolling Escargot First
27th 81 Failed Spinning Bridge First
28th 98 Failed Spinning Bridge First
29th 36 Failed Backstream Second
30th 2992 Failed Backstream Second
31st 92 Failed Rolling Hill First
32nd 99 Failed Double Pendulum First
33rd 91 Failed Double Pendulum First
34th 92 Failed Double Pendulum First
35th 74 Failed Fishbone First
36th 81 Failed Wing Slider First
37th 84 Failed Dragon Glider First
38th 86 Failed Dragon Glider First

† – Yamamoto was hurt in the 7th competition when he dislocated his shoulder and in the 23rd he re-injured his shoulder.

  • Bunpei Shiratori [ja] , a government worker in the Health and Service department. He is also known for building obstacles in his backyard (over 13 of them, in fact), and many competitors have visited his home to train on the 'Shiratori Shrine' (However, as of Sasuke 30, it has been demolished). He has competed the least of the All-Stars: only 12 times due to chronic back and neck pains that have continued to plague him for years. Despite having only competed once since Sasuke 21, he is not officially retired and has not ruled out the possibility of returning should his health permit it, although this is unlikely.
Shiratori's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
9th 79 Failed Warped Wall First
10th Did not compete
11th 66 Failed Wall Lifting (time out) Second
12th 77 Failed Rope Climb Final
13th 99 Failed Pipe Slider Third
14th 96 Failed Balance Tank Second
15th 94 Failed Climbing Bars Third
16th 96 Failed Pipe Slider Third
17th 81 Failed Body Prop Third
18th 95 Failed Jumping Spider First
19th 82 Failed Flying Chute First
20th Did not compete (injured)
21st 83 Failed Downhill Jump Second
22nd–29th Did not compete
30th 2997 Failed Jump Hang Kai First
31st–38th Did not compete
  • Katsumi Yamada, a steel worker known as "Mr. Sasuke" or "Mr. Ninja Warrior". He was once thought to be the one most likely to complete the entire course by the tournament's producers, but has not passed the First Stage in thirteen years, since tournament 12. He has "retired" from Sasuke on three separate occasions following the 12th, 24th and 28th tournaments, but returned each time nonetheless. He was given the nickname "Mr. Sasuke" because he was once thought to be the most likely competitor to clear all four stages, but hasn't passed the First Stage since Sasuke 12. Overall, he has competed 27 times, second only to Yamamoto Shingo, but has been barred from competing since Sasuke 30 in 2014. However, on a broadcast of Nico Nico in December 2016, Inui Masato revealed to the chat that Katsumi Yamada will be allowed to return as it is the 20th anniversary of the show since it began airing in 1997, should he be healthy enough to compete.[7]
Yamada's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
1st 92 Failed Dodging Hammer Second
2nd 91 Failed Spider Walk Second
3rd 89 Failed Rope Climb (time out) Final
4th 100 Failed Cliffhanger Third
5th 100 Failed Spider Walk Second
6th 99 Failed Pipe Slider Third
7th 100 Failed Rope Climb (time out) First
8th 100 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
9th 99 Failed Wall Lifting time out) Second
10th 1000 Failed Pipe Slider Third
11th 100 Failed Balance Tank Second
12th 98 Disqualified on Spider Walk Second
13th Did not compete
14th 99 Failed Jump Hang First
15th 99 Failed Cross Bridge First
16th 99 Failed Rope Climb (time out) First
17th 100 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
18th 73 Failed Rope Ladder (time out) First
19th 91 Failed Jumping Spider First
20th 1999 Failed Jumping Spider First
21st 96 Failed Warped Wall (time out)(injured) First
22nd 81 Failed Jumping Spider First
23rd 71 Failed Slider Jump First
24th 80 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
25th Did not compete
26th 90 Failed Jumping Spider First
27th 91 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
28th 99 Failed First Warped Wall (time out) First
29th Did not compete
30th 2934 Failed Second Warped Wall (time out) First
31st–32nd Did not compete
33rd 33 Failed Tie Fighter First
34rd-37th Did not compete
38th 97 Failed Dragon Glider First

† – In the 12th competition, Yamada was disqualified on the Spider Walk for failing to remove his gloves used on the Chain Reaction obstacle. Although he was disqualified, he did manage to clear the 2nd Stage with 3.4 seconds remaining.

Sasuke New Stars (Shin Sedai) [edit]

The Sasuke New Stars (in contrast to the All Stars) are new younger competitors who have made a name for themselves on mostly the Shin-Sasuke editions of the course. "Shin Sedai" or New Stars became famous since Sasuke 17, after Shunsuke Nagasaki made it to the Final Stage. There was a brief hiatus before the term was re-popularized in Sasuke 22 when Yuuji and Kanno made it to the Third Stage. Membership in the New Stars has included the following:

  • Shunsuke Nagasaki [ja] , a trampolinist. He is considered one of the most promising of recent competitors.[ citation needed ] This skilled trampolinist, who is called "Prince of the Trampoline", has won several medals in the Trampoline World Cups and Doha Asian Games. He made his debut in Sasuke 14. He is the first to be called one of the "Shin Sedai" in Sasuke 17, however, he made his first Final Stage appearance in Sasuke 17 in 19 years, the second youngest to reach the Final Stage. He failed the First Stage in Sasuke 19; after that he didn't compete for six years. In 2012 he retired from athletics. He made his comeback on Sasuke 29, however he timed out on the Passing Wall. He failed the Crazy Cliffhanger in Sasuke 30. He timed out in the Lumberjack Climb in Sasuke 31 but his run was all cut. He failed the Flying Bar in Sasuke 32 and failed it again in Sasuke 33. Surprisingly, he failed the Spider Walk in Sasuke 34. He failed the Spider Drop in Sasuke 35, the first time he failed the Second Stage for the two consecutive times. This meant that Nagasaki was eliminated at the Second Stage in consecutive tournaments for the first time. He failed the Dragon Glider in Sasuke 36. As of 2018, Nagasaki has completed the First Stage eleven times (five consecutively), the Second Stage seven times (four consecutively), and the Third Stage once.
Nagasaki's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
14th 67 Failed Wall Lifting Second
15th 65 Failed Cliffhanger Third
16th 89 Failed Cliffhanger Third
17th 87 Failed Rope Climb Final
18th 97 Failed Shin-Cliffhanger Third
19th 97 Failed Flying Chute First
20th–28th Did not compete
29th 93 Failed Passing Wall Second
30th 2986 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
31st 88 Failed Lumberjack Climb (time out) First
32nd 87 Failed Flying Bar Third
33rd 98 Failed Flying Bar Third
34th 95 Failed Spider Walk Second
35th 92 Failed Spider Drop Second
36th 94 Failed Dragon Glider First
37th 80 Failed Altered Fish Bone First
38th 70 Failed Dragon Glider First
  • Yuuji Urushihara [ja] , a shoe salesman, an Unlimited Cliffer member No. 3.[ clarification needed ] He spent upwards of five years trying to qualify through the Sasuke Trials. Finally, he qualified for Sasuke 21, and in the next tournament became the first competitor to reach Shin-Sasuke 's Final Stage. He got his Final Stage attempt in Sasuke 22, but he failed it close to the button. In Sasuke 24, he became the third person to achieve Kanzenseiha, and in Sasuke 27, he went on to become the only person to achieve it twice. In Sasuke 28, he failed the Crazy Cliffhanger. In Sasuke 29, he failed the Backstream. In Sasuke 30, he timed out on the Wall Lifting. In Sasuke 31, he took more time to clear the Tackle and timed out on the Soritatsu Kabe. In Sasuke 32, he was one of the notable competitors who failed on the new obstacle Double Pendulum when he failed the transition to the red sandbag. In Sasuke 33, he surprisingly failed Rolling Hill. He made a good transition from Quad Steps to the Rolling Hill, but he lost his balance in the middle of the Rolling Hill. In Sasuke 34, he declared that if he failed the First Stage again, he would retire. Then the results show that he cleared the First Stage, but he struggled in Reverse Conveyor and timed out there. In Sasuke 35, he cleared the first few obstacles with ease, including the new Dragon Glider, but eventually timed out on the Soritatsu Kabe due to the reduced time limit and exhaustion. He finally made it to the Third Stage after 6 years in Sasuke 36, cleared the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger, being the oldest to clear it, and also the oldest to attempt the next obstacle, the Vertical Limit, where he made it to the 3rd ledge before his grip gave out.
Urushihara's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
21st 72 Failed Flying Chute First
22nd 77 Failed G-Rope Final
23rd 99 Failed Unstable Bridge Second
24th 93 Kanzenseiha (3.57 seconds to spare) Final
25th 100 Failed Double Salmon Ladder Second
26th 100 Failed Half-Pipe Attack First
27th 99 Kanzenseiha (6.71 seconds to spare) Final
28th 88 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
29th 99 Failed Backstream Second
30th 2993 Failed Wall Lifting Second
31st 99 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
32nd 89 Failed Double Pendulum First
33rd 89 Failed Rolling Hill First
34th 99 Failed Reverse Conveyor Second
35th 95 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
36th 95 Failed Vertical Limit Kai Third
37th 96 Failed Pipe Slider Third
38th 99 Failed Wall Lifting Second
  • Hitoshi Kanno [ja] , a janitorial worker/jewelry designer. He has been considered one of the most serious contenders to kanzenseiha. In Sasuke 23, when Nagano Makoto joined him in the Final Stage, it was heard that Kanno was the leader of the Shin Sedai. After that in Sasuke 24, Kanno timed out on the First Stage, then in Sasuke 25 he failed the Balance Tank on the Second Stage. Then in Sasuke 26 he failed the Rolling Escargot on the First Stage, and in Sasuke 27 he withdrew before the Salmon Ladder on the Second Stage. Then he reached the Third Stage in Sasuke 28, 29, 30, and 31, failing the Crazy Cliffhanger the first three times, but clearing it on his fourth attempt. He failed on the next obstacle, Vertical Limit Kai. He timed out at the top of the Soritatsu Kabe in Sasuke 32, after dislocating his shoulder. In Sasuke 33, he surprisingly failed Rolling Hill; he jumped from the bottom of Rolling Hill too high but he couldn't save himself from his fall. He did not compete in Sasuke 34. He came back for SASUKE 35. He started strong, and even made the transition on the Dragon Glider, but the bar became crooked while dismounting, causing him to only get one foot on the platform and tap the water. He did not compete in Sasuke 36.
Kanno's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
20th 1976 Failed Jumping Spider First
21st Did not compete
22nd 49 Disqualified on Spider Flip † Third
23rd 96 Failed G-Rope Final
24th 99 Failed Tarzan Rope (time out) First
25th 89 Failed Balance Tank Second
26th 93 Failed Rolling Escargot First
27th 1 Withdrew on Double Salmon Ladder ‡ Second
28th 89 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
29th 97 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
30th 2996 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
31st 96 Failed Vertical Limit Kai Third
32nd 96 Failed Tarzan Rope (time out) (Injured††) First
33rd 92 Failed Rolling Hill First
34th Did not compete
35th 72 Failed Dragon Glider First
36th Did not compete
37th 85 Failed Dragon Glider First
38th 72 Failed Dragon Glider First

† – Kanno touched part of the frame with his foot and climbed along the side of the platform, thereby going off the course.
‡ – Kanno withdrew before Double Salmon Ladder because of a shoulder injury.
†† – Kanno dislocated his shoulder immediately after clearing the Warped Wall, and timed out on top of the wall.

  • Kouji Hashimoto [ja] , a gym instructor. He qualified through the Sasuke Trials in three straight tournaments. He failed the First Stage in his early performances, in Sasuke 21 and Sasuke 22. In Sasuke 23, he finally cleared the First Stage, and in the next tournament, he made it all the way to the Final Stage, along with Lee En-Chih, Urushihara Yuuji, Takahashi Kenji, and Okuyama Yoshiyuki, where he ultimately timed out mere centimeters from the goal. In Sasuke 25, he failed the Ultimate Cliffhanger. In Sasuke 26, he surprisingly failed at the Metal Spin when he lost his grip. In Sasuke 27, he became the first person to cross the Ultimate Cliffhanger, but he failed the Chain See-Saw. In Sasuke 28, he surprisingly failed at the Spin Bridge when he lost his balance on the third bridge. In Sasuke 29, he failed the Backstream. After that tournament, he has never come back to Sasuke. In April 2016, he made it to the Nico Nico Broadcast with some Sasuke New Stars for the Osaka Audition.
Hashimoto's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
21st 42 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
22nd 76 Failed Slider Jump First
23rd 47 Failed Salmon Ladder Second
24th 85 Failed G-Rope Final
25th 60 Failed Ultimate Cliffhanger Third
26th 98 Failed Metal Spin Second
27th 20 Failed Chain Seesaw Third
28th 40 Failed Spinning Bridge First
29th 41 Failed Backstream Second
30th–38th Did not compete
  • Naoya Tajima [ja] , a transportation worker. He has competed five times, failing in each of the first three stages. His best performance was in Sasuke 24, where he reached the Third Stage but failed the final obstacle, the Gliding Ring. He failed the First Stage at Sasuke 25 and Sasuke 26. In Sasuke 27, he failed the Slider Drop on the Second Stage.
Tajima's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
23rd 45 Failed Salmon Ladder Second
24th 73 Failed Gliding Ring Third
25th 49 Failed Circle Slider First
26th 86 Failed Jumping Spider First
27th 29 Failed Slider Drop Second
28th–38th Did not compete
  • Ryo Matachi [ja] , a former painter and a plumber. He has competed nine times, failing the First Stage in his first three tries, but in Sasuke 27, his best performance, he made it to the Final Stage, timing out mere inches from the buzzer on the Tsuna Nobori. In the next two tournaments, he failed the Passing Wall and Backstream, respectively. However, in Sasuke 30, he made it to the Final Stage where he almost got to the buzzer, but time ran out. In Sasuke 31 however Ryo fell a victim to the Warped Wall along with Nagano and Yuuji due to the endurance needed in order to complete the obstacle. In Sasuke 32, he timed out at the Tarzan Rope, after having trouble with the Tackle and Soritatsu Kabe. In Sasuke 33, he surprisingly failed the new obstacle Fishbone in the first transition although his run was digested.[ clarification needed ] He surprisingly failed the Double Pendulum in Sasuke 34 and got digested once again. He once again timed out on the Soritatsu Kabe, thus failing the First Stage for the 5th straight time in Sasuke 35. He finally made to the Third Stage in Sasuke 36 after 4 years, however he would end up failing the Vertical Limit after making it to the final ledge.
Matachi's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
21st 46 Failed Flying Chute First
22nd–24th Did not compete
25th 6 Failed Circle Slider First
26th 63 Failed Rolling Escargot First
27th 62 Failed Rope Climb Final
28th 87 Failed Passing Wall Second
29th 98 Failed Backstream Second
30th 2994 Failed Rope Climb Final
31st 100 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
32nd 90 Failed Tarzan Rope (time out) First
33rd 88 Failed Fishbone First
34th 94 Failed Double Pendulum First
35th 73 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
36th 92 Failed Vertical Limit Kai Third
37th 91 Failed Altered Fish Bone First
38th 71 Failed Salmon Ladder Up Second
  • Kazuma Asa [ja] , a former hedge trimmer and a construction worker. He made his debut in Sasuke 21, however he timed out on the Soritatsu Kabe. In Sasuke 27, he made his First Stage clear, but he failed the Double Salmon Ladder after losing his grip. Asa was considered an official member following his trip to the Third Stage in Sasuke Rising 28. He has made it to the Third Stage four times in a row, in Sasuke 28, 29, 30, and 31, failing the Crazy Cliffhanger in all four attempts. He is one of the very few people to ever fail one obstacle four times in a row. In Sasuke 32, he surprisingly failed early at the new obstacle, the TIE Fighter. In Sasuke 33, he made it past the First and Second Stage again, and failed the Flying Bar after he couldn't control the bar on the first part of the resting area. He did not compete in Sasuke 34, Sasuke 35 and Sasuke 36 due to injury.
Asa's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
21st 45 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
22nd–26th Did not compete
27th 55 Failed Double Salmon Ladder Second
28th 58 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
29th 96 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
30th 2998 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
31st 95 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
32nd 95 Failed Tie Fighter First
33rd 95 Failed Flying Bar Third
34th–38th Did not compete
  • Masashi Hioki [ja] , an electronic store manager. He failed the Sasuke 21 Trials at the Jumping Ring, again in Sasuke 22 and Sasuke 23 Trials. He made his Sasuke debut in Sasuke 25; he failed the Circle Slider. He failed the First Stage back to back in Sasuke 26 and Sasuke 27. He has cleared the First Stage every tournament since Sasuke 29 but he failed the Backstream after he lost his stamina. He made it to the Third Stage in Sasuke 30 and Sasuke 31, both tournaments failing at the Crazy Cliffhanger. In Sasuke 32, he was the first notable competitor to fail surprisingly early on the new obstacle, Double Pendulum. In Sasuke 33, he rose again and cleared the First Stage, but in the Second Stage, he healed[ clarification needed ] the water on the Backstream, and only had 10 seconds on the Reverse Conveyor and timed out there. In Sasuke 34, he made it to the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger, but he failed the first jump. He went to the Third Stage, but was taken out on the new obstacle Planet Bridge in Sasuke 35. He run the whole stage with his injured left foot, he clear the Planet Bridge and even the first jump on the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger, but he was unable to hold on the second moving ledge in Sasuke 36.
Hioki's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
25th 92 Failed Circle Slider First
26th 64 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
27th 61 Failed Giant Swing First
28th Did not compete
29th 73 Failed Backstream Second
30th 2935 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
31st 31 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
32nd 31 Failed Double Pendulum First
33rd 45 Failed Reverse Conveyor Second
34th 45 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger Third
35th 60 Failed Planet Bridge Third
36th 71 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger Third
37th 60 Failed Cliffhanger Dimension Third
38th 57 Failed Wall Lifting Second
  • Tomohiro Kawaguchi [ja] , a concrete mixer driver. He competed eight times and qualified through the Sasuke Trials. He made his debut in Sasuke 21. Then he failed the Slider Jump in Sasuke 22. He cleared the First Stage for the first time in Sasuke 24, but he failed the Unstable Bridge. He failed the First Stage back to back in Sasuke 25 and Sasuke 27. In Sasuke 30, he cleared the Third Stage and made it to the Final Stage. However, he was slow on the Spider Climb and timed out at the Tsuna Nobori about 8 m from the buzzer. In Sasuke 31, he failed to repeat his performance from the previous tournament, when he failed the Crazy Cliffhanger. In Sasuke 32, Kawaguchi once again made it to the Third Stage, however he failed at the Flying Bar when he ran the obstacle in bad weather. In Sasuke 33, he surprisingly failed the Double Pendulum in the First Stage, when he jumped too soon for the sandbag and his hand didn't get to grab onto it to it high enough, and he fell into the water. He showed his revenge for last season in Sasuke 34; he made it to the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger and cleared the first transition, but he failed to make the transition into the moving ledge. He made it to the Third Stage once again, this time Kawaguchi carry out revenge on the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger, but his run came to an end after an unclean transition to the second ledge on the Vertical Limit in Sasuke 35. He went out on the first transition in the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger due to too much momentum on his swing in Sasuke 36.
Kawaguchi's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
21st 47 Failed Half-Pipe Attack First
22nd 78 Failed Slider Jump First
23rd Did not compete
24th 47 Failed Unstable Bridge Second
25th 78 Failed Circle Slider First
26th Did not compete
27th 25 Failed Rolling Escargot First
28th–29th Did not compete
30th 2967 Failed Rope Climb Final
31st 97 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
32nd 97 Failed Flying Bar Third
33rd 99 Failed Double Pendulum First
34th 98 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger Third
35th 99 Failed Vertical Limit Kai Third
36th 99 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger Third
37th 99 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
38th 96 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
  • Shinya Kishimoto [ja] , a commercial salesman. He competed six times, having made his debut in Sasuke 25, when he failed the Dome Steps. He competed again in Sasuke 26; he failed the Rolling Escargot. In Sasuke 27, he failed at the Soritatsu Kabe. In Sasuke 30, he cleared the First Stage and Second Stage for the first time. In the Third Stage, he was the third person ever to clear the Crazy Cliffhanger, but he failed the Vertical Limit when he lost his grip. He withdrew from Sasuke 31 due to a back injury. In Sasuke 32 his run was all cut, but from external information it is known that he failed at the Soritatsu Kabe. In Sasuke 33, he was shown in the trailer; he shockingly failed the first obstacle Quad Steps. His right foot jumped too high making him lose balance, and he fell into the water. He did not compete in Sasuke 34, Sasuke 35 and Sasuke 36.
Kishimoto's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
25th 95 Failed Dome Steps First
26th 8 Failed Rolling Escargot First
27th 17 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
28th Did not compete
29th 88 Failed Hedgehog First
30th 2973 Failed Vertical Limit Third
31st 90 Withdrew (injured) †
32nd 88 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
33rd 80 Failed Quad Steps First
34th–38th Did not compete

† – Kishimoto did not run the course because of his back injury.

Morimoto Generations (Morimoto/Sasuke-Kun Sedai) [edit]

The Sasuke New Stars (in contrast to the All stars) are new younger competitors who have made a name for themselves on the recent editions of the course. "Morimoto Sedai" or Morimoto Generations became famous after Sasuke 31, since Morimoto made his victory, there are many competitors who has been the same age as Morimoto and train with him. Morimoto Generations has been introduced in Sasuke 36 when Tada and Araki finally made it to the Third Stage. Membership in the Morimoto Generations has included the following:

  • Yusuke Morimoto [ja] , an IDEC Corporation software engineer known as "Sasuke-Kun". He debuted in Sasuke 18, at the young age of 15, but failed the Jumping Spider. In Sasuke 19, he was still 15, and he got revenge on the Jumping Spider but failed the next obstacle, the Halfpipe Attack. He also competed in Sasuke 21 and 22, but was cut both times. He returned for Sasuke 27, at age 19, and cleared the First Stage. But in the Second Stage, the Metal Spin was his downfall. He made his best run on Sasuke 29, at age 21. In that tournament, he cleared the First Stage with 9.69 seconds left. He got revenge on the Second Stage, clearing with a slim 0.81 seconds left. In the Third Stage, despite almost failing the Iron Paddler, he cleared it and became the first person ever to beat the Crazy Cliffhanger. He almost made it to the Final Stage, but fell inches short on the Pipe Slider. He went further than everybody else that tournament and earned himself the #1 seat of Japan for the Sasuke ASEAN Open Cup. He timed out on the last part of Wall Lifting in Sasuke 30 wearing #3000. In 2015, he achieved total victory in Sasuke 31 with 2.5 seconds to spare. He did not compete in Sasuke 32. In Sasuke 33, the first time he competed after Total Victory, he made it to the Third Stage but he failed the Flying Bar after he overshot the bar in the first transition. In Sasuke 34, he cleared the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger and made it to the Vertical Limit Kai. However, he lost his grip and fell down before the first transition. He made it to the Final Stage after his own Kanzenseiha, with the Salmon Ladder 15 rungs added, he had a lot of trouble in completing the obstacle in a fast time and would eventually timed out 5 meters up the Tsuna Nobori in Sasuke 35. In Sasuke 36, he made it to the Final Stage and attempt it in front of a live crowd on New Year's Eve, due to his small error in the Salmon Ladder and strong winds that make the rope of the Tsuna Nobori to move out of his reach. He was left hanging for several precious seconds. He wasn't able to ascend the rope as fast he had hoped; he kept climbing but ultimately ran out of time 0.5m away from victory. In Sasuke 38, he became the second competitor to achieve Total Victory (Kanzenseiha) twice, after Urushihara (from SASUKE 24 and 27).
Morimoto's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
18th 91 Failed Jumping Spider First
19th 71 Failed Half-Pipe Attack First
20th Did not compete
21st 52 Failed Jumping Spider First
22nd 27 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
23rd–26th Did not compete
27th 84 Failed Metal Spin Second
28th Did not compete
29th 79 Failed Pipe Slider Third
30th 3000 Failed Wall Lifting (time out) Second
31st 91 Kanzenseiha (2.59 seconds to spare) Final
32nd Did not compete
33rd 100 Failed Flying Bar Third
34th 100 Failed Vertical Limit Kai Third
35th 100 Failed Tsuna Nobori Final
36th 100 Failed Tsuna Nobori Final
37th 100 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
38th 100 Kanzenseiha (2.52 seconds to spare) Final
  • Jun Sato [ja] , a parkour instructor. He is a repeat qualifier from the Sasuke Trials. In Sasuke 23, he made it to the Second Stage, only to meet the obstacle that would become his nemesis, the Salmon Ladder. After two straight defeats, he finally cleared the Salmon Ladder, now the Double Salmon Ladder, in Sasuke 25, only to fail the next obstacle. He took a seven-tournament break before competing again in Sasuke 32, where he went the furthest of any domestic competitor, failing the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger. In Sasuke 33, he failed the Flying Bar; he failed the first transition after the bar touched the resting part. He failed the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger in Sasuke 34. History repeated as he failed at the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger in Sasuke 35. In Sasuke 36, he finally beat the first jump in the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger only to fail the transition on the moving ledge.
Sato's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
21st 44 Failed Log Grip First
22nd Did not compete
23rd 50 Failed Salmon Ladder Second
24th 78 Failed Salmon Ladder Second
25th 18 Failed Unstable Bridge Second
26th–31st Did not compete
32nd 76 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger Third
33rd 97 Failed Flying Bar Third
34th 96 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger Third
35th 97 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger Third
36th 96 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger Third
37th 94 Failed Cliffhanger Dimension Third
38th 94 Failed Cliffhanger Dimension Third
  • Keitaro Yamamoto [ja] , an Eikoh Seminar lecturer. He is a repeat qualifier from the Sasuke Trials. In Sasuke 20, he made it to the Jumping Spider. He returned to SASUKE in Sasuke 29. There, he was able to clear the First Stage. However, in the Second Stage, he timed out on the Backstream. He competed on Sasuke 34 wearing 74. In the tournament, he cleared the first stage again, but failed the Reverse Conveyor. In Sasuke 35, he was able to pass the first stage with 5 seconds remaining. However, in the Second Stage, he slipped on the Spider Drop, and failed it, becoming the first to do so. In Sasuke 36, he cleared the stage in 12 seconds left. His Second Stage run was also digested, but it was shown that he timed out on the Wall Lifting. He has also competed in Viking 2, failing the Cannonball.
Yamamoto's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
20th 1942 Failed Jumping Spider First
21st-28th Did not compete
29th 91 Failed Backstream (time out) Second
30th–33rd Did not compete
34th 74 Failed Reverse Conveyor Second
35th 89 Failed Spider Drop Second
36th 93 Failed Wall Lifting (time out) Second
37th 90 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
38th 90 Failed Rolling Log Second
  • Tatsuya Tada [ja] , a Yamagata Prefectural officer staff. He made his debut in Sasuke 17, where he timed out on the Rope Climb. He competed in Sasuke 19, where he failed the Jumping Spider. After 10-year hiatus, he competed in Sasuke 34, and became one of a lot of competitors to fail the Fish Bone. In Sasuke 35, he failed the Dragon Glider in a digested performance. In Sasuke 36, he cleared the First Stage for the first time with 9.73 seconds left, and completing the Second Stage with 11.08 seconds left. In the Third Stage, he cleared the first 3 obstacles and the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger. However he couldn't get pass the last ledge of the Vertical Limit Kai.
Tada's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
17th 39 Failed Rope Climb (timed out) First
18th Did not compete
19th ? (Unknown) Failed Jumping Spider First
20th–33rd Did not compete
34th 56 Failed Fishbone First
35th 68 Failed Dragon Glider First
36th 73 Failed Vertical Limit Kai Third
37th 49 Failed Salmon Ladder Final
38th 95 Failed Cliffhanger Dimension Third
  • Naoyuki Araki [ja] , a car designer. He made his debut in Sasuke 29, he timed out Ni Ren Soritatsu Kabe. He was cut from broadcast. In Sasuke 32, he failed the Double Pendulum. In Sasuke 35, he failed the Dragon Glider in a digested performance. In Sasuke 36, he complete the First Stage for the first time with 4.94 seconds remaining and clearing the Second Stage with 12.31 second to spare. In the Third Stage, he cleared the first three obstacles, as well as the first transition on the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger, but his attempt at the next transition wasn't successful. He also competed in SASUKE Vietnam 2 where he failed the Rope Climb in the Final Stage.
Araki's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
29th 92 Failed Hedgehog First
30th-31st Did not compete
32nd 72 Failed Double Pendulum First
33rd-34th Did not compete
35th 67 Failed Dragon Glider First
36th 63 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger Third
37th 57 Failed Altered Fish Bone First
38th 82 Failed Reverse Conveyor Second
  • Shogo Ugajin [ja] , a construction worker. He made his debut in Sasuke 32 where he failed the Rolling Hill. He competed in Sasuke 34, he clear the First Stage, unfortunately his run in the Second Stage didn't prove as successful showing him reaching the Backstream before failing due to exhaustion. In Sasuke 35, he was going out on the Dragon Glider. In Sasuke 36, he manage to clear First Stage again, but he timed out on Reverse Conveyor in the Second Stage.
Ugajin's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
32nd 35 Failed Rolling Hill First
33rd Did not compete
34th 38 Failed Backstream (time out) Second
35th 88 Failed Dragon Glider First
36th 75 Failed Reverse Conveyor Second

Notable competitors [edit]

  • Kenji Takahashi [ja] , a 42-year-old delivery man from Saitama Prefecture, has competed fifteen times, with a five-year break between his third and fourth attempts. He reached the Third Stage in competitions 7, 16, and 18 but failed the Cliffhanger each time. He then failed the First Stage four times, in the 19th through 22nd tournaments. In the 23rd competition, Takahashi failed the Gliding Ring. In the 24th, he made it to the Final Stage for the first time, but his support cable got tangled with the G-Rope, and he timed out a few meters short of completion. In the 25th competition, he made it to the Third Stage but failed the Ultimate Cliffhanger. He returned in Sasuke 26, but failed the Rolling Escargot. He also competed in Sasuke 27, but failed the new Spinning Bridge in Stage 1. He returned to the Third Stage in Sasuke 29, but ultimately slipped up on the transition to the second ledge of the Crazy Cliffhanger. He failed the Second Stage for the first time after being disqualified in Swap Salmon Ladder in Sasuke 30. He failed the Crazy Cliffhanger in Sasuke 31. He shocked many people after failing early at the new obstacle, Tie Fighter in Sasuke 32 and failed it again in Sasuke 33. He cleared the First Stage in Sasuke 34, but he failed the Second Stage after struggling in Reverse Conveyor. He made it to the Dragon Glider, however, the bar became dislodged, and his feet touched the water in Sasuke 35. In a fluff piece and post run interview, Takahashi said that Sasuke 35 would be his last run.
Takahashi's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
5th ? (Unknown) Failed Rolling Log First
6th ? (Unknown) Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
7th 46 Failed Cliffhanger Third
8th–15th Did not compete
16th 66 Failed Cliffhanger Third
17th Did not compete
18th 98 Failed Shin-Cliffhanger Third
19th 84 Failed Jumping Spider First
20th 1988 Failed Flying Chute First
21st 85 Failed Jumping Spider First
22nd 80 Failed Rope Ladder (time out) First
23rd 84 Failed Gliding Ring Third
24th 94 Failed G-Rope Final
25th 40 Failed Ultimate Cliffhanger Third
26th 96 Failed Rolling Escargot First
27th 15 Failed Spinning Bridge First
28th Did not compete
29th 87 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
30th 2995 Failed Swap Salmon Ladder Second
31st 89 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
32nd 92 Failed Tie Fighter First
33rd 87 Failed Tie Fighter First
34th 83 Failed Reverse Conveyor Second
35th 93 Failed Dragon Glider First
  • Yoshiyuki Okuyama [ja] , a former 200 m run Japan representative of the 1991 World Championships in Athletics. He currently works as a sports gym instructor and occasionally competes in amateur motorbike races as shown in Sasuke 24. He has competed in nine Sasuke tournaments and is one of the most consistent competitors, making it to the Third Stage six times and almost achieving kanzenseiha in Sasuke 24. Okuyama considers Sasuke his personal Olympics, and trains non-stop for the competition. However he failed the Backstream in Sasuke 29, ending his Third Stage appearance record.
Okuyama's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
19th 39 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
20th 1924 Failed Stick Slider Second
21st 95 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
22nd 84 Failed Shin-Cliffhanger Third
23rd 92 Failed Spider Flip Third
24th 95 Failed G-Rope Final
25th 50 Failed Ultimate Cliffhanger Third
26th 97 Failed Ultimate Cliffhanger Third
27th 96 Failed Flying Bar Third
28th Did not compete
29th 89 Failed Backstream Second
30th–38th Did not compete
  • Yusuke Suzuki, a PE teacher in a junior high school in Kanagawa. He competed five times. He competed since Sasuke 16 but his run was all cut. After a seven-year hiatus, he competed in Sasuke 28, he failed the Spin Bridge and the second wall of the Ni Ren Soritatsu Kabe in Sasuke 30. He also competed in Sasuke 31 but his run was completely cut. He returned for Sasuke 32 wearing number 66, and completed the First Stage for the first time with just 2.12 seconds remaining. He then went on to clear the Second Stage, becoming one of eight to do so, with 9.59 seconds remaining. However, his first attempt on the Third Stage was a struggle. On the first transition of the Drum Hopper he slipped and nearly fell, and only just managed to reposition himself, while the other transitions showed signs of unease. His strength was sapped for the next obstacle, the Flying Bar, where he failed the first transition after the bar did not reach the second set of rungs. In his fluff piece for Sasuke 32, it was falsely stated that he had failed the First Stage four times, when in fact he had competed for the first time in four tournaments beforehand. In Sasuke 33, his run was digested but he failed the Double Pendulum. In Sasuke 34, he failed the Sidewinder Kai. He was unable to repeat his performance from the previous tournament as he had a surprising fall on the Fish Bone in Sasuke 35. He managed to clear the Warped Wall but he timed out on the top of the wall before reaching the button in Sasuke 36.
Suzuki's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
16th ? Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
17th–27th Did not compete
28th 24 Failed Spin Bridge First
29th Did not compete
30th 2943 Failed Double Warped Wall (time out) First
31st 65 Failed Orugoru First
32nd 66 Failed Flying Bar Third
33rd 93 Failed Double Pendulum First
34th 84 Failed Sidewinder Kai Third
35th 94 Failed Fishbone First
36th 82 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
37th 75 Failed Spider Walk Second
38th 37 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
  • Hiroyuki Asaoka [ja] , a former elementary school teacher turned illustrator. Known as "Sasuke Sensei" or "Professor Ninja Warrior".
Asaoka's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
3rd 34 Failed Hammer Dodge Second
4th 3 Failed Pipe Slider Third
5th 27 Failed Jump Hang First
6th 15 Failed Jump Hang First
7th 29 Failed Jump Hang First
8th–9th Did not compete
10th 954 Failed Body Prop Third
11th 58 Failed Chain Reaction Second
12th 72 Failed Rope Climb Final
13th Did not compete
14th 80 Failed Cliffhanger Third
15th 91 Failed Rope Climb First
  • Naoki Iketani [ja] , a former gymnast, sports talent, and world record holder in Monster Box at 23 boxes.
Iketani's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
2nd 90 Failed Spinning Log First
3rd Did not compete
4th 81 Failed Pipe Slider Third
5th 81 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
6th–7th Did not compete
8th 61 Failed Rolling Log First
9th 81 Failed Wall Lifting Second
10th 961 Failed Cliffhanger Third
11th 61 Failed Cliffhanger Third
12th 81 Failed Rope Climb (time out) First
13th 90 Failed Body Prop Third
14th 81 Failed Body Prop Third
15th 90 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
16th 90 Failed Body Prop Third
17th–19th Did not compete
20th 1983 Failed Jumping Spider First
21st 93 Failed Flying Chute First
22nd 97 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
23rd Did not compete
24th 90 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
25th Did not compete
26th 87 Failed Double Salmon Ladder Second
27th 93 Failed Double Salmon Ladder Second
28th 76 Failed Rolling Escargot First
29th–32nd Did not compete
33rd 41 Failed Rolling Hill First
34th-36th Did not compete
37th 61 Failed Wing Slider First
  • Daisuke Nakata, a former Olympic trampolinist. He is most famous for being defeated by the same obstacle, Stage 3's Globe Grasp, three times in a row.
Nakata's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
8th 46 Failed Wall Lift Second
9th 71 Failed Globe Grasp Third
10th 940 Failed Globe Grasp Third
11th 95 Failed Globe Grasp Third
12th 94 Failed Rolling Log First
13th 71 Failed Wall Lifting Second
14th–15th Did not compete
16th 65 Failed Rope Climb (time out) First
17th 96 Failed Arm Rings Third
18th–20th Did not compete
21st 88 Failed Salmon Ladder Second
  • Koji Yamada [ja] , a firefighter from Gifu Prefecture. Claims to have only 3% body fat.
Yamada's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
12th 1 Failed Cliffhanger Third
13th 88 First Jump Hang First
14th 57 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
15th 70 Failed Jumping Bars Third
16th 91 Failed Pipe Slider Third
17th 95 Failed Metal Spin Second
18th Did not compete
19th 79 Failed Salmon Ladder Second
20th–38th Did not compete
  • Shinji Kobayashi [ja] , a sanitary engineer.
Kobayashi's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
11th 74 Failed Pipe Slider Third
12th 93 Failed Jump Hang First
13th 86 Failed Jump Hang First
14th 68 Failed Devil's Swing Third
15th 98 Failed Crooked Wall First
16th 92 Failed Metal Spin Second
17th Did not compete
18th 44 Failed Flying Chute First
19th 76 Failed Flying Chute First
20th 1985 Failed Jumping Spider First
21st 79 Failed Rope Ladder (time out) First
22nd–38th Did not compete
  • Masaaki Kobayashi [ja] , a gymnastics instructor.
Kobayashi's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
12th 92 Failed Body Prop Third
13th 97 Failed Curtain Cling Third
14th 87 Failed Body Prop Third
15th 71 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
16th 93 Failed Metal Spin Second
17th–28th Did not compete
29th 58 Failed Jump Hang Kai First
30th-38th Did not compete
  • Yuji Washimi [ja] , a mechanic, formerly a motocross star.
Washimi's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
17th 68 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
18th 70 Failed Salmon Ladder Second
19th 86 Failed Salmon Ladder Second
20th 1991 Failed Halfpipe Attack First
21st 89 Failed Flying Chute First
22nd–23rd Did not compete
24th 84 Failed Metal Spin Second
25th–28th Did not compete
29th 74 Failed Hedgehog First
30th–38th Did not compete
  • Terukazu Ishikawa [ja] , an izakaya manager, former Muscle Musical member.
Ishikawa's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
14th 76 Failed Body Prop Third
15th–21st Did not compete
22nd Failed Rope Ladder (time out) First
23rd 62 Failed Jumping Spider First
24th 64 Failed Metal Spin Second
25th Did not compete
26th 85 Failed Double Salmon Ladder Second
27th 87 Failed Flying Bar Third
28th Did not compete
29th 67 Failed Backstream Second
30th 2974 Failed Backstream Second
  • Kosuke Yamaguchi [ja] , a fin swimmer.
Yamaguchi's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
12th 60 Failed Rope Climb (time out) First
13th 87 Failed Wall Lift Second
14th 88 Failed Rumbling Dice Third
15th–29th Did not compete
30th 2985 Failed Hedgehog First

Athletes [edit]

World-class athletes, including Olympians, have attempted Sasuke:

Japanese athletes [edit]

Several Japanese athletes have competed in Sasuke over the years, including professional team handball player Daisuke Miyazaki, who was featured in the 20th, 21st, 22nd and 26th competitions. In his debut, the 20th competition, he failed on the Halfpipe Attack. His best performance was in Sasuke 21, where he made it all the way to the Third Stage Devil Steps. In Sasuke 22, he timed out on the Net Climb in Stage 1, and in Sasuke 26, he failed the First Stage's Rolling Escargot.

Sprinter Hisatsugu Suzuki, who competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, appeared in the 13th competition where he fell in Stage 1 on the Cross Bridge.

Another competitor from the 1992 Olympics, gymnast Yoshiaki Hatakeda, competed in the 6th tournament, making it all the way to Stage 3 before falling on the Cliff Hanger.

After the 27th competition, three Japanese Olympians competed: Tomoko Hagiwara, Koki Sakamoto, and Daisuke Nakano. Hagiwara competed in the 28th competition, but she failed the Quintuple Step. She also competed in the 29th competition, but she failed the Hedgehog. Sakamoto competed in the 28th competition, wearing #95 (the highest number for non all-stars that tournament), but he timed out on the second Warped Wall. Nakano competed in the 29th competition, but he failed the Jump Hang Kai, while trying to grab both nets.

Pole Vaulter Seito Yamamoto, who competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics, and also 2018 Asian Games, appeared in the 35th and 36th competition where he fell in Stage 1 on the Dragon Glider twice.

American athletes [edit]

  • Note: Any results included in tables do not include American Ninja Warrior results

Various American athletes, including Olympians and athletes who are regular American Ninja Warrior competitors, also compete in Sasuke.

Olympic gymnasts (and twin brothers) Paul and Morgan Hamm have competed together. Paul made it to the Second Stage in the 14th and 16th competitions but failed to make it further – in the 14th, he cleared Wall Lifting but forgot to hit the button at the end before time ran out, and in the 16th, he was eliminated by the Metal Spin. He competed in the 15th competition as well, but he failed to make it past the First Stage's Warped Wall. Morgan timed out in the First Stage before he could attempt the Rope Climb in the 14th competition, but he made it to the Third Stage in the 15th, failing on the Curtain Cling. In the 16th competition, he failed the First Stage's Warped Wall.

  • Morgan Hamm and Paul Hamm, US Olympic Gymnasts
Morgan Hamm's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
14th 81 Failed Tarzan Jump First
15th 93 Failed Curtain Cling Third
Paul Hamm's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
14th 82 Failed Wall Lift Second
15th 92 Failed Warped Wall First
16th 94 Failed Metal Spin Second

† - Paul Hamm cleared the Second Stage with 0.1 seconds left, but walked through the gates without hitting the buzzer. As a result, he was disqualified.

  • Paul Terek, US Olympic decathlete

Decathlete Terek competed four times in total. He first appeared in the 17th competition, making it to the Third Stage before failing the Cliffhanger. The announcer pointed to his immense size (6 foot 3 and 215 pounds) as a barrier to his advancement. After earning the title of Pro Sportsman No. 1 in 2007, Terek appeared in the 19th competition but failed the First Stage's Jumping Spider. He helped G4 oversee the 2nd American Ninja Challenge competition in early 2008, but he did not compete in Sasuke 's 20th competition due to his training for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing (though he eventually had to drop out of the running for the Olympics after suffering a torn meniscus in his left knee). He made his return to Sasuke in the 22nd competition but failed on a new obstacle in the First Stage, the Slider Jump. He failed the same obstacle in Sasuke 24. In 2010, Paul Terek announced his retirement from international competition, so it is likely he will never compete again.

Terek's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
17th 86 Failed Cliffhanger Third
18th Did not compete
19th 98 Failed Jumping Spider First
20th–21st Did not compete
22nd 98 Failed Slider Jump First
23rd Did not compete
24th 82 Failed Slider Jump First
  • Henry Cejudo, US Olympic wrestler

Cejudo, a gold medal-winning wrestler at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, competed in the 21st competition, but failed the First Stage's Halfpipe Attack.

  • Levi Meeuwenberg [ja] , freerunner.

Meeuwenberg, a free runner from G4's American Ninja Challenge 2, first competed in Sasuke 20, where he was one of only three people to clear the First Stage and the only person to clear the Second Stage. He cleared Stage 2 with a record time of 38.5 seconds left. He failed the Third Stage's Shin-Cliffhanger. In the 21st competition, he failed the Salmon Ladder in the Second Stage; in the 22nd, he failed the new Slider Jump; in the 23rd, he made it back to the Third Stage but failed the Shin-Cliffhanger again. He missed the 24th competition but returned for the 25th, where he failed the first obstacle of the Second Stage, the Slider Drop. However, he couldn't compete in the 26th competition after breaking his wrist while participating in Jump City: Seattle, a televised professional parkour tournament.

Levi did not compete in American Ninja Warrior 3 to try to earn a spot for Sasuke 27 because of a big movie scene that came up for him during the time of the tryouts.

Levi however did compete American Ninja Warrior 4, however he failed the Quad Steps (Godantobi in Japanese), the very first obstacle. It was clear he was very tired as he had flown in from the Philippines hours beforehand and tried to rush.

He has not competed in American Ninja Warrior ever since. It is known that he stopped free running altogether, and became a farmer instead.[8]

In the four times he completed the First Stage, he had the fastest time out of everyone who finished Stage 1.

Meeuwenberg's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
20th 1989 Failed Shin-Cliffhanger Third
21st 99 Failed Salmon Ladder Second
22nd 91 Failed Slider Jump First
23rd 95 Failed Shin-Cliffhanger Third
24th Did not compete
25th 48 Failed Slider Drop Second
26th–38th Did not compete

† - Levi was supposed to compete in the 26th tournament, having earned a spot in the American Ninja Warrior preliminaries, but was ultimately unable to do so after breaking his wrist on Jump City: Seattle, which occurred prior to the 26th tournament. His spot in the tournament went to ANW alternate, Adam LaPlante (who failed on the Halfpipe Attack in Stage 1).

  • David Campbell, an American musician and American Ninja Warrior stalwart nicknamed "The Godfather".
Campbell's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
22nd 50 Failed Rope Ladder First
26th 84 Failed Ultimate Cliffhanger Third
27th 98 Failed Ultimate Cliffhanger Third
  • Brent Steffensen [ja] , a Brazilian-American stuntman who became the first American to complete the Ultimate Cliffhanger during American Ninja Warrior.
Steffensen's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
26th 74 Failed Ultimate Cliffhanger Third
27th 79 Failed Metal Spin Second
32nd 62 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger Third
  • Jessie Graff, a stuntwoman who currently works on the Supergirl TV series. Previously a pole vaulter in college, she initially competed in multiple seasons of American Ninja Warrior, becoming the first woman to complete Stage 1 in Las Vegas in 2016. In 2017, she became both the first woman to complete Stage 2 in Las Vegas (ANW All-Stars) and Stage 2 at the original Mt. Midoriyama (Sasuke 34). In Stage 3, she went out on the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger at the first transition, but not before earning an invitation to the next tournament. She returned back in Sasuke 37, where she made it back to Stage 3 again, only to fail the New Cliffhanger Dimension.
  • Kacy Catanzaro, the first woman in the world to clear the Warped Wall and the Salmon Ladder while competing in American Ninja Warrior (ANW 6 in 2014, during the Dallas qualifiers). In 2016, she competed at Sasuke 32 but narrowly timed out on Stage 1 after passing the Warped Wall.
  • Jamie Rahn, an American Ninja Warrior regular who competes in superhero attire and is known as "Captain NBC" after the network that airs American Ninja Warrior (originally Captain G4). He competed in Sasuke 37 but did not pass the first stage.

Bulgarian athletes [edit]

Bulgarian gymnast and six-time Olympian (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012) Yordan Yovchev (spelled on G4 as Jordan Jovtchev) first competed in the 8th competition. During that competition he reached the Final Stage but became the first competitor to suffer a 15-second timeout on the initial Spider Climb portion, falling when it spread apart. Rain and a two-second late start also hurt his performance. He made it to the Third Stage three more times in competitions 12, 14, and 16, failing the Cliffhanger each time. He competed in the 15th competition but failed the Warped Wall in the First Stage. He later came back to compete in Sasuke 20, where he failed the Warped Wall again. He also competed in Sasuke 23, where he managed to pass all of the other obstacles but sadly timed out on the final rope ladder.

Results [edit]
  • Jordan Jovtchev
Jovtchev's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
8th 59 Failed Spider Climb Final
9th–11th Did not compete
12th 99 Failed Cliffhanger Third
13th Did not compete
14th 91 Failed Cliffhanger Third
15th 97 Failed Warped Wall First
16th 95 Failed Cliffhanger Third
17th–19th Did not compete
20th 1993 Failed Warped Wall First
21st–22nd Did not compete
23rd 79 Failed Rope Ladder First

Korean athletes [edit]

South Korean gymnast Yeo Hong-chul, silver medalist in the men's vault at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. He competed four times but has never gotten past the First Stage. In the 7th competition, he was unable to beat the Rolling Log; In the 8th, he failed the Quintuple Step; In the 11th, he timed out on the Warped Wall. And in the 12th, he timed out on the Rope Climb.

Polish athletes [edit]

Polish gymnast Leszek Blanik, bronze medalist in the men's vault at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and gold medalist in men's vault at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, competed in the 23rd tournament but failed on the Curtain Slider in the First Stage.

Spanish athletes [edit]

Spanish gymnast Gervasio Deferr, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Champion in the vault and 2008 silver medalist in the floor exercise, competed in the 10th competition but timed out a few feet from the buzzer on the First Stage's Rope Climb.

Taiwanese athletes [edit]

  • Lee En-Chih [ja] (who was incorrectly listed as Lee Yen Chi in the US version and was mistakenly called Lee Enchi or Li En Zhi for years), is a professional rock climber from Taiwan. In his first attempt in Sasuke 17, he cleared the First Stage but failed the Second Stage's Metal Spin. In Sasuke 18, he failed the Jumping Spider in the First Stage. After a two-tournament absence, he competed in Sasuke 21 and was one of only nine competitors to make it to the Second Stage, timing out on Wall Lifting. In Sasuke 22, he was one of four people to make it to the Third Stage, ultimately failing the Shin-Cliffhanger. In Sasuke 23, he failed the Second Stage's Metal Spin. In Sasuke 24, he made it to the Final Stage for the first time but timed out 19 meters away. Li became the third foreigner to reach the Final Stage since Yordan Yovchev and Kane Kosugi in Sasuke 8. In Sasuke 25, he went to the Third Stage, but he failed the Ultimate Cliffhanger. He made it back to the Ultimate Cliffhanger in Sasuke 26, but again failed there. In Sasuke 25 and 26, Li finished first overall, becoming the only foreigner to have progressed further than any competitor in consecutive tournaments. After making it to the Ultimate Cliffhanger two times, it looked as if Li would go all the way in Sasuke 27. However, he shocked many when he failed the Step Slider in Stage 1. This was his earliest defeat ever, and first time failing Stage 1 since Sasuke 18. He failed the First Stage yet again in Sasuke 28, on the Spinning Bridge. He finally cleared the First Stage again in Sasuke 29, but timed out on the Passing Wall, on the Second Stage. He failed the Crazy Cliffhanger in Sasuke 30. He decided to retire from Sasuke due to replacement by Taiwan representatives. Since Sasuke 31, his fellow Liao Long Zhun fully ruled the Taiwan representatives. He is also the only foreigner to clear Stage One six times in a row (Sasuke 21–26).
Results [edit]
Lee's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
17th 92 Failed Metal Spin Second
18th 26 Failed Jumping Spider First
19th–20th Did not compete
21st 49 Failed Wall Lift Second
22nd 79 Failed Shin-Cliffhanger Third
23rd 94 Failed Metal Spin Second
24th 92 Failed G-Rope Final
25th 80 Failed Ultimate Cliffhanger Third
26th 95 Failed Ultimate Cliffhanger Third
27th 97 Failed Step Slider First
28th 83 Failed Spinning Bridge First
29th 56 Failed Passing Wall Second
30th 2990 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third

Tahitian athletes [edit]

  • Ragivaru Anastase [ja] , a Tahitian dance instructor, competed in Sasuke 31. He was fastest with 35 seconds left. But he failed on the Crazy Cliffhanger. Then, he joined Sasuke 32. He had the fastest time again in the First Stage and Second Stage, but he failed the Flying Bar when he ran the obstacle in bad weather. In Sasuke 33, his run was digested and surprisingly failed the Rolling Hill. He made it to the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger in Sasuke 34 and fell before the first transition.
Anastase's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
31st 72 Failed Crazy Cliffhanger Third
32nd 94 Failed Flying Bar Third
33rd 94 Failed Rolling Hill First
34th 93 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger Third

Mixed martial artists and wrestlers [edit]

K-1 mixed martial artist Genki Sudo has competed in five tournaments, failing at the Jump Hang (6th, 12th), the Rolling Log (13th), Duodectuple Step (23rd), and the Log Grip (24th). Another mixed martial artist, Sanae Kikuta competed in the 8th and 10th tournaments, where he fell off of the Rolling Log in the First Stage; in the 12th tournament, he fell on the Plank Bridge in the First Stage. Other K-1 fighters who have competed include Tatsuji (19th competition, failed the Jumping Spider), Yudai (20th competition, failed the Rokudantobi), Andy Ologun (18th competition, failed the Rope Glider; 20th competition, failed the Log Grip), Bobby Ologun (22nd competition, failed the Log Grip), Bernard Ackah (19th competition, failed the Jumping Spider), and Takeru Segawa has competed in four tournaments, failing the Hedgehog (30th), Warped Wall (31st), Tarzan Rope (32nd) when his foot touched the water, cleared the First Stage (33rd) but failed the Salmon Ladder Nobori, and Backstream (34th). He had a surprising fail on the modified Fish Bone (35th). Hirotaka Urabe has competed twice, failing the Rolling Hill (34th), Wing Slider (36th).

Takeru's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
30th 2988 Failed Hedgehog First
31st 83 Failed Warped Wall First
32nd 81 Failed Tarzan Rope First
33rd 81 Failed Salmon Ladder Up Second
34th 81 Failed Backstream Second
35th 90 Failed Fishbone First

Former Pride Fighting Championships and Pancrase Japanese mixed martial artist and pro wrestler Ikuhisa Minowa, competing in DREAM known as "Minowaman", was featured in the 26th competition wearing red wrestling tights, pads, and boots. He failed the second obstacle, "Hazard Swing" after jumping from the swing, and missing the rope on the platform, falling into the water below. He also competed in the 29th competition, but failed the first obstacle, the "Long Jump", where he landed feet first onto the sandbox and jumped backwards into the water. Japanese featherweight mixed martial artist from DREAM Hideo Tokoro (announced as a "freelance fighter") was featured right after Minowaman in the 26th competition where he failed to grab the rope to swing himself to the other side in the first obstacle "Step Slider".

Several professional wrestlers have also competed, including Tiger Mask, The Great Sasuke (referred to as Great Ninja Warrior in the US and UK versions), Minoru Suzuki, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi and Naohiro Hoshikawa. Suzuki and Tanahashi were the Triple Crown Heavyweight and IWGP Heavyweight Champion, respectively, during their runs in the course.

Japanese entertainers [edit]

Several Japanese or Japan-based entertainers have taken part in Sasuke, including action movie star Kane Kosugi and his brother Shane. Kane made the Third Stage in the 1st, 4th and 6th competitions, failing on the Pole Bridge, Cliffhanger and Body Prop, respectively. In the 7th competition, he made the Second Stage but failed the Spider Walk, his earliest exit from a competition. He reached the Final Stage in the 8th competition, becoming, alongside Yordan Yovchev, the first foreigner to make it that far. Competing in heavy rain, Kane timed out on the Rope Climb; he has not competed since. Shane timed out on the Second Stage's Wall Lift in the 2nd competition, then failed the First Stage's Rolling Log in the 3rd competition. In the 4th, he came close to completing the First Stage but timed out on the Rope Climb. In the 6th and 7th competitions, he made it to the Third Stage, failing both times on the Body Prop. In the 8th competition, he failed to get past the First Stage's Warped Wall. Unlike his brother, Shane competed in the 9th competition, where he failed the Big Boulder in the First Stage.

Other entertainers who have competed include Hiromichi Sato [ja], host of several NHK children's programs; Shigeyuki Nakamura, a champion of the Muscle Gym event in Kinniku Banzuke; actor-singer Kazumi Morohoshi, a former member of the band Hikaru Genji who is now a solo artist; actor/announcer Kenjirō Ishimaru; and actors Masaki Nomura and Shōei. Sato debuted in the 18th tournament and failed the First Stage's Flying Chute. In the 19th tournament, he failed the Log Grip. In the 20th competition, he timed out before he attempted the Tarzan Rope. In the 21st competition, he timed out on the Warped Wall. In the 22nd, Sato finally cleared the First Stage but failed the Metal Spin in the Second. In Sasuke 23, he failed the Jumping Spider. In Sasuke 24, he failed the Metal Spin again. He missed Sasuke 25, but failed the Jumping Spider again in Sasuke 26. He missed Sasuke 27 and 28 but competed in 29, where he shocked the crowd by unexpectedly going out on the first obstacle, the Long Jump. Nakamura made it to the Third Stage in the 2nd competition, failing there on the Pipe Slider, but in the 6th competition he was eliminated by the First Stage's Jump Hang. Morohoshi debuted in the 20th tournament but failed the Log Grip in the First Stage. Ishimaru has never made it past the First Stage; his two closest attempts, in the 16th and 17th competitions, timed out on the Rope Climb. Shōei competed three times. He competed in Sasuke 6, and failed the Jump Hang when he tried to go under using only his arms. He timed out on the Rope Climb in Stage 1 in Sasuke 7. He finally made it past the First Stage and Second Stage in Sasuke 8. He struggled in Stage 3 on the Propeller Bars, and failed the Body Prop.

Actor James Okada, a graduate from a martial arts academy, competed in the 6th and 7th competitions. In his first attempt, he failed the Jump Hang in the First Stage, but in the next tournament, he made it all the way to the Third, where he was defeated by the first obstacle, the Propeller Bars.

Actor and singer Tetsuji Sakakibara competed four times (23rd–26th tournaments) but never cleared the First Stage, failing on the Jumping Spider in the 23rd and 24th tournaments, the Jump Hang in the 25th tournament, and the Half-Pipe Attack in the 26th tournament.

Actor Ryosuke Yamamoto competed in Sasuke 30 and Sasuke 31. He never completed the First Stage, failing in Jump Hang Kai in Sasuke 30. In Sasuke 31 he did slightly worse by failing the Orugōru (also known as the Music Box) before he could reach the Jump Hang Kai again.

Voice actress Tomoko Kaneda competed in Sasuke 31. She failed the Rolling Hill on the First Stage. Her husband, Wataru Mori, an actor, also competed in several competitions. Mori has competed since Sasuke 16; he failed Rolling Log. Then he competed again in Sasuke 21 and failed Jumping Spider. After an eight-year hiatus, he competed again in Sasuke 32; he timed out on the Lumberjack Climb. He competed again in Sasuke 33, where he completed the First Stage, and timed out at the Reverse Conveyor. In Sasuke 34, he surprisingly failed the last steps on the Quad Steps, his foot slipping to the left. He eventually timed out on the Warped Wall in Sasuke 35. In Sasuke 36, when he reach the Reverse Conveyor, he used his legs to support himself on the sides of the Conveyor. This is something which is against the rules and thus he was disqualified.

Mori's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
16th 64 Failed Rolling Log First
17th–20th Did not compete
21st 11 Failed Jumping Spider First
22nd–31st Did not compete
32nd 82 Failed Lumberjack Climb (time out) First
33rd 83 Failed Reverse Conveyor Second
34th 90 Failed Quad Steps First
35th 71 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First
36th 76 Failed Reverse Conveyer (disqualified) Second
37th 10 Failed Warped Wall (time out) First

Golden Bomber members Kenji Darvish [ja] and Yutaka Kyan [ja] also competed in Sasuke 31. Kyan failed the Rolling Hill on the First Stage. Darvish had previously competed in Sasuke 28 and 30 and failed the First Stage. In Sasuke 31, he finally completed the First Stage and failed the Cross Slider in the Second Stage. In Sasuke 32, Kyan did better on the Rolling Hill, but he lost his balance on the new obstacle Tie Fighter. Darvish failed at the Tie Fighter when he lost his balance. In Sasuke 33, Darvish almost cleared the First Stage but shockingly failed the Lumberjack Climb with only several centimeters to finish the obstacle. Kyan failed Quad Steps. In Sasuke 34, Darvish made it to the 2nd Stage, but he struggled in the Reverse Conveyor. He made it to the Second Stage, he professed slightly further, timing out after lifting the first wall of the Wall Lifting, while Kyan failed the Dragon Glider in Sasuke 35. Darvish finally made to the Third Stage, he failed the transition to the Sidewinder Kai while Kyan failed the Dragon Glider in Sasuke 36.

Darvish's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
28th 31 Failed Rolling Escargot First
29th Did not compete
30th 2979 Failed Lumberjack Climb First
31st 82 Failed Cross Slider Second
32nd 91 Failed Tie Fighter First
33rd 82 Failed Lumberjack Climb First
34th 89 Failed Reverse Conveyor Second
35th 96 Failed Wall Lifting (time out) Second
36th 98 Failed Sidewinder Kai Third
37th 97 Failed Dragon Glider First
38th 93 Failed Dragon Glider First

Model Shimon Okura competed in Sasuke 30. He failed on the Log Grip on the First Stage. He came again to Sasuke 31, doing better on the Log Grip, but he missed the nets on the Jump Hang Kai. Then he joined Sasuke 32. He fell on the new obstacle Double Pendulum when he tried to get to the red sandbag.

Okura's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
30th 2941 Failed Log Grip First
31st 30 Failed Jump Hang Kai First
32nd 21 Failed Double Pendulum First

A.B.C-Z member Ryoichi Tsukada [ja] competed in Sasuke 31; he timed out at the Lumberjack Climb. Then, he competed again on Sasuke 32. He completed the new obstacle Tie Fighter and Double Pendulum, but he failed to reach the top of the Warped Wall. In Sasuke 33, he cleared the First Stage for the first time. He failed Salmon Ladder Up. In Sasuke34, he cleared the First Stage once again and this time failed Salmon Ladder Down. He failed on the TIE Fighter in Sasuke 35. He failed the Dragon Glider in Sasuke 36. Johnny's Jr., SnowMan member Hikaru Iwamoto [ja] He failed the transition from Quad Steps to the Rolling Hill in Sasuke 33. He failed the Fishbone in Sasuke 34. He failed the Dragon Glider in Sasuke 35. He timed out on the top of the Warped Wall in Sasuke 36.

Tsukada's results
Competition Start position Obstacle Stage
31st 81 Failed Lumberjack Climb First
32nd 11 Failed Warped Wall First
33rd 86 Failed Salmon Ladder Nobori Second
34th 88 Failed Salmon Ladder Kudari Second
35th 86 Failed Tie Fighter First
36th 80 Failed Dragon Glider First
37th 87 Failed Warped Wall First
38th 89 Failed Dragon Glider First

Japanese comedians [edit]

Several Japanese comedians have taken part in Sasuke, including Akira Omori [ja] ("The Monkey"), Koriki Choshu ("the most famous gut in Japan" and 2nd on G4's Craziest Contestants Poll), Passion Yara ("screaming wacko" and 5th on G4s craziest contestants poll), Masaki Sumitani ("Razor Ramon H.G." or "Hard Gay"), Yoku Hata ("Guitar Samurai"), Tetsurō Degawa, and Kinnikun Nakayama [ja]. Most of these compete for entertainment value and do not represent serious challenges – for example, Choshu's only accomplishment was being the first person to clear the Rope Glider in the 18th competition. However, some have seen success. Omori made it to the Final Stage three times in a row (1st–3rd competitions), a record that is shared with Sasuke all-star Makoto Nagano, but since then he has not been able to clear the First Stage. Nakayama made it to the Second Stage in the 9th and 11th competitions; in the 9th, Nakayama failed the Spider Walk, and in the 11th, he missed hitting the Second Stage's final button by a split-second. He competed in Sasuke 27. He had footage showing himself training for the new course. He wore #30, and despite his training, he failed the Rolling Escargot when he could not get enough momentum to get the structure spinning, and fell into the water when trying to restart the obstacle. He got revenge on it in the 28th tournament, but timed out on the second Warped Wall. In the 29th tournament, he almost cleared the First Stage for the first time in 10 years, but ultimately, timed out at the top of the Rope Ladder. Recent comedians include Yoshio Kojima, who competed in five competitions (22, 24, 26–28), where he failed at the Log Grip twice, Hazard Swing, Step Slider, and Rolling Escargot respectively. Funnyman Masumi Yagi was featured in the 26th competition but failed on the Step Slider. Cocky comedian Eiko Kano (aka "Mr. Narcissus") was featured in the 25th competition and failed at the Dome Steps, but got past the first obstacle in the 26th competition and failed at the Rolling Escargot.

Penalty comedian[ clarification needed ] Wakky [ja] competed nine times in Sasuke. He debuted in Sasuke 20 and failed the Halfpipe Attack. In Sasuke 21 and 22, he failed the Jumping Spider. In Sasuke 23, he got revenge on both the Jumping Spider and the Halfpipe Attack, only to fail the Slider Jump. In Sasuke 24, he failed the Halfpipe Attack again. He returned for Sasuke 27 and cleared the First Stage for the first time. In the Second Stage, he failed the Double Salmon Ladder. In Sasuke 28, he timed out on the Rope Ladder. He advanced to the Second Stage in Sasuke 29 and 30, but failed the Swap Salmon Ladder.

Other notable competitors [edit]

65-year-old Minoru Kuramochi, known as "the Octopus" because he usually brings an octopus with him, is the owner of the Edokko Izakaya octopus bar in Tokyo and is one of the oldest competitors. He has competed several times, never making it very far into the First Stage. Despite this, he seems to be a fan favorite. In the 20th competition's preview special, he welcomed the G4 American Ninja Challengers to his bar, served them his special octopus meal, and showed off his physical skills to them. He is No. 4 on G4's Craziest Contestant poll. His best performance was in Sasuke 26, where he managed to make it to the Rolling Escargot. He got further than in Sasuke 19, when he timed out on the Pole Maze.

Toyohisa Ijima, a martial arts dance instructor and former member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, competed in the first several tournaments. He is known as the "Japanese Bruce Lee" because of his resemblance to the late action star, which extends to dressing and acting like him. He has only made it past the First Stage in the 1st tournament; in the 11th tournament, he missed hitting the final button on the Rope Climb by a split second because he had wasted time posing for the crowd after completing each obstacle. He is No. 3 on G4's Craziest Contestant poll.

46-year-old Katsuhide Torisawa is a former weightlifter who has competed in every single Shin-Sasuke tournament (except Sasuke 22), starting with Sasuke 18. He always displays his strength before his run; he has brought a barbell and lifted it over his head multiple times, ripped off his shirt, and crushed an apple and full cans of beer with one hand, and also snapped a baseball bat in half. He has never cleared the First Stage.

Women in Sasuke [edit]

The first woman to have completed the First Stage is former Super Sentai stuntwoman Chie Nishimura, who did so in the 2nd tournament.[9] She attempted the Second Stage's Spider Walk in a non-optimal fashion, because her legs were too short to reach across the obstacle the proper way, and failed. She also competed in Sasuke 3 but failed the Rolling Log. She hasn't competed in Sasuke since.

Masami Yusa (G4 mislists her first name as "Miyabi" in some tournaments), a beach flags champion, has competed eight times. She debuted in Sasuke 6, but failed the Barrel Climb. In the Sasuke 13 trials, she became the first woman to beat the Jump Hang, although she timed out there. During the actual competition, she was able to grab on to the redesigned Jump Hang, but she misjudged her jump, slammed face-first onto the platform, and fell into the water; this failure earned her a "Warrior Wipeout" during G4's broadcasting of this tournament. In Sasuke 14, she became the first woman to beat the Jump Hang and the Crooked Wall in competition, but she ultimately timed out on the Warped Wall.

All three women who achieved kanzenseiha on Kunoichi (Women of Ninja Warrior), the female equivalent of Sasuke, have also competed in Sasuke itself, though none have cleared Stage 1. All are also acrobats who worked with Muscle Musical.

  • Ayako Miyake, who achieved Kunoichi total victory three straight times (Kunoichi 4–6), has also competed in Sasuke twice, going out in Stage 1 both times – the Sandan Rolling Maruta in Sasuke 17 and the Jumping Spider in Sasuke 18.
  • Kunoichi 8 champion Rie Komiya, who is a broadcaster and model as well as an acrobat, has competed several times. She first competed in Sasuke 22, where she was disqualified on the Jumping Spider for falling into the safety mat just after the trampoline. She got her revenge in Sasuke 23, but she fell on the Halfpipe Attack. In Sasuke 24, she surprised many by failing the Log Grip. She did not compete in Sasuke 25, but did compete in Sasuke 26, and failed the Rolling Escargot and she competed again in Sasuke 27, where she failed the Rolling Escargot again.
  • Satomi Kadoi, the other Kunoichi 8 champion, competed in Sasuke 27 and failed the Halfpipe Attack.

American gymnast Kacy Catanzaro, who famously became the first woman in the world to clear both the Warped Wall and the Salmon Ladder during American Ninja Warrior qualifiers in Dallas in 2014, traveled to the original Mt. Midoriyama for Sasuke 32 and cleared the Warped Wall at the second attempt before narrowly timing out.

Another American woman and American Ninja Warrior standout, stuntwoman Jessie Graff – the first woman to complete Stage 2 in Las Vegas (ANW All-Stars) – was one of the two invited US entrants including Drew Drechsel in Sasuke 34 the next year. She became only the second woman in Sasuke history after Nishimura to complete the First Stage, doing so with 4.5 seconds left on the standard clock (the female competitors were given an extra 10 seconds, meaning her official time was 14.5 seconds remaining.) She then surprised everyone once again when she managed to complete Stage 2 with 4.4 seconds left on the clock, becoming the very first woman to ever clear the Second Stage in Sasuke. In Stage 3, Graff started strongly, completing the first three obstacles in good form. However, despite her determination, she failed the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger when she attempted the first jump from the first to the second ledge and was unable to hold on. However, having impressed the onlookers, she was invited back for the following tournament. She did not return until Sasuke 37, however, but she went on to clear stage 1 and 2 again, becoming the only woman to reach stage 3 twice. She failed the first flip of the Cliffhanger Dimension, in the same place as Sasuke 34. (insert list of runs here)

A Shinkin Bank employee who has been competed on Kunoichi, Ayano Oshima [ja], She first completed in Sasuke 31. Her run was digested, but it was shown that she had timed out as she was getting up the Warped Wall. Ayano once again returned for Sasuke 36. She was the first Japanese woman to ever clear the Dragon Glider. Although, she became to tired after finishing the tackle, and timed out at the Warped Wall.

American Ninja Challenges [edit]

In fall 2007, the G4 network held a contest called the American Ninja Challenge, whose grand prize was a trip to Japan to compete in Sasuke 's 19th competition. Ten semifinalist videos were selected on August 3 via internet poll to determine three finalists who would appear on G4's Attack of the Show! on August 28–30 to demonstrate their Ninja Warrior skills. On August 31, Michigan State University Economics student Colin Bell and the runner-up, Greenville, South Carolina native Brett Sims, were both selected, and they became the subjects of an hour-long G4 special on November 14 during G4's Ninjafest. Ultimately, both Colin and Brett qualified for the course thanks to their impressive physical abilities, but they both failed the Jumping Spider.

The second contest by G4 wrapped up in March 2008 and aired as part of G4's Ninjafest 2 on May 18, 2008. Levi Meeuwenberg of Ann Arbor, Michigan and Brian Orosco of San Francisco, California were both chosen to compete in Sasuke 's 20th tournament; both are free runners. They competed alongside surprise guest Brett Sims, who was given the opportunity to return by G4. Sims failed the First Stage's Warped Wall, while Orosco failed the Flying Chute. Meeuwenberg, however, made it to the Third Stage before he ultimately failed the Shin-Cliffhanger. In that tournament, he was the last man standing (as he was the only competitor in the entire tournament to make it to the Third Stage).

The third contest by G4 wrapped up in August 2008 and aired as part of G4's Ninjafest 3 on November 12, 2008. Viewers voted for their favorite competitors, the top three of whom would be flown to Japan to compete in Sasuke 's 21st tournament. The winners were Brian Orosco (who qualified with a different video), gymnast Mark Witmer of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and free runner/stuntwoman Luci Romberg – the first woman to qualify – of Valley Village, California. They joined American Ninja Challenge 2 winner Levi Meeuwenberg and both hosts from Attack of the Show!, Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira, to compete in Sasuke 21. In that tournament, Munn failed the Sextuple Step, while Pereira's run ended after his feet hit the water on the Log Grip; on the TBS broadcast, Munn's run was shown only in part while Pereira's run was cut completely. Romberg failed the Halfpipe Attack, while Witmer failed the Log Grip due to a severe ulnar nerve injury that he suffered while warming up. Orosco completed the First Stage with just 0.6 seconds left on the clock but failed the Second Stage's Salmon Ladder. Meeuwenberg cleared Stage 1 with the fastest time, with 21.5 seconds remaining, but similarly failed the Salmon Ladder.

The fourth contest by G4 wrapped up in March 2009 and aired on June 21, 2009 on G4 as part of Ninjafest 4. The competitors' videos were judged by Attack of the Show 's Olivia Munn. The winner, David Campbell, was joined by Munn and previous competitors Levi Meeuwenberg and Luci Romberg. Munn failed the new Circle Hammer in the First Stage; Romberg failed the First Stage's Jumping Spider; Campbell timed out on the final First Stage obstacle, the Rope Ladder, and later told the sideline reporter that he "underestimated the cardio" involved in the course. Meeuwenberg failed a new First Stage obstacle, the Slider Jump.

After this, the American Ninja Challenge was discontinued and replaced by American Ninja Warrior.

Results [edit]

The following is a list of available information of people who achieved the best results in each competition and also the number of competitors who failed in the lower stages. Under each competition, the results are listed in order of best performance. Their names are listed along with their number (1–100) from the competition, and the stage/obstacle they failed to complete (or Total Victory). In the 10th competition the number system ran from 901 to 1000 to indicate that 1000 competitors had attempted the First Stage, and then ran from 1901 to 2000 in the 20th competition to indicate that 2000 competitors had attempted the First Stage, and from 2901 to 3000 during the 30th competition to indicate roughly 3000 attempts on Sasuke. All air dates are of the Japanese broadcast on TBS.

Sasuke 1 [edit]

Aired: September 27, 1997

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 97 Ōmori Akira Final Failed Rope Climb (about 11 m up)
No. 96 Hasegawa Ken Final Failed Rope Climb (about 8 m up)
No. 72 Yo Takashi Final Failed Rope Climb (about 8 m up)
No. 49 Kawashima Takayuki Final Failed Rope Climb (about 10 m up)
2 competitors Third Failed
17 competitors Second Failed
77 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 2 [edit]

Aired: September 26, 1998

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 97 Tanaka Hikaru Final Failed Rope Climb (about 12 m up)
No. 99 Ōmori Akira Final Failed Rope Climb (about 7 m up)
7 competitors Third Failed
25 competitors Second Failed
66 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 3 [edit]

Aired: March 13, 1999

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 89 Yamada Katsumi Final Failed Rope Climb (about 14.5 m up)
No.100 Akiya Omori Final Failed Rope Climb (about 12 m up)
No. 49 Matsumoto Minoru Final Failed Rope Climb (about 8 m up)
No. 17 Shingo Yamamoto Final Failed Rope Climb (about 8 m up)
No. 54 Yamamoto Tatsuya Final Failed Rope Climb (about 8 m up)
1 competitor Third Failed
7 competitors Second Failed
87 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 4 [edit]

Aired: October 16, 1999

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 86 Akiyama Kazuhiko Final Kanzenseiha (6.0 seconds to spare)
10 competitors Third Failed
26 competitors Second Failed
63 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 5 [edit]

Aired: March 18, 2000

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 98 Yamamoto Shingo Third Failed Pipe Slider
2 competitors Second Failed
97 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 6 [edit]

Aired: September 9, 2000

Competitor Stage Obstacle
5 competitors Third Failed
95 competitors First Failed

Note: This is the first tournament where no one failed the Second Stage.

Sasuke 7 [edit]

Aired: March 17, 2001

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 97 Shingo Yamamoto Final Failed Spider Climb (injured)^
4 competitors Third Failed
3 competitors Second Failed
92 competitors First Failed

^Went 2 1/2 meters up then fell down.

Sasuke 8 [edit]

Aired: September 29, 2001

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 91 Kane Kosugi Final Failed Rope Climb (about 18 m up)
No. 59 Jordan Jovtchev Final Failed Spider Climb (about 11.5 m up)^
2 competitors Third Failed
2 competitors Second Failed
94 competitors First Failed

^ Jovtchev fell off the Spider Climb after the walls split at the 15 second limit.

Sasuke 9 [edit]

Aired: March 16, 2002

Competitor Stage Obstacle
4 competitors Third Failed
3 competitors Second Failed
93 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 10 [edit]

Aired: September 25, 2002

Competitor Stage Obstacle
4 competitors Third Failed
1 competitor Second Failed
95 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 11 [edit]

Aired: March 21, 2003

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 96 Nagano Makoto Final Failed Rope Climb (about 20 m up)
6 competitors Third Failed
4 competitors Second Failed
89 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 12 [edit]

Aired: October 1, 2003

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 100 Nagano Makoto Final Failed Rope Climb (0.11 seconds late)
No. 77 Shiratori Bunpei Final Failed Rope Climb (about 21 m up)
No. 72 Asaoka Hiroyuki Final Failed Rope Climb (about 20 m up)
7 competitors Third Failed
1 competitor Second Failed
89 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 13 [edit]

Aired: April 6, 2004

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 100 Nagano Makoto Final Failed Rope Climb (about 22.4 m up)
4 competitors Third Failed
5 competitors Second Failed
90 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 14 [edit]

Aired: January 4, 2005

Competitor Stage Obstacle
10 competitors Third Failed
4 competitors Second Failed
86 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 15 [edit]

Aired: July 20, 2005

Competitor Stage Obstacle
6 competitors Third Failed
1 competitor Second Failed
93 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 16 [edit]

Aired: December 30, 2005

Competitor Stage Obstacle
8 competitors Third Failed
8 competitors Second Failed
84 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 17 [edit]

Aired: October 11, 2006

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 99 Makoto Nagano Final Kanzenseiha (2.56 seconds to spare)
No. 87 Nagasaki Shunsuke Final Failed Rope Climb (about 18 m up)
6 competitors Third Failed
3 competitors Second Failed
89 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 18 [edit]

Aired: March 21, 2007

Competitor Stage Obstacle
3 competitors Third Failed
3 competitors Second Failed
94 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 19 [edit]

Aired: September 19, 2007

Competitor Stage Obstacle
2 competitors Second Failed
98 competitors First Failed

Note: This is the first tournament where nobody cleared the Second Stage, marking the earliest end of a tournament.

Sasuke 20 [edit]

Aired: March 26, 2008

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 1989 Levi Meeuwenberg Third Failed Shin-Cliffhanger
2 competitors Second Failed
97 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 21 [edit]

Aired: September 17, 2008

Competitor Stage Obstacle
3 competitors Third Failed
6 competitors Second Failed
91 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 22 [edit]

Aired: March 30, 2009

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 77 Urushihara Yuuji Final Failed G-Rope (about 22 m up)
3 competitors Third Failed
1 competitor Second Failed
95 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 23 [edit]

Aired: September 27, 2009

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 100 Nagano Makoto Final Failed G-Rope (about 0.2 seconds late)
No. 96 Kanno Hitoshi Final Failed G-Rope (about 18 m up)
5 competitors Third Failed
9 competitors Second Failed
84 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 24 [edit]

Aired: January 1, 2010

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 93 Urushihara Yuuji Final Kanzenseiha (3.57 seconds to spare)
No. 85 Hashimoto Koji Final Failed G-Rope (about 22 m up)
No. 94 Takahashi Kenji Final Failed G-Rope (about 20 m up)
No. 95 Okuyama Yoshiyuki Final Failed G-Rope (about 19 m up)
No. 92 Lee Yen Chi Final Failed G-Rope (about 19 m up)
2 competitors Third Failed
5 competitors Second Failed
88 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 25 [edit]

Aired: March 28, 2010

Competitor Stage Obstacle
5 competitors Third Failed
6 competitors Second Failed
89 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 26 [edit]

Aired: January 2, 2011

Competitor Stage Obstacle
6 competitors Third Failed
4 competitors Second Failed
90 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 27 [edit]

Aired: October 3, 2011

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 99 Urushihara Yuuji Final Kanzenseiha (6.71 seconds to spare)
No. 62 Matachi Ryo Final Failed Rope Climb (about 18.8 m up)
8 competitors Third Failed
17 competitors Second Failed
73 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 28 [edit]

Aired: December 27, 2012

Competitor Stage Obstacle
3 competitors Third Failed
2 competitors Second Failed
95 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 29 [edit]

Aired: June 27, 2013

Competitor Stage Obstacle
4 competitors Third Failed
17 competitors Second Failed
79 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 30 [edit]

Aired: July 3, 2014

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 2994 Matachi Ryo Final Failed Rope Climb (about 23 m up)
No. 2967 Kawaguchi Tomohiro Final Failed Rope Climb (about 15 m up)
8 competitors Third Failed
17 competitors Second Failed
73 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 31 [edit]

Aired: July 1, 2015

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 91 Morimoto Yusuke Final Kanzenseiha (2.59 seconds to spare)
7 competitors Third Failed
9 competitors Second Failed
83 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 32 [edit]

Aired: July 3, 2016

Competitor Stage Obstacle
8 competitors Third Failed
92 competitors First Failed

Note: This is the second tournament where no one failed the Second Stage.

Sasuke 33 [edit]

Aired: March 26, 2017

Competitor Stage Obstacle
5 competitors Third Failed
8 competitors Second Failed
87 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 34 [edit]

Aired: October 8, 2017

Competitor Stage Obstacle
9 competitors Third Failed
15 competitors Second Failed
76 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 35 [edit]

Aired : March 26, 2018

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 100 Yusuke Morimoto Final Failed Rope Climb (about 20 m up)
4 competitors Third Failed
3 competitors Second Failed
92 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 36 [edit]

Aired : December 31, 2018

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 100 Yusuke Morimoto Final (Live) Failed Rope Climb (about 24.5 m up)
9 competitors Third Failed
5 competitors Second Failed
85 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 37 [edit]

Aired : December 31, 2019

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 88 René Kaselowsky Final (Live) Failed Salmon Ladder (about 11 m up)
No. 49 Tatsuya Tada Final (Live) Failed Salmon Ladder (about 12 m up)
6 competitors Third Failed
2 competitors Second Failed
90 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 38 [edit]

Aired : December 29, 2020

Competitor Stage Obstacle
No. 100 Morimoto Yusuke Final Kanzenseiha (2.52 seconds to spare)
4 competitors Third Failed
9 competitors Second Failed
86 competitors First Failed

Sasuke 39 [edit]

Aired : December 28, 2021

List of Sasuke stages and obstacles [edit]

1st Stage [edit]

One hundred participants are given the opportunity to attempt the First Stage, a course which primarily tests one's speed. The object is to hit the buzzer at the end of the course before the allotted time expires. If a competitor goes out of bounds or comes into contact with the water in any of the pits below the course, he or she is disqualified from the competition.

Typically, 85 to 90 of the 100 original entrants are eliminated in this stage. However, in the 4th competition, a record 37 of the original 100 competitors made it past the First Stage. After the 4th, 17th, 24th, 27th, and 31st competition, the First Stage was thoroughly redesigned to be much more difficult and prevent large numbers of people from moving on. In fact, a G4 special inside the making of the 18th Sasuke competition revealed that the redesign of the First Stage for the 18th competition was done with the intention of seeing all 100 challengers fail it. This did not happen, however, and that has only spurred the production team on to make this and all stages to follow even harder.

That goal was almost met in the 19th competition, where much to everyone's surprise, only two competitors cleared the First Stage (neither of the two being Sasuke All-Stars), a record in Sasuke history. (The only time something similar has happened was in the first Kunoichi, where again, only two competitors cleared the First Stage.) Executive producer Ushio Higuchi said in interviews later that even he was surprised at the results, anticipating that around 10 to 12 people would survive in spite of the production team's attempts at making the First Stage unbeatable.

Comp # First Stage obstacles Time limit
11 Barrel Climb Spinning Log Rapid Descent Hill Climb Balance Bridge Log Drop Free Climbing2 + Wall Climb2 70 s
2 Barrel Climb Spinning Log Rapid Descent Hill Climb Balance Bridge Log Drop Free Climbing2 + Wall Climb2 60 s
3 Barrel Climb Rolling Log Balance Bridge Rapid Descent Hill Climb Tarzan Jump + Rope Climb 60 s
4 Barrel Climb Rolling Log Balance Bridge Rapid Descent Hill Climb Tarzan Jump + Rope Climb 60 s
5 Barrel Climb Rolling Log Balance Bridge Jump Hang Warped Wall Tarzan Jump + Rope Climb 75 s
6 Barrel Climb Rolling Log Balance Bridge Jump Hang Warped Wall Tarzan Jump + Rope Climb 75 s
7 Barrel Climb Rolling Log Balance Bridge Jump Hang Warped Wall Tarzan Jump + Rope Climb 75 s
8 Quintuple Step Rolling Log Big Boulder Jump Hang Warped Wall Tarzan Jump + Rope Climb 77 s
9 Quintuple Step Rolling Log Big Boulder Jump Hang Warped Wall Tarzan Jump + Rope Climb 77 s
10 Quintuple Step Rolling Log Dance Bridge Jump Hang Warped Wall Tarzan Swing + Rope Climb 80 s
11 Quintuple Step Rolling Log Balance Bridge Jump Hang Warped Wall Tarzan Swing + Rope Climb 85 s
12 Hill Climb3 Rolling Log Plank Bridge Jump Hang Warped Wall Tarzan Swing + Rope Climb 85 s
13 Prism See-Saw (Prism Tilt)4 Three-Stage Rolling Log Cross Bridge5 Jump Hang6 Crooked Wall Warped Wall Tarzan Jump + Rope Climb 80 s
14 Cone Jump Butterfly Wall Three-Stage Rolling Log Cross Bridge5 Jump Hang Crooked Wall Warped Wall Tarzan Jump + Rope Climb 103 s
15 Hurdle Jump Butterfly Wall Three-Stage Rolling Log Cross Bridge5 Jump Hang Crooked Wall Warped Wall Tarzan Jump + Rope Climb 95 s
16 Sextuple Step Three-Stage Rolling Log Cross Bridge5 Jump Hang Rope Reverse Reverse Fly Warped Wall Tarzan Jump + Rope Climb 100 s
/105 s
17 Sextuple Step Log Slope Three-Stage Rolling Log Cross Bridge 5 Circle Slider Jump Hang Warped Wall Tarzan Jump + Rope Climb 85 s
18 Rope Glider Log Grip Pole Maze Jumping Spider Bungee Bridge Great Wall Flying Chute Tarzan Rope + Rope Ladder7 130 s
19 Sextuple Step Log Grip Pole Maze Jumping Spider Half Pipe Attack Warped Wall Flying Chute Tarzan Rope + Rope Ladder7 115 s
20 Sextuple Step Log Grip Pole Maze Jumping Spider Half Pipe Attack Warped Wall Flying Chute Tarzan Rope + Rope Ladder7 120 s
21 Sextuple Step Log Grip Pole Maze Jumping Spider Half Pipe Attack Warped Wall Flying Chute Tarzan Rope + Rope Ladder7 120 s
22 Sextuple Step Circle Hammer Log Grip Jumping Spider Half Pipe Attack Warped Wall Slider Jump Tarzan Rope + Rope Ladder 120 s
23 Twelve Timbers Curtain Slider Log Grip Jumping Spider Half Pipe Attack Warped Wall Slider Jump Tarzan Rope + Rope Ladder7 120 s
24 Twelve Timbers X-Bridge9 Log Grip Jumping Spider Half Pipe Attack Warped Wall Slider Jump Tarzan Rope + Rope Ladder7 120 s
25 Dome Steps Rolling Log Jump Hang Bridge Jump Log Grip Warped Wall Circle Slider Tarzan Rope + Rope Ladder7 115 s
26 Step Slider Hazard Swing Rolling Escargot10 Jumping Spider Half Pipe Attack Warped Wall Giant Swing Tarzan Rope + Rope Ladder7 130 s
27 Step Slider Rolling Escargot10 Giant Swing Jumping Spider Half Pipe Attack Warped Wall Spin Bridge Tarzan Rope + Rope Ladder7 125 s
28 Quintuple Step Rolling Escargot10 Spin Bridge Altered Jump Hang Double Warped Wall Tarzan Rope + Rope Ladder7 105 s
29 Long Jump Log Grip Hedgehog 14 Altered Jump Hang Double Warped Wall Tarzan Rope + Rope Ladder7 105 s
30 Long Jump Log Grip Hedgehog 14 Altered Jump Hang Double Warped Wall Tarzan Rope Lumberjack Climb11 105 s
31 Rolling Hill Log Grip Music Box Altered Jump Hang Tackle12 Warped Wall Tarzan Rope Lumberjack Climb11 120 s
32 Quad Steps + Rolling Hill TIE Fighter13 Music Box Double Pendulum8 Tackle12 Warped Wall Tarzan Rope Lumberjack Climb11 115 s
33 Quad Steps + Rolling Hill TIE Fighter13 Fish Bone Double Pendulum8 Tackle12 Warped Wall Tarzan Rope Lumberjack Climb11 128 s
34 Quad Steps + Rolling Hill TIE Fighter13 Fish Bone Double Pendulum8 Tackle12 Warped Wall Tarzan Rope Lumberjack Climb11 123 s
35 Quad Steps + Rolling Hill TIE Fighter13 Fish Bone Dragon Glider Tackle12 Warped Wall 85 s
36 Quad Steps + Rolling Hill Wing Slider Fish Bone Dragon Glider Tackle12 Warped Wall 85 s
37 Quad Steps + Rolling Hill Wing Slider Altered Fish Bone Dragon Glider Tackle12 Warped Wall 88 s
38 Quad Steps + Rolling Hill Silk Slider Altered Fish Bone Dragon Glider Tackle12 Warped Wall 90 s

+ — This obstacle is an immediate successor to the previous obstacle, without any way to recuperate between them.

^1 Although the names of the obstacles were different from the second tournament, the obstacles were still the same.

^2 TBS officially considers that they are two different obstacles as their two names "フリークライミング"(Free Climbing) and "壁登り"(Wall Climb) are separately shown on the screen in the Japanese version (Sasuke #1) and also in the Sasuke Mania Official Site. However, Ninja Warrior has referred to the Free Climbing/Wall Climb combination as the "Mountain Climb" in subtitles.

^3 This Hill Climb is completely different from the one that would later be replaced with the Warped Wall after the 4th competition.

^4 On Ninja Warrior, the "Prism See-Saw" is called the "Prism Tilt" in subtitles. The Japanese announcer calls it the "Prism See-Saw."

^5 On Ninja Warrior, the "Cross Bridge" is called the "Bridge of Blades" in subtitles. The Japanese announcer calls it the "Cross Bridge."

^6 Although referred to as the Jump Hang, the obstacle in the 13th competition consisted of many ropes hanging vertically, completely different from the rope net used in all other competitions. Some call it the "Rope Hang," but that name is erroneous.

^7 The Rope Ladder's name and obstacle symbol was not shown in Ninja Warrior's obstacle chart in the 18th due to lack of room for TV screening. However, in the 19th they had the Rope Ladder and NOT the Tarzan Rope. The Japanese announcer still calls the last two obstacles by their official names.

^8 On Ninja Warrior, The X-Bridge is called the Bridge of Blades in subtitles just like the Cross Bridge.

^9 On Ninja Warrior, the "Tackle" is called the "Triple Tackle" in the UK English dub.

^10 On Ninja Warrior, the "TIE Fighter" is called the "Prop Slider" in the UK English dub due to not having the rights from Lucasfilm to use the name associated with the Star Wars fighter after which the obstacle was named.

2nd Stage [edit]

Those with enough skill to complete Stage One then take on an even more grueling set of obstacles in Stage Two. 283 competitors have reached the Second Stage. Like Stage One, the obstacles alter throughout the competitions, but all hold to the same principle: if the competitor makes a single mistake they fall into the water below. The obstacles determine the time limit, and it is usually between 50 and 100 seconds.

Unlike the First Stage, which has always required the competitors to hit a buzzer at the end of the course to stop the clock and pass the course, the Second Stage did not have a buzzer at its end until the 8th competition. Before then, the competitors simply walked through an open gate to stop the clock. From the 8th competition onward, the buzzer opens the gate. If the competitor breaks the gate open without hitting the button, they are disqualified. In addition, the course judges can hold the gates closed if a competitor committed a foul earlier in the Second Stage that would result in their disqualification, such as using the Chain Reaction gloves on the Spider Walk as "Mr. Sasuke" Katsumi Yamada had done in the 12th competition.

On average, 10 to 15 competitors attempt the Second Stage on each competition. A record 37 competitors attempted the Second Stage during the 4th competition. Also during the 4th competition, a record 11 competitors cleared the Second Stage. During the 5th competition, however, only three men made it to the Second Stage due to new, tougher obstacles in the First Stage. In the 19th competition, neither of the two qualified competitors cleared the circuit (a fall and a timeout on the Salmon Ladder), marking the earliest end of a Sasuke competition.

Comp # Second Stage obstacles Time Limit
1 Spider Walk 1 + Moving Walls 3 + Spider Climb 1 Hammer Dodge 2 Conveyor Belt Wall Lift20.1 50 s
2 Spider Walk 1 + Moving Walls 3 + Spider Climb 1 Hammer Dodge 2 Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 50 s
3 Spider Walk 1 + Moving Walls 3 + Spider Climb 1 Hammer Dodge 2 Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 50 s
4 Spider Walk 1 + Moving Walls 3 + Spider Climb 1 Hammer Dodge 2 Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 50 s
5 Tackle Machine Spider Walk 22 Hammer Dodge 2 Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 50 s
6 Narrow Spider Walk 22 Hammer Dodge 2 Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 50 s
7 Chain Reaction Brick Climb Spider Walk Hammer Dodge 2 Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 90 s
8 Chain Reaction Brick Climb Spider Walk Hammer Dodge 2 Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 100 s
9 Chain Reaction Brick Climb Spider Walk Hammer Dodge 2 Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 80 s
10 Chain Reaction Brick Climb Spider Walk Balance Tank Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 85 s
11 Chain Reaction Brick Climb Spider Walk Balance Tank Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 80 s
12 Chain Reaction Brick Climb Spider Walk Balance Tank Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 70 s
13 Chain Reaction Brick Climb Spider Walk Balance Tank Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 70 s
14 Chain Reaction Brick Climb Spider Walk Balance Tank Metal Spin Wall Lift 67 s
15 Chain Reaction Brick Climb Spider Walk Balance Tank Metal Spin Wall Lift 65 s
16 Chain Reaction Brick Climb Spider Walk Delta Bridge Metal Spin Wall Lift 66 s
17 Chain Reaction Brick Climb Spider Walk Balance Tank Metal Spin Wall Lift 65 s
18 Downhill Jump Salmon Ladder + Stick Slider Net Bridge Metal Spin Shoulder Walk 95 s
19 Downhill Jump Salmon Ladder + Stick Slider Skywalk[10] Metal Spin Wall Lift 80 s
20 Downhill Jump Salmon Ladder + Stick Slider Swing Ladder Metal Spin Wall Lift 90 s
21 Downhill Jump Salmon Ladder + Stick Slider Swing Ladder Metal Spin Wall Lift 80 s
22 Downhill Jump Salmon Ladder + Stick Slider Swing Ladder Metal Spin Wall Lift 80 s
23 Downhill Jump Salmon Ladder + Stick Slider Unstable Bridge Metal Spin Wall Lift 70 s
24 Downhill Jump Salmon Ladder + Unstable Bridge Balance Tank Metal Spin Wall Lift 85 s
25 Slider Drop Double Salmon Ladder + Unstable Bridge Balance Tank Metal Spin Wall Lift 95 s
26 Slider Drop Double Salmon Ladder + Unstable Bridge Balance Tank Metal Spin Wall Lift 95 s
27 Slider Drop Double Salmon Ladder + Unstable Bridge Balance Tank Metal Spin Wall Lift 90 s
28 Cross Slider Swap Salmon Ladder + Unstable Bridge 4 Spider Walk Backstream Passing Wall 135 s
29 Cross Slider Swap Salmon Ladder + Unstable Bridge 4 Spider Walk Backstream Passing Wall 90 s
30 Cross Slider Swap Salmon Ladder + Unstable Bridge 4 Spider Walk Backstream Wall Lift 110 s
31 Cross Slider Salmon Ladder Ascent + Salmon Ladder Descent Spider Walk Backstream Wall Lift 100 s
32 Cross Slider Salmon Ladder Ascent + Salmon Ladder Descent Spider Walk Backstream Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 115 s
33 Ring Slider Salmon Ladder Ascent + Salmon Ladder Descent Spider Walk Backstream Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 110 s
34 Ring Slider Salmon Ladder Ascent + Salmon Ladder Descent Spider Walk Backstream Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 110 s
35 Ring Slider Salmon Ladder Ascent + Salmon Ladder Descent Spider Walk Backstream Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 110 s
36 Ring Slider Salmon Ladder Ascent + Salmon Ladder Descent Spider Walk Backstream Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 110 s
37 Salmon Ladder Ascent 5 + Salmon Ladder Descent Spider Walk Backstream Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 100 s
38 Rolling Log Salmon Ladder Ascent + Salmon Ladder Descent Spider Walk Backstream Conveyor Belt Wall Lift 105 s

+ — This obstacle is an immediate successor to the previous obstacle, without any way to recuperate between them.

^1 The Moving Walls and Spider Climb are actually included in the Spider Walk, but TBS officially considers that they are three different areas as their three names "スパイダーウォーク" (Spider Walk), "動く壁" (Moving Walls) and "スパイダークライム" (Spider Climb) are separately shown on the screen in the Japanese version (Sasuke #1) and also in the Sasuke Mania Official Site. Ninja Warrior just sees them as a single obstacle and calls it "Spider Walk".

^1.1 The Wall Lift (or Wall Lifting) is a series of three walls, each set 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) apart, and of increasingly heavier weights, which must be lifted and carried to a goal. (See also, Weight training.)

^2 The onscreen Japanese graphics "五連ハンマー" reveal this obstacle's official name as "Five Continuous Hammers". On Ninja Warrior, this obstacle is referred to as the Hammer Dodge.

^3 In those competitions there are two "Moving Walls" in the Spider Walk, but TBS does not officially call them independent obstacles, and just considered the whole Spider Walk as one obstacle only.

^4 After the 27th tournament, there was one bridge (with four chains) instead of two.

^5 The Rolling Log appeared in SASUKE 37 as the original first obstacle of Stage 2, but due to rain, it did not function correctly. The judges decided to start Stage 2 at the Salmon Ladder Ascent with a lowered time limit of 100 seconds.

3rd Stage [edit]

The Third Stage has no time limit, allowing contestants to go at their own pace. Contestants are allowed a few seconds of rest between obstacles during which they can apply "sticky spray" to improve their grip. While the first two stages focus on speed and agility, this course almost exclusively tests one's upper body strength and stamina.

Out of 3,000 total competitors and 283 Second Stage competitors, 139 have attempted the Third Stage. The Third Stage is so grueling that, on average, someone passes it only every other competition. Only 22 individuals have ever passed it, and only six have passed it more than once, namely Akira Omori, Shingo Yamamoto, Makoto Nagano, Yuuji Urushihara, Ryo Matachi, and Yusuke Morimoto.

Comp # Third Stage obstacles
1 Pillar Path 1 Propeller Bars Pincushion 2
2 Pillar Path 1 Propeller Bars Chain Swing 3 Pipe Slider
3 Super Vault 4 Propeller Bars Chain Swing 3 Pipe Slider
4 Super Vault 4 Propeller Bars Arm Bike Cliffhanger Pipe Slider
5 Propeller Bars Body Prop Arm Bike Cliffhanger Pipe Slider
6 Propeller Bars Body Prop Arm Bike Cliffhanger Pipe Slider
7 Propeller Bars Body Prop Arm Bike Cliffhanger Pipe Slider
8 Propeller Bars Body Prop Arm Bike Cliffhanger Pipe Slider
9 Rumbling Dice Body Prop Globe Grasp 7 Altered Cliffhanger Pipe Slider
10 Rumbling Dice Body Prop Globe Grasp 7 Altered Cliffhanger Pipe Slider
11 Rumbling Dice Body Prop Globe Grasp 7 Altered Cliffhanger Pipe Slider
12 Rumbling Dice Body Prop Globe Grasp 7 Altered Cliffhanger Pipe Slider
13 Rumbling Dice Body Prop Curtain Cling Altered Cliffhanger Pipe Slider
14 Rumbling Dice Body Prop Curtain Cling Altered Cliffhanger Jumping Bars + Climbing Bars 5 Devil's Swing + Pipe Slider
15 Rumbling Dice Body Prop Curtain Cling Altered Cliffhanger Jumping Bars + Climbing Bars 5 Devil's Swing + Pipe Slider
16 Arm Rings Body Prop Curtain Cling Altered Cliffhanger Jumping Bars + Climbing Bars 5 Devil's Swing + Pipe Slider
17 Arm Rings Body Prop Curtain Cling Altered Cliffhanger Jumping Bars + Climbing Bars 5 Devil's Swing + Pipe Slider
18 Arm Rings + Arm Bike Curtain Swing Shin Cliffhanger Jumping Bars + Climbing Bars 5 + Spider Flip Final Ring
19 Arm Rings Globe Grasp30 Devil Steps Shin Cliffhanger Jumping Bars + Sending Climber + Spider Flip Final Ring
20 Arm Rings[11] Globe Grasp[12] 30 Devil Steps[13] Shin Cliffhanger[14] Jumping Bars[15] + Sending Climber[16] + Spider Flip Final Ring
21 Arm Rings Globe Grasp30 Devil Steps Shin Cliffhanger Jumping Bars + Ascending Climb 6 + Spider Flip Gliding Ring
22 Arm Rings Globe Grasp30 Devil Steps Shin Cliffhanger Jumping Bars + Ascending Climb 6 + Spider Flip Gliding Ring
23 Arm Rings Globe Grasp30 Devil Steps Shin Cliffhanger Jumping Bars + Ascending Climb 6 + Spider Flip Gliding Ring
24 Arm Rings Rope Junction16 Devil Steps Shin Cliffhanger Jumping Bars + Ascending Climb 6 + Spider Flip Gliding Ring
25 Roulette Cylinder9 + Door Knob Grasper Floating Boards Ultimate Cliffhanger Swing Circle + Bungee Rope Climb33 Flying Bar
26 Roulette Cylinder9 + Door Knob Grasper Cycle Road Ultimate Cliffhanger Swing Circle + Bungee Rope Climb33 Flying Bar
27 Arm Bike Flying Bar Ultimate Cliffhanger Jumping Rings + Chain See-Saw11 + Bungee Rope Climb10 Bar Glider
28 Rumbling Dice Iron Paddler15 Crazy Cliffhanger Curtain Cling Vertical Limit Pipe Slider
29 Rumbling Dice Iron Paddler15 Crazy Cliffhanger Curtain Cling Vertical Limit Pipe Slider
30 Rumbling Dice Iron Paddler15 Drum Hopper Crazy Cliffhanger Vertical Limit Pipe Slider
31 Drum Hopper Iron Paddler38 Sidewinder R12 Crazy Cliffhanger Altered Vertical Limit Pipe Slider
32 Altered Drum Hopper Flying Bar Altered Sidewinder R 12 Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger + Altered Vertical Limit 8 Pipe Slider
33 Altered Drum Hopper Flying Bar + Altered Sidewinder R 12 Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger + Altered Vertical Limit 8 + Pipe Slider
34 Altered Drum Hopper Flying Bar + Altered Sidewinder R 12 Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger + Altered Vertical Limit 8 Pipe Slider
35 Flying Bar + Altered Sidewinder R 12 Planet Bridge13 Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger Altered Vertical Limit 8 Pipe Slider
36 Flying Bar + Altered Sidewinder R 12 Planet Bridge13 Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger Altered Vertical Limit 8 Pipe Slider
37 Flying Bar + Altered Sidewinder R 12 Planet Bridge13 Cliffhanger Dimension14 Altered Vertical Limit 8 Pipe Slider
38 Flying Bar + Altered Sidewinder R 12 Planet Bridge13 Cliffhanger Dimension Altered Vertical Limit 8 Pipe Slider

+ — This obstacle is an immediate successor to the previous obstacle, without any way to recuperate between them.

^1 On Ninja Warrior, the "Pole Bridge" is called the "Pillar Path" in subtitles. But the English version and the Japanese announcer call them the "Pole Bridge."

^2 The onscreen Japanese graphics (針山) reveal this obstacle's real name as "Pincushion"; on Ninja Warrior, it's called "Eye of the Needle."

^3 The onscreen Japanese graphics (ハングムーブ) reveal this obstacle's real name as "Hang Move"; on Ninja Warrior, it's called "Chain Swing".

^4 Ninja Warrior calls the "Pole Jump" the "Super Vault."

^5 On Ninja Warrior, the "Climbing Bars" are called the "Bridge of Destiny" in subtitles. But the English version and the Japanese announcer call them the "Climbing Bars," one of the many gairaigo (words borrowed from English) used to describe Sasuke obstacles.

^6 In the 19th and 20th this obstacle was the Sending Climber, but in the 21st they changed the obstacle and the name to Hang Climbing. G4 calls it Ascending Climb.

^7 On Ninja Warrior, the "Lamp Grasper" (as well as its Descending variant in the Shin Sasuke Era) is called the "Globe Grasp" in subtitles. But the Japanese announcer calls it the "Lamp Grasper."

^8 The Vertical Limit Kai was modified to have three separate sections instead of two.

^9 Due to "rain" during the taping of SASUKE 37, the Cliffhanger Dimension's motorized parts were disabled

^10 The Rope Junction is a ropes course element, consisting of six suspended ropes of varying lengths, across which competitors must transport themselves.

Final Stage [edit]

To date, the Final Stage has known six forms. Each of these share a single, common goal: to scale the tower and reach the button at the top before time expires. If the competitor does not reach the top platform in time, the rope is cut and the competitor falls (they are caught by a safety line). Starting from the 18th competition, the rope is no longer cut. Reaching the top is referred to as kanzenseiha (完全制覇), translated roughly as "complete domination", and rendered on Ninja Warrior as "total victory". The Final Stage's time limit is between 30 and 45 seconds.

Of all the competitors to attempt to claim victory, only 24 have been admitted to the Final Stage, and only six of them have gotten there more than once (Akira Omori in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd competitions, Shingo Yamamoto in the 3rd and 7th, Makoto Nagano in the 11th, 12th, 13th, his victory in the 17th competition and in the 23rd competition, Yuuji Urushihara in the 22nd and his victories in the 24th competition and 27th, Ryo Matachi in the 27th competition and 30th, Yusuke Morimoto's victory in the 31st competition,the 35th competition and his second total victory in the 38th competition.). Currently there are only four victors: Kazuhiko Akiyama defeated Sasuke in the 4th competition, Makoto Nagano in the 17th, Yuuji Urushihara in the 24th and in the 27th, and Yusuke Morimoto in the 31st and 38th.

The original Final Stage consisted of climbing a 15-meter (49 ft) rope. The contestant must start climbing from a seated position.

The second version of the Final Stage was unveiled in the 7th competition, when Shingo Yamamoto became the first to attempt it. The height of the tower was increased to 22.5 metres (74 ft). It consists of a 12.5 metres (41 ft) Spider Climb followed by a 10 metres (33 ft) Rope Climb. After 15 seconds, the walls of the Spider Climb spread apart. This ensnared Yordan Yovtchev during the 8th competition, when he failed to complete the Spider Climb before it began spreading, and fell off the tower.

The third version of the Final Stage was revealed in the 22nd competition, when Yuuji Urushihara was the first to try it. The height of the tower remained mostly the same as the second version of the Final Stage, but two new obstacles were used: a 13-metre (43 ft) "Heavenly Ladder" and a 10-metre (33 ft) "G Rope." The time limit was increased to 45 seconds, then reduced to 40 seconds in the 23rd competition. Competitors are not dropped due to the Heavenly Ladder being in the way.

The fourth version of the Final Stage was revealed in the 27th competition, when Ryo Matachi was the first to attempt it. The height of the tower was reduced to 20 meters and consisted of a 20-meter (66 ft) Rope Climb similar to the first version of the Final Stage, but with a 5-meter height difference. The time limit stayed at 40 seconds. Unlike the first version of the Final Stage, competitors started at a standing position instead of a seated position.

The fifth version of the Final Stage was briefly seen in Stage 3 and in a trailer of Sasuke Rising. Its design was similar to that of the fourth version of the Final Stage consisting of a Rope Climb. Unlike its predecessor, this version is 4 m taller, and the competitors would have likely climbed up the rope in a seated position. The time limit would have likely been 35 seconds, as Urushihara may have cleared this particular version with one second left. It was used for only one tournament.

For the sixth version, with the removal of the previous version of the Final Stage, it was not unusual to see a change similar to that of the 18–24 version from the Metal Ladder to the Heavenly Ladder. The previous Final Stage consisting of a Rope Climb was thrown out all together and the return of the 7–17 Final Stage took its place. The Spider Walls seem to take up less space this time, and the Rope Climb appears to take up more. Nevertheless, the height of the tower has once again increased, this time to 24 m. The Spider Climb (スパイダークライム) appears to be the same as its predecessor, at 12.5 m, while the Rope Climb (綱登り) was slightly modified in length at 11.5 m from that of its original predecessor, at 10 m. The time limit is likely to stay the same at 30 seconds, though a 35-second Final Stage is not out of the question.

The prize for completing the Final Stage was ¥2,000,000 (about US$18347). The prize has now increased to ¥4,000,000 (about US$36693.99) since the completion of the 17th tournament. In the 24th tournament a Nissan Fuga was also a prize if anyone could complete the Final Stage.

Typically, only one or two people make it to the Final Stage, if any make it at all. However, both the 3rd and 24th competitions saw a record five competitors attempt the Final Stage. After the 4th competition, though, the Final Stage was only achieved on average every other tournament.

Comp # Final Stage obstacles Total height Time limit
1–4 15 m Rope Climb 2 [15 m] 15 metres (49 ft) 30 s
5–17 Spider Climb 1 [12.5 m] (Final Stage Version) Final Rope [10 m] 22.5 metres (74 ft) 30 s
18–22 Heavenly Ladder [13 m] G Rope [10 m] 23 metres (75 ft) 45 s
23–24 40 s
25–27 20 m Rope Climb 1 [20 m] 20 metres (66 ft) 40 s
28 23 m Rope Climb 1 [23 m] 23 metres (75 ft) 35 s
29–31 Spider Climb [12 m] Rope Climb [12 m] 24 metres (79 ft) 30 s
32–38 Spider Climb [8 m] 15-Level Salmon Ladder [7 m] Rope Climb [10 m] 25 metres (82 ft) 45 s

^1 According to the Sasuke Mania Official Site, the official Japanese names for the ropes in 1st–4th, 5th–17th, and 25th–27th are "15m綱登り", "10m綱登り" and "20m綱登り" respectively, in which "綱登り" means "Rope Climb". Ninja Warrior just calls them "Rope Climb", without the length of the ropes.

^2 If the "Spider Climb" is not completed in fifteen seconds, the walls start to slide back, making it harder to traverse, and finally impossible if not completed soon after.

Broadcast [edit]

The logo for Ninja Warrior is the idea for changing SASUKE into Ninja Warrior.

International versions [edit]

Below is an incomplete list of the international versions with their own Sasuke/Ninja Warrior courses, excluding the original Japanese version and its rebroadcast in other countries.

Currently airing
An upcoming season/version
Status unknown
No longer airing
Country Local title Presenter(s) Channel Premiered
Arab League Arab world Ninja Warriorبالعربي
Ninja Warrior bel-arabi
Ahmed Fahmi
Jennifer Aazar
ON E March 2017
Australia Australian Ninja Warrior Rebecca Maddern
Ben Fordham
Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff
Nine Network 9 July 2017
Austria Ninja Warrior Austria Dori Bauer
Mario Hochgerner
Florian Knöchl
Puls 4 24 October 2017
Bahrain Ninja Warrior Bahrain 2015
China 极限勇士
Sasuke: X Warrior
Ultimate Warrior
Shi Zhenghan
Ma Li
Su Dong
Zhang Chunye
Jiangsu TV 9 June 2015
Denmark Danmarks Ninja Warrior Pelle Hvenegaard
Christiane Schaumburg-Müller
Kian Fonoudi
Kanal 5 7 September 2015[17]
France Ninja Warrior : Le Parcours des héros Denis Brogniart (Season 1–)
Christophe Beaugrand (Season 1–)
Iris Mittenaere (Season 3)
Sandrine Quétier (Season 1–2)
TF1 8 July 2016
Germany Ninja Warrior Germany Laura Wontorra
Jan Köppen
Frank Buschmann
RTL 9 July 2016
Greece Ninja Warrior Greece [18] TBA ANT1 2022
Hungary Ninja Warrior Hungary Attila Till (Season 1-)
Péter Majoros (Season 1)
Vivien Mádai (Season 1)
Tibor Kasza (Season 2)
Luca Stohl (Season 2)
Zoltán Szujó (Season 3-)
Ramóna Lékai-Kiss (Season 3-)
TV2 16 October 2017
Indonesia Sasuke Ninja Warrior Indonesia Fadi Iskandar (Season 1–)
Pica Priscilla (Season 1)
Sere Kalina (Season 2)
Daniel Mananta (International Competition)
RCTI 20 December 2015
Israel נינג'ה ישראל
Ninja Israel
Assi Azar
Rotem Sela
Niv Raskin
Rotem Israel
Keshet 12 25 July 2018
Italy Ninja Warrior Italia Federico Russo
Carolina Di Domenico
Massimiliano Rosolino
Gabriele Corsi
NOVE 17 October 2016
Malaysia Sasuke Malaysia TV9 2011
Mongolia Монголын Нинжа дайчид MNB 29 September 2019
Netherlands Ninja Warrior NL Kim-Lian
Dennis van der Geest
Jack van Gelder
SBS 6 9 March 2017
Poland Ninja Warrior Polska Karolina Gilon
Łukasz Jurkowski
Jerzy Mielewski
Polsat 3 September 2019
Romania Ninja Warrior Romania Raluca Aprodu
Costi Mocanu
Daniel Niţoiu
Pro TV 9 September 2018
Russia Русский ниндзя Yevgeny Savin
Timur Solovyev
Yulianna Karaulova
Channel One Russia 26 November 2017
Morgenshtern
Vasily Artemyev
Ida Galich
STS[19] 22 November 2021
Singapore Sasuke Singapore Mike Kasem
Hamish Brown
Joanne Peh
Mediacorp Channel 5 9 August 2012
Spain Ninja Warrior España Arturo Valls (Season 1–)
Manolo Lama (Season 1–)
Patricia Montero (Season 2–)
Pilar Rubio (Season 1)
Antena 3 9 June 2017
Sweden Ninja Warrior Adam Alsing
Mårten Nylén
Karin Frick
Kanal 5 29 January 2015
Switzerland Ninja Warrior Switzerland Nina Havel
Maximilian Baumann
TV24 16 October 2018
Turkey Ninja Warrior Türkiye Hanzade Ofluoğlu
Jess Molho
Hakan Akdoğan
Fikret Engin
Murat Özari
TV8 17 September 2014
United Kingdom Ninja Warrior UK Ben Shephard
Rochelle Humes
Chris Kamara
ITV 11 April 2015
United States American Ninja Warrior Blair Herter (Season 1)
Alison Haislip (Season 1–3)
Matt Iseman (Season 2–)
Jimmy Smith (Season 2–3)
Jonny Moseley (Season 4)
Angela Sun (Season 4)
Akbar Gbaja-Biamila (Season 5–)
Jenn Brown (Season 5–6)
Kristine Leahy (Season 7–10)
Zuri Hall (Season 11–)
G4 (2009–2013)
NBC (2012–present)
Esquire Network (2014–2016)
USA Network (2017–present)
Telemundo (2020–present, in Spanish)
12 December 2009
American Ninja Warrior: Ninja Vs. Ninja
(formerly Team Ninja Warrior) (Spin-off format)
Matt Iseman
Akbar Gbaja-Biamila
Alex Curry
Kacy Catanzaro (College Madness)
USA Network 19 January 2016
American Ninja Warrior Junior (Spin-off format) Matt Iseman
Akbar Gbaja-Biamila
Laurie Hernandez
Universal Kids 13 October 2018
Vietnam Không giới hạn - Sasuke Việt Nam Nguyên Khang
Diệp Lâm Anh
Thành Trung
VTV3 18 June 2015

Mt. Midoriyama conquerors [edit]

These winners are not including the "kanzenseiha" (Total Victory) winners from the original Japanese version, or under any other varied rules (including Team Ninja Warrior in Denmark and the United States).

Country Winner(s) Broadcast date
United States [a] Geoff Britten 14 September 2015
Isaac Caldiero[b]
Vietnam United States David Campbell 29 September 2016
Nguyễn Phước Huynh
Lê Văn Thực
United Kingdom Tim Champion 1 June 2019
France Jean Tezenas du Montcel 2 August 2019
Nicolas Cerquant
Australia Ben Polson[c] 10 August 2020
Charlie Robbins
Zak Stolz
  1. ^ As a result of United States of America v. Andrew Dreschel, this list excludes Mr. Dreschel's completion on the episode that aired on 16 September 2019. Mr. Dreschel was arrested on 4 August 2020 for Use of Interstate Commerce to Entice (18 USC 2422 b), Enticement to Travel for Illicit Sexual Conduct (18 USC 2422 a), Travel with Intent to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct (18 USC 2423 b) (18 USC 2246 and 18 USC 109A), and Manufacture of Child Pornography (18 USC 2251). The indictment was announced days before Series 12 was to air after recording had been completed. Producers edited out his appearance in Series 12. Because the crimes occurred in 2015 and 2016, Mr. Dreschel's prize money has been revoked pending a settlement on the trial, as sex offenders are ineligible.
  2. ^ Caldiero was awarded the $1 million prize after completing the Final Stage with a faster time.
  3. ^ Polson was awarded the $400,000 prize after completing the Final Stage with the fastest time, with Robbins second and Stolz third.[20]

United States [edit]

The program previously aired on G4 in the United States under the name Ninja Warrior . Each episode now lasts thirty minutes and it also includes some minor changes in the on-screen graphics. Throughout the episode, there are the "Ninja Killer" (for the obstacle that took out the most competitors) and "Warrior Wipeout" (honors the best wipeout) segments. The Japanese play-by-play commentary and interviews with the competitors have English subtitles, while the competitor profiles, replays, and introductions were dubbed by voice actor Dave Wittenberg.

The show became the highest rated program on the network since its debut. Aside from a few sporadic occurrences, reruns of Ninja Warrior stopped airing regularly sometime in December 2012 in wake of G4 slated to be rebranded as the Esquire Network on September 23, 2013. The last four episodes to air on G4 appeared as a two-hour block on April 10, 2013. It is unknown if Ninja Warrior would return to the network's schedule or if some other channel would acquire the series. Commercials on G4 show American Ninja Warrior to air on G4 in July, marking it the last program being advertised on the network as a G4 program, and not an Esquire channel presentation.

As of August 3, 2016, an article released by USA Today says that "Esquire has obtained rights to 27 Ninja Warrior tournaments...along with all eight Kunoichi spinoff contests that feature only women contestants." and that they "...will return as a 63 hour Labor Day weekend marathon (Sept. 3, 7 a.m. ET/PT) in Japanese, with English subtitles." Whether this is referring to the original broadcasts or the G4 broadcasts is unknown right now due to little notice, but it seems to lean toward the G4 broadcasts. They also stated that "Additional newer tournaments of the series, never seen in the U.S., will debut next year." As of 2021, new episodes have not been shown on U.S. airwaves, and the 27th competition remains the most recent one to be aired in America. With the relaunch of G4 scheduled in November, G4 will at last air the later competitions in America (Sasuke 28-Present). For Tournaments 28-34, it's unclear if G4 will use the already edited episodes produced by UK's Challenge that aired in the UK, or if G4 will re-do/re-edit these tournaments with their own style for American Audiences. If the Challenge produced episodes are used, G4 will remove all footage and references featuring Drew Dreschel, who is banned from NBCUniversal because of ongoing litigation regarding a July 2020 indictment over child pornography and sexual solicitation, which will result in some episodes being shorter than usual or G4 will use footage not previously shown on Challenge to offset the screen time that was given to Drew originally.

American Ninja Warrior [edit]

The popularity of the American Ninja Challenge has led G4 to produce a version of the series featuring American contestants called American Ninja Warrior, which is produced by Pilgrim Films and Television, Inc and is currently hosted by Akbar Gbaja-Biamila and Matt Iseman. Auditions on G4's website ended on August 18, 2009. Open tryouts were held in Los Angeles on August 29 and 30, 2009, and were taped for the show, with ten finalists competing on the 23rd tournament of the original Ninja Warrior course in Japan in September 2009. The eight-episode series began airing on December 12, 2009.

The qualifying round consists of over 300 competitors, running an obstacle course strongly influenced by Sasuke 's First Stage. The course consists of the Quintuple Step, a Rope Swing, the Jumping Spider, a modified version of the Pipe Slider, and a much smaller Warped Wall. The preliminaries used a leader board, and the 30 fastest times moved on to the semi-finals, which included the preliminary course plus three obstacles, the Tarzan Jump, the Jumping Bars, and a Net Climb.

American Ninja Warrior aired only the American finalists during the Sasuke obstacle course. The Japanese competitors were later aired on April 10, 2010.

A second season was cast on G4's website as of April 10, 2010 and aired in hour long specials starting December 8, 2010. The top 10 contestants would participate in Sasuke 26. Three episodes were run for the first two weeks. The first three episodes covered the opening round of the competition; the fourth covered the semifinals. This was followed by four days of a "boot camp" where the fifteen winners of the semifinals were divided into three five-man teams and put through several different Pressure Challenges, with the losing team having to complete a punishment while the other two teams got extra training time on models of some of the Sasuke obstacles (The Warped Wall, Double Salmon Ladder, Balance Tank, and Circle Slider). The teams would then run through a grouping of the obstacles with some sort of hindrance (usually carrying something heavy between obstacles). The teams with the worst time would be forced to send two members to an elimination challenge, with the losing person forced to leave.

After boot camp, the ten final winners traveled to the Sasuke course to compete. Once again, only the American competitors were aired during the special, with the rest of the Sasuke competition to air later. The most successful of the American competitors in the past, Levi Meeuwenberg, withdrew from the competition due to a fractured wrist, giving his spot to Adam LaPlante. Five members failed in the First Stage: Patrick Cusic and former American Gladiators champion and gladiator Evan "Rocket" Dollard both fell from the new Rolling Escargot obstacle, LaPlante fell on the Halfpipe Attack and Adam Truesdell fell from the Giant Swing, a new variation of the Jump Hang, the only one out of all 100 competitors to do so in the whole tournament. In addition, veteran Shane Daniels once again timed out on the Cargo Net. In the Second Stage, four of the remaining five cleared, while Travis Furlanic fell on the Balance Tank, an obstacle he struggled on during boot camp. In the Third Stage, Paul Kasemir failed the Doorknob Grasper. Brent Steffensen made it to the Ultimate Cliffhanger before falling into the water. David Campbell, despite having the fastest times of all the competitors to compete (finishing the Second Stage with over 24 seconds left) failed at the Ultimate Cliffhanger as well. Brian Orosco fell at the very first obstacle, the Roulette Cylinder, which he had passed easily in the previous competition. While the $250,000 prize went unclaimed, Sasuke 26 was the start of a successful showing by a collection of American competitors.

The third season of American Ninja Warrior debuted on July 31 on G4, again with 300 competitors at the tryouts in Venice Beach. While many top competitors were absent including Levi Meeuwenberg, Rich King and Luci Romberg, a talented crop of new competitors took their place including Denver Broncos wide receiver Matt Willis, who finished the course but did not qualify for boot camp. Other notable competitors who failed to advance to boot camp included two-time Sasuke veteran Shane Daniels, season two veterans Evan "Rocket" Dollard, Adam Truesdell, Adam LaPlante and Patrick Cusic, top first round qualifiers from the previous season Trevor Vaughn and David Money, and former world freerunning champion Tim Shieff. In addition, professional freerunner and Survivor: China competitor Michael "Frosti" Zernow ranked in the top fifteen and was invited to boot camp, but injured himself and was replaced with fellow Jump City: Seattle competitor Jake Smith. Other competitors from Jump City who advanced to boot camp also included Brian Orasco, Drew Dreschel and David "Young Flip" Rodriguez. The level of competition in boot camp was noticeably higher in the third season, as competitors were only given one attempt at each obstacle in challenges, leading to a large increase in time penalties. Promising competitors Dustin Rocho, Brandon Douglass, Alan Connealy, second-seeded qualifier Chris Wilczewski and five-time Sasuke veteran Brian Orosco all saw their Sasuke dreams come to an end at boot camp.

Of the ten who advanced to Sasuke, nine easily cleared the First Stage. The only exception was Dreschel, who injured his knee landing on the Halfpipe Attack, and despite a valiant attempt at the Warped Wall, was unable to put any weight on his leg and stated on his Facebook that he will not be available for Sasuke 28. The high hopes of the remaining nine took a major hit in the Second Stage, as five more were eliminated including Rodriguez on the Slider Drop, Smith on the Double Salmon Ladder, and newcomer Travis Rosen and veterans Travis Furlanic and Brent Steffensen on the Metal Spin. The remaining four competitors made it to the Third Stage only to be outdone by the Ultimate Cliffhanger. Ryan Stratis failed to make the fourth ledge while James McGrath and fan favorite Paul Kasemir failed the transition to the fifth ledge. The last competitor, David Campbell almost made it through the entire obstacle but on the final ledge his grip gave out. Even though no one earned a $500,000 K-Swiss Endorsement Deal, the competitors at Sasuke 27 were by far the strongest group of Americans to date. The final episode of the third season aired on NBC on August 29, 2011 as a two-hour special in prime-time.

A fourth season of the program began airing on May 20, 2012 and the show aired on both G4 and NBC for the Regionals and the Championship with the grand prize of $500,000 and the coveted American Ninja Warrior title. The entire format was changed as well – regional qualifiers in different parts of the country were aired and the Mt. Midoriyama course was recreated just off the Las Vegas Strip for the national finals. The regional qualifiers would narrow its selections down to 30 contestants who finished its qualifying course in the fastest time as well as the contestants who finished the furthest the fastest. Qualifying obstacles would include common Stage 1 obstacles such as the Quintuple Steps and the Warped Wall, but its contents would change from city to city. The 30 contestants were then cut in half in the regional finals where the course would extend to include common Stage 2 and Stage 3 obstacles such as the Salmon Ladder, Cliffhanger and Body Prop. The 90 contestants who qualified (including wild cards) earned tickets to Las Vegas to challenge Mt. Midoriyama.

The show returned for its fifth season on July 1, 2013 in the same format. This season, if a contestant were to finish the course, that player would be guaranteed a spot in the next round. The show returned once again for its sixth season on May 25, 2014 on both NBC and Esquire Network with the same rules as in previous seasons. NBC has renewed the show for its seventh season in 2015 with the grand prize now doubled to $1,000,000. So far, it has produced, among other things, the endorsement of Makoto Nagano, the first American to complete the Ultimate Cliffhanger (Brent Steffensen in 2012), the first woman to complete the Salmon Ladder (Kacy Catanzaro in 2014), the first woman to complete the Jumping Spider (Meagan Martin, also in 2014), the first two Americans to achieve Total Victory (Isaac Caldiero and Geoff Britten on the same night in 2015) and the first female to complete Stage 1 of Mt. Midoriyama in Las Vegas (Jessie Graff in 2016, who also became the first female to complete Stage 2 of the original Mt. Midoriyama in 2017 during Sasuke 34.[21]) The network has renewed the show once again for its eighth season in 2016 with new qualifying cities including Los Angeles and Oklahoma City. The network has renewed the show for its ninth season in 2017 with three new cities: San Antonio, Daytona Beach, and Cleveland. The tenth season of the show began airing on May 30, 2018 with returning cities and a $10,000 bonus for finishing the Mega Warped Wall. The eleventh season began airing on May 29, 2019 with two new cities (Tacoma and Cincinnati), a chance to go directly to Las Vegas with the Speed Pass in the Power Tower duel between the two fastest players, and a new co-host, Zuri Hall. Although Drew Drechsel became the third person to achieve Total Victory at the end of the season, NBCUniversal has removed the references as a result of his inductment on child pornography charges a year later.

USA vs Japan [edit]

In 2014, the first Sasuke-based team competition was started, pitting five Sasuke All-Stars and New Stars representing Japan against five American Ninja Warrior stars representing the United States in what was dubbed by some as the inaugural Sasuke/Ninja Warrior world championship. The first meeting took place at the Mt. Midoriyama reconstruction in Las Vegas and was first broadcast in America on January 13, 2014 on NBC, with a second meeting already scheduled for the original Mt. Midoriyama in Aoba-ku in 2015.

At the first match in Las Vegas, Team Japan was composed of Shingo Yamamoto, Yuuji Urushihara, Ryo Matachi, Hitoshi Kanno and Kazuma Asa from Sasuke, while Team USA was composed of Brent Steffensen, Paul Kasemir, James McGrath, Travis Rosen and Brian Arnold from American Ninja Warrior. The match was composed of four rounds – one on each stage, with each round being a best-of-five of one-on-one races and each competitor running once per stage until the stage outcome was decided. Stage 1 was worth one point, Stage 2 worth two points and Stage 3 worth three, with the tiebreaker being the Final Stage tower. Despite the Japanese boasting superior experience and pedigrees (no Team USA member had completed Stage 3, either in Yokohama or Las Vegas), the Americans pulled off a stunning 6–0 win that included only one Japanese one-on-one race win (Matachi against Arnold on Stage 3.)

American Ninja Warrior: Ninja vs. Ninja [edit]

With the success of American Ninja Warrior, Esquire Network announced a spin-off to the series called Team Ninja Warrior on October 9, 2015. The spin-off consists of 24 teams of three members featuring past and current ANW contestants from the first seven seasons and is unique for being a head-to-head event where two teams or competitors run the course at the same time. The series began airing on January 19, 2016 and is hosted by regular ANW hosts Akbar Gbaja-Biamila and Matt Iseman with sideline reporter Alex Curry.

One edition of the format is College Madness featuring college teams in a five-week competition, with the second season debuting on November 22, 2016 with Iseman and Gbaja-Biamila as hosts and ANW season six contestant Kacy Catanzaro as the sideline reporter.

USA renewed the show for its second full season.

In 2018, the network renamed the show to American Ninja Warrior: Ninja vs. Ninja with Iseman, Biama, and Curry as hosts and new teams for its third season.

American Ninja Warrior Junior [edit]

On May 2, 2018, Universal Kids announced a second spin-off of Ninja vs. Ninja called American Ninja Warrior Junior. The spin-off consists of 192 kids from across America as they compete head to head in three different age brackets: 9-10, 11-12, and 13–14 years old. Each bracket will be mentored by All-Star Ninja Mentors: Drew Dreschel, Barclay Stockett, Kevin Bull, Natalie Duran, Najee Richardson and Meagan Martin. The series began airing on October 13, 2018, with Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila joined by Olympic gold medalist gymnast Laurie Hernandez as hosts.

United Kingdom [edit]

The American-edited Ninja Warrior episodes are broadcast in the United Kingdom on Challenge. The show has been re-edited to remove the subtitles from the footage of the competitors taking part in the stages, but retain them for contestant interviews. The "Ninja Killer" and "Warrior Wipeout" sections remain, but there is only one advertisement break halfway through the show.

The show was voiced-over by Stuart Hall for its first three series, aired between 2007 and 2008. In the fourth UK series, aired in 2011, Jim North took over as the voice-over. Challenge has now removed Hall's commentary from the first three series, following his imprisonment in June 2013, and re-dubbed them with new commentary by North. As of July 2012, all American edited episodes, covering all tournaments up to Sasuke 27, had aired in the UK. A new run of edited episodes airing in March 2016 was produced in the UK for Challenge, covering the Sasuke Rising tournaments, once again voiced by North. Another run of brand new edited episodes airing in June 2018 was again produced in the UK for Challenge, covering Sasuke tournaments 31–34, also voiced by North.

Ninja Warrior UK [edit]

It was announced on 22 December 2014 that a UK remake of the format, similar to that of the American version, would be aired on ITV in 2015. The first series began on 11 April 2015. It is produced by ITV Studios subsidiary company, Potato[22] and hosted by Ben Shephard, Rochelle Humes and Chris Kamara.[23] The show includes a recreation of the Mt. Midoriyama course at Manchester Central Convention Complex and produced the first Briton to achieve total victory in Tim Champion in 2019.

Australia [edit]

American Ninja Warrior and Swedish Ninja Warrior are broadcast in Australia on SBS Two. The play-by-play commentary and interviews with participants are subtitled in English, while the introduction, player profiles, and replays have been dubbed by a voice actor.

Australian Ninja Warrior [edit]

On 19 June 2016, Nine Network announced they are creating Australian Ninja Warrior, an Australian version of the show which will be produced by Endemol Shine[24] and hosted by Rebecca Maddern, Ben Fordham and Freddie Flintoff.[25] [26] [27]

Bosnia [edit]

The program can be seen in Bosnia as Nindža Ratnici (Ninja Warriors) every day from Monday until Friday at 18:20 (UTC+1) on the Hayat TV channel and on Mreža Plus syndicated TV program.

Bulgaria [edit]

The program is broadcast in Bulgaria on bTV Comedy as Най-добрият нинджа (The Best Ninja) weekends at 16:00 (UTC+2).

China [edit]

An unlicensed Chinese edition, 极限勇士 (Sasuke: X Warrior), started on June 9, 2015 on Jiangsu TV. While the show contains courses directly based on American Ninja Warrior 6 and follows a similar structure, the version is unofficial and not directly related to Sasuke. The Chinese edition contains four international competitions, the Chinese team playing head-to-head matches against contestants from Netherlands, United Kingdom, Singapore and the notable contestants from American Ninja Warrior.

Colombia [edit]

The program is broadcast in Colombia on Canal Uno on Saturday and Sunday at 3:00 PM, and a version of American Ninja Warrior (as Guerrero Ninja Americano) is broadcast on Canal RCN on Saturday and Sunday at 4:00 PM.

Croatia [edit]

The program can be seen in Croatia on Nova TV as Ninja Ratnici (Ninja Warriors) from Monday to Friday at 09:45 (UTC+1) and 17:15 (UTC+1) narrated by Davor Jurkotić and Mario Lipovšek Battifiaca.

Czech Republic [edit]

The program is broadcast in the Czech Republic on Prima Cool as Ninja faktor (Ninja Factor). Episodes are 50 minutes long and split in two parts.

Estonia [edit]

The program was aired in Estonia as Ninjasõdalane (Ninja Warrior) on the TV6 channel every Saturday and Sunday at 19:00 pm to 20.00 pm. Running time was 30 minutes per episode.

France [edit]

In 2016, the inaugural season of Ninja Warrior France aired, on TF1, with Midoriyama located in Cannes. The show is titled Ninja Warrior — Le Parcours des Heros .[NB 1] The obstacle course itself is called Le Chemin des Héros.[28] [29]

Germany [edit]

The Ninja Warrior version of the program was broadcast in Germany on RTL II and DSF for the first time in 2009/2010. A German version titled Ninja Warrior Germany was aired by RTL in July 2016.

Greece [edit]

The program can be seen in Greece as Sasuke on the Skai TV network every Saturday at 16:00 (UTC+2). The show is voiced-over by Akindynos Gkikas and Kostas Papageorgiou.

Indonesia [edit]

The original Japanese version was broadcast in Indonesia for the first time in early 2007–2008. The show is dubbed in Indonesian and is broadcast by TPI (now known as MNCTV).

In 2015, an Indonesian version called Sasuke Ninja Warrior Indonesia (or Ninja Warrior Indonesia) was aired on RCTI.[30]

Italy [edit]

The Ninja Warrior version of the program is broadcast in Italy on GXT or on GXT +1. The Italian version includes "Ninja Killer" and "Warrior Wipeout". In October 2016, Italy produced a local version Ninja Warrior Italia transmitted on NOVE and presented by Federico Russo, Carolina Di Domenico, Massimiliano Rosilino and Gabriele Corsi.

Latvia [edit]

The program is broadcast in Latvia on LNT every day from Tuesday to Friday at 13:00 local time (UTC+3 – summer time). Every day on LMK at 20.00 o'clock.

Lithuania [edit]

Kovotojas Nindzė on TV6.

Malaysia [edit]

The program is broadcast in Malaysia on Disney XD and TV9 as Ninja Warrior.

In 2011, Malaysia did a qualifier for Sasuke 27, which Farid Isham won. In 2014, Malaysia organized the Sasuke ASEAN Open Cup, a tournament held in Malaysia as a competition of different countries going head to head. Team USA was represented by David Campbell, Brian Kretsch, Ryan Stratis, Mike Bernardo, and Drew Drechsel and won gold. Team Japan was represented by Shingo Yamamoto, Yusuke Morimoto, Kazuma Asa, Hitoshi Kanno, and Kenji Takahashi and won silver. Team Malaysia won bronze with their team captain being Farid Isham. There were three stages and the tournament went for two days. Also, Drew Drechsel got first place in all three stages, giving him a spot in Sasuke 30.

Mexico [edit]

The program is broadcast in Mexico on Azteca 7 as Guerrero Ninja from Monday to Thursday at 8:30 PM.

Middle East [edit]

The program can be seen in the Middle East as محارب النينجا (Ninja Warriors) on MBC Action every Monday at (20:00 Mecca local time / 17:00 UTC / 12:00 EST). The whole program is dubbed into Arabic.

Russia [edit]

The program is broadcast in Russia on Sony Turbo as Путь ниндзя (Way of the Ninja) daily at 16:10.

Serbia [edit]

The program can be seen in Serbia as Nindža Ratnici (Ninja Warriors) every day from Monday until Friday at 19:00 (UTC+1) on B92 (from 13 August 2012), narrated by Igor Brakus and Vladimir Đorđević. The program was previously seen on Fox TV (now Prva TV), narrated by Ivan Tešanović and Miljan Milićević.

Singapore [edit]

The program broadcast in Singapore is the non-edited version of Ninja Warrior, with the exception of the subtitles being white instead of yellow. The program will be broadcast on MediaCorp Channel 5 every Wednesday at 20:00 (UTC + 8) and screened two episodes back to back. It was later moved to Thursday at 20:30 (UTC + 8), airing one episode. The show's run ended with the 17th competition of the Sasuke series.

The show returned on December 23, 2009, airing Wednesdays at 20:00, showing at various times two episodes, three episodes, or a single episode. The show's run ended with the 24th run.

Singapore has its own edition of Sasuke, which aired on August 9, 2012 at 8:10 pm, after the National Day Parade. It started airing August 15, 2012, and has its own winner going to Japan to take on the Sasuke course.

Season 1 was won by 22-year-old SAF's Naval Officer, Isaiah How Jia Jie. He placed 9th in the First Stage but managed to beat 21-year-old NUS student, Jenson Ngoh by 0.1 seconds in the season's 20 meter Rope Climb in the Second Stage to win.

Season 2 began with a new twist in its first episode: five Singaporean contenders competed with five Malaysians contenders; whichever country scored the first three points would win. Eventually Team Singapore beat Team Malaysia with a score of 3–2. For the competition, a 26-year-old gymnastics trainer edged out the other 12 contenders for the season with the time of 23.9 seconds, just 2.4 seconds shy of beating Isaiah How. He accompanied Isaiah to Japan in supporting him. However, in a twist of events, the production crew brought good luck to Alan Zhang in allowing him to participate.

The series concluded in its 13th and final episode with Isaiah How and Alan Zhang conquering the obstacle course at Mount Midoriyama, Japan. Both crashed out in the fourth obstacle (Jump Hang Kai) and third obstacle (Spinning Bridge) in the 1st Stage, respectively.

Poland [edit]

The program can be seen in Poland as Wojownicy Ninja (Ninja Warriors) on MTV.

Romania [edit]

The program is broadcast in Romania on Sport.ro as Ku Ninja In Atak (When Ninjas Attack). The show is hosted by two color commentators.

Slovak Republic [edit]

The program is broadcast in the Slovak Republic on JOJ Plus as Ninja faktor (Ninja Factor).

South Africa [edit]

The program broadcast in South Africa is the Sony MAX CHANNEL version of Ninja Warrior, with the "Ninja Killer" and "Warrior Wipeout" sections.

Thailand [edit]

The program is broadcast in Thailand on Modernine TV as Ninja Warrior on Tuesday 8:35 PM.

Turkey [edit]

The Ninja Warrior version of the program is broadcasting in Turkey on Fox TV narrated by Hayri Hiçler and Hopdedik Ayhan. A Turkish version titled Ninja Warrior Türkiye was aired by TV8 (2014–2015).

Ukraine [edit]

In Ukraine, Sasuke is broadcast by channel Mega (the same channel that broadcast Unbeatable Banzuke), under the name Япона-мать (Yapona-mat`, Japan-mother).

Vietnam [edit]

The Vietnamese version, Sasuke Việt Nam: Không Giới Hạn (Sasuke Vietnam: Unlimited), started airing season 1 on VTV3 in 2015.

Sasuke Vietnam Season 1 began airing on June 18, 2015. Stage 1 was a split course that shared the first two obstacles (Long Jump, Log Grip), but then split into Stage 1A and Stage 1B. The obstacles on each side were different, and the top 20 fastest times on each side advanced to Stage 2. In Stage 2, common Sasuke obstacles (Salmon Ladder, double Warped Wall) appeared, and competitors had 100 seconds to clear this stage. Only eight competitors made it to Stage 3, which featured typical Stage 3 obstacles: Pole Maze, Spinning Bridge, Rumbling Dice, Spider Flip, Cliffhanger, and Pipe Slider. All competitors failed on Stage 3, with Le Van Thuc making it the furthest (failed dismounting onto the platform from the Pipe Slider).

Sasuke Vietnam Season 2 began airing on May 19, 2016. Stage 1 again included a split course but this year, the first two obstacles were the Quad Steps and Log Grip.

[edit]

The show Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course airs on ESPN2 and is also produced by Monster9 [ja] for Fuji TV. Many of the competitors from Sasuke also compete in the Viking competition.

Sasuke executive producer Ushio Higuchi [ja] co-created Muscle Musical [ja] , a live athletic and comedy-oriented performance featuring several notable Sasuke and Kunoichi competitors, who have included Ayako Miyake, Naoki Iketani, Sayaka Asami, Terukazu Ishikawa, Kayo Haga, Daisuke Nakata, and Rie Komiya, as well as other Japanese athletes and entertainers. Its popularity in Japan and its growing popularity in the United States has resulted in a long-term run at the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Every January TBS airs the Pro Sportsman No.1 competition, also produced by Monster9. Several people who have competed on Sasuke have participated in this competition.

On Odaiba island, Monster9 has built Muscle Park, an indoor theme park based on events from Sasuke and other Muscle Ranking related programs. Some well-known Sasuke participants, such as Katsumi Yamada, have made live appearances there. Sasuke champion Makoto Nagano was honored in a celebration where he participated in the ribbon cutting there.[31] Since April 2007, Monster9 has been airing episodes of Muscle Channel,[32] a show to promote Muscle Park, the Muscle Musical, and people and events related to Sasuke. Muscle Channel usually airs on BS-i on Thursdays from 8:00 to 9:53 JST and is hosted by Hiromichi Sato. Past guests include Katsumi Yamada[33] and Shunsuke Nagasaki.[34]

See also [edit]

  • Kinniku Banzuke (known in the United States as Unbeatable Banzuke)
  • Kunoichi (women's version of Sasuke)
  • Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course
  • Sarutobi Sasuke

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ "heros" is spelled without an accent

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Sasuke 2005". Tbs.co.jp. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  2. ^ Jamison, Leslie (July 8, 2016). "The Great American Obstacle Course". The New Yorker . Retrieved August 19, 2017.
  3. ^ Corkill, Edan, "Average Joes become champions on 'Sasuke'". Japan Times. September 30, 2011. p. 15.
  4. ^ [1] April 7, 2007
  5. ^ "Yuuji Urushihara does it again" [2] Youtube, 11/6/2011
  6. ^ Levin, Gary. "Americans latch onto G4's intense 'Ninja Warrior'". USA Today. December 7, 2010.
  7. ^ "Sasuke 3 Review: Keep Rolling, Rolling, Rolling Log: Final Stage Podcast Episode 21" [3] Youtube, January 6, 2017
  8. ^ "About - Realeyes Permaculture Homestead". Realeyes Permaculture Homestead . Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  9. ^ In that tournament, her last name was listed as Tanabe because at the time she was single.
  10. ^ http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff91/lostinube/SASUKE%20Second%20Stage/skywalk.jpg
  11. ^ http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff91/lostinube/SASUKE%202008/SASUKE2008_3rdStage-1-ArmRing.jpg
  12. ^ http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff91/lostinube/SASUKE%202008/SASUKE2008_3rdStage-2-DescendingLam.jpg
  13. ^ http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff91/lostinube/SASUKE%202008/SASUKE2008_3rdStage-3-DevilSteps.jpg
  14. ^ http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff91/lostinube/SASUKE%202008/SASUKE2008_3rdStage-4-NewCliffHange.jpg
  15. ^ http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff91/lostinube/SASUKE%202008/SASUKE2008_3rdStage-5-JumpingBar.jpg
  16. ^ http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff91/lostinube/SASUKE%202008/SASUKE2008_3rdStage-6-SendingClimbe.jpg
  17. ^ "Ninja Warrior: Skred fra interview med Christiane".
  18. ^ Ζαζάνη, Κατερίνα (September 8, 2021). "To gossip-tv στην παρουσίαση προγράμματος του Ant1-Τα νέα ριάλιτι,οι σειρές–έκπληξη και οι πρεμιέρες". Gossip-tv.gr (in Greek). Retrieved September 20, 2021.
  19. ^ "Кастинг в новый спортивный проект". run.ctc.ru . Retrieved August 8, 2021.
  20. ^ Bond, Nick (August 10, 2020). "Australian Ninja Warrior 2020 grand finale: Ben Polson wins, scores $400,000". News.com.au.
  21. ^ Jessie Graff – Sasuke 34 Stage 2 YouTube
  22. ^ "Ninja Warrior to get UK remake on ITV in 2015". Digital Spy. December 23, 2014. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
  23. ^ "Rochelle Humes to co-host new Ninja Warrior game show". Breaking News. February 18, 2015.
  24. ^ "Australian Ninja Warrior coming to Nine". June 18, 2016.
  25. ^ Knox, David (November 8, 2016). "Nine Upfronts 2017". TV Tonight. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
  26. ^ "Nine in 2017". nineentertainmentco.com.au. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
  27. ^ Knox, David (November 28, 2016). "Ben Fordham, Freddie Flintoff join ANW". TV Tonight. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
  28. ^ "Season 1 Episode 2". Ninja Warrior: Le Parcours Des Heros. TF1.
  29. ^ MyTF1. "Ninja Warrior". TF1. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  30. ^ "Rp500 Juta Jadi Rebutan Peserta Sasuke Ninja Warrior Indonesia : Okezone Celebrity". Okezone (in Indonesian). December 21, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  31. ^ "Held a raffle!" (in Japanese). Blog.livedoor.jp. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  32. ^ "Muscle Channel Program Details" (in Japanese). Bs-i.co.jp. Archived from the original on April 25, 2007. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  33. ^ "TV News" (in Japanese). Musclemusical.com. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  34. ^ "TV News" (in Japanese). Musclemusical.com. Retrieved October 12, 2011.

External links [edit]

  • Sasuke 2007 (Sasuke 2007 Autumn) – Tokyo Broadcasting System (in Japanese)
  • Sasuke 2006秋 (Sasuke 2006 Autumn) – Tokyo Broadcasting System (in Japanese)
  • Sasuke 2005・(Sasuke 2005 Winter) – Tokyo Broadcasting System (in Japanese)
  • Diagrams of the 11th course with measurements – Tokyo Broadcasting System (in Japanese)
  • Ninja Warrior on Challenge
  • Ninja Warrior on G4
  • Sasuke at IMDb
  • Australian Ninja Warrior on Channel 9

Do American Ninja Warriors Make Any Money

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasuke_(TV_series)

Posted by: dobbinsladmoultan.blogspot.com

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