Sasuke (TV series)

Sasuke
File:SASUKE logo.gif SASUKE (サスケ)
Genre	Sports Variety Program, Obstacle Course
Narrated by	Keisuke, Ogasawara
Country of origin	Japan
Original languages	Japanese; English subtitles and dubbed contestant profiles in United States broadcast
No. of seasons	18
Production
Executive producer	Ushio Higuchi
Producers	Kogake Yoshiyuki Makoto Fujii
Production locations	Midoriyama, Aoba-ku, Yokohama
Running time	3 hours in Japan, 30 minutes in the United States
Original release
Network	Tokyo Broadcasting System
Release	Sept 26, 1997 – March 21, 2007
Related
KUNOICHI Pro Sportsman No. 1 Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course

Sasuke (サスケ, romanized as SASUKE in Japan) is an obstacle course competition held on Midoriyama in Japan. It is produced by Monster9 [1] and broadcasts on the Japanese television network Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) between Japanese television drama seasons. It is one of the spin-offs of Muscle Ranking (筋肉番付, Kinniku Banzuke), a former TBS physical tournament program.

SASUKE consists of four stages that the competitors must complete. The stages increase in difficulty, and all but the third stage have a time limit. Each competition is taped prior to the air date and is shown as a three-hour show with edits made for time consideration.

Stages

Stage One

One hundred participants are given the opportunity to attempt Stage One, 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 comes into contact with the water in the pits below each obstacle, he is disqualified. Typically, 90 to 95 of the 100 original entrants are eliminated in this first stage. The exact time limit varies depending on which obstacles have been placed into Stage One at each specific competition, but is usually between 85 seconds and 105 seconds. In 2007, the course was radically redesigned, and the time has been increased to 130 seconds.

Among the most notable (and most often recurring) obstacles are:

Quadruple, Quintuple or Sextuple Step

The competitor must jump across 4 to 6 platforms that are angled 45 degrees toward the center of a water pit. The platforms are positioned alternately, left and right, across the length of the pit. They are 60 cm wide and the total gap from start to the end platform is 6.2 meters. Other short-lived first obstacles have been the hill climb and prism tilt.

Rolling Log

The competitor must grab onto a large log and hold on to it as it rolls down an incline. Later, drops were implemented onto the track in an attempt to jar the competitor off.

Dance Bridge/Balance Bridge/Bridge of Blades

These are various bridges which would turn and spin knocking the competitor off balance or tossing them into the water. It must be crossed quickly to avoid being thrown into the water.

Jump Hang

The competitor must bound off a trampoline onto a large cargo net, then either climb up and over the net or under it, taking care not to touch the water below if they choose the latter route. Other versions have included jumping off a trampoline onto one of several hanging ropes.

Warped Wall or Great Wall

The competitor needs to scale a 5 meter (15-foot) concave wall by running up its side and grasping the top. This obstacle has proven to be the nemesis of many entrants striving to complete the first stage; even SASUKE veteran Makoto Nagano met his match on the Warped Wall twice before finally completing it and advancing to the later stages. The 18th tournament introduced a new version, the Great Wall, which is higher and equipped with a rope hanging down to aid competitors in climbing over it.

Rope Swing/Climb

This final obstacle of Stage One immediately follows the Warped Wall. The competitor must swing to a wall and climb up a rope to press the buzzer before time expires. The 2007 version of this obstacle is the Tarzan Rope in which the wall has been replaced by a rope net.

Stage Two

Stage Two consists of a lowered number of participants and an even more grueling set of obstacles. Fewer than 200 competitors have ever reached Stage Two. Stage Two's obstacles, like Stage One's, alter throughout the competitions, but all hold to the same principle: if you make a single mistake, you fall into the water below. Stage Two's obstacles determine the time limit, so there is no exact number, but it is usually between 60 seconds and 70 seconds.

Stage Two's most infamous obstacles include:

Chain Reaction

The competitor must ride two sequential zip-lines over a pit of water, switching between them in midair. The zip-lines travel perpendicularly to each other, and each has a chain hanging from it by a single point. Competitors must grasp the chain on the first zip-line, ride to the second zip-line, switch to the next chain in midair, and ride the second zip-line to the end of the obstacle. During the switch, competitors may kick off a nearby solid wall. The first swing is 9.5 meters, and the second is 7.5. Competitors are required to wear gloves (for safety reasons) when holding the chains which they must discard prior to reaching the Spider Walk.

Wall Climb

The competitor must climb a short wall with short protruding bricks from the wall. The wall is approximately 3.5 meters high. This is considered more of a transitional area as there is no chance of falling in the water but it does consume time from the competitor's pace.

Spider Walk

The competitor must use his hands and feet to climb up, across, and back down two parallel walls. The competitor must remove his gloves before attempting this obstacle or face disqualification. A can of "sticky spray" is available at the start of the Spider Walk. Bare hands must be used on Spider Walk, or the contestant will be disqualified. This happened to Katsumi Yamada in the 12th Competition, making him the only one of eleven Stage Two contestants to not advance to Stage Three.

Balance Tank

The competitor must balance atop a large rolling barrel and ride the barrel to a platform across a distance of 5.4 meters, Bunpei Shiratori (a Ninja Warrior veteran) once fell in front of the rolling barrel and it smacked him in the back of the head.

Conveyor Belt

The competitor must crawl though a small tunnel with a conveyor belt going the opposite direction. It is 90cm wide and 6.3 meters long.

Metal Spin

An array of chains dangle from a rotatable horizontal wheel, resembling a chandelier, over a water hazard. The competitor must jump to grasp one of the chains, spinning the wheel to the other side.

Lifting Walls

Three walls of 30kg (66 pounds), 40kg (88 pounds), and 50kg (110 pounds) block the competitor, who must lift and cross under them to advance.

Stage Three

Stage Three, unlike the previous two, has no time limit. Contestants are allowed short rest periods between obstacles during which they can apply "sticky spray" to improve their grip. Instead of focusing on speed or agility, this course almost exclusively tests one's upper body strength and stamina. The regular obstacles consist of the following:

Rumbling Dice

The entrant uses a monkey bar-like box frame to cross a water pit of 5 meters by grabbing the upper bar and pulling it down, the box rolls its way across the pit. It is 30 cm wide.

Arm Rings

The competitor hangs from two rings on different-shaped sliding poles and have to negotiate several rises and dips on the poles.

Arm Bike

In this obstacle, the competitor must use his arms to propel himself across the gap, holding pedals similar to the way feet pedal on a bike. This obstacle was used until the 9th competition, and then returned in the 18th competition as a direct extension of the arm rings (there is no platform to rest in between).

Body Prop

The competitor must traverse an expanse of two walls that are 5 meters long, holding his body parallel to the ground as he does so. Along the way there are breaks in both walls, requiring the entrant to negotiate those as he moves across.

Globe Grasp

The competitor crosses yet another pool of water by grabbing onto a series of small spheres attached to the ceiling. (Removed in recent competitions)

Curtain Cling

The competitor must grapple across a hanging curtain 5.4 meters wide to reach the other side. This obstacle was changed in the 18th tournament to a Curtain Swing made up of 4 diagonally-placed curtains on which competitors must swing from one to the next to proceed.

Cliff Hanger

Competitors must navigate yet another chasm using only a narrow ledge to make their way across. At two points, the ledge breaks - once going up 30 cm (1 foot), and again going 45 cm (1.5 feet) down. The ledge is barely wide enough for competitors to fit their fingertips. Each ledge is 1.2 meters long and the gap between the breaks is 50 cm wide. In 2007, the Cliff Hanger underwent a change to make it even more difficult. The middle section was shortened and the ledge inclined upwards. Moreover, the third section develops an even smaller profile, giving the competitor about half as much space for their fingers.

Jumping Bars

Competitors must jump from a series of bars, each one about a foot below and 5 feet horizontally from the previous.

Bridge of Destiny (Climbing Bars)

Competitors must climb across an inclined ladder while hanging underneath it. This obstacle is typically preceded by a more difficult obstacle, thereby straining what little endurance contestants have remaining.

Devil's Swing

Competitors must swing on a bar attached to the top of the obstacle course by two chains and swing to the bar on the pipe slider.

Pipe Slider

The last obstacle on the course, the entrant must hang from a pipe and, by undulating his body, move that pipe across a track to the other side. Once there, the competitor needs to swing off the pipe and onto the finishing platform. On numerous occasions, competitors have reached the end of the Pipe Slider, only to miss the final platform by failing to build enough momentum when swinging off, rendering all their efforts for naught.

Final Stage

Those who manage to clear the first three stages are presented one final challenge. Stage Four consists of only two obstacles: a 12.5 meter spider climb and a 10-meter rope climb. However, the competitor has only 30 seconds to complete both obstacles and hit the button at the top of the tower. After 15 seconds, the walls pull apart, causing anyone who had not yet cleared them to fall. If the competitor is still climbing the rope when time runs out, it detaches from its mooring, again resulting in a sudden drop by the competitor. (The competitor wears a safety rig in case of a long fall.)

In the 4th Tournament, Kazuhiko Akiyama completed the final stage, which at the time, was only a 15 meter Rope Climb with a 30 second time limit. That prompted the addition of the Spider Climb to the final stage.

After Makoto Nagano defeated the Final Stage in 2006, it was redesigned again. Since nobody reached the final stage during the Spring 2007 Competition, complete details on the new Final Stage are not available. It appears to contain a Spider Climb with multiple ropes following that must be switched between. The time limit is also unknown.

Champions

Those who complete all four stages are awarded a cash prize of 2 million yen. To date, only two men have completed all four stages: crab diver Kazuhiko Akiyama (a 15 meter rope climb) and commercial fisherman Makoto Nagano (a 12.5 meter Spider Climb followed by a 10 meter rope climb). Nagano had been to the final stage a number of times before finally clearing, including once when he reached the buzzer just eleven hundredths of a second too late. A handful of others have reached the final stage only to come up short; one of them, gas station manager Shingo Yamamoto, dislocated his shoulder at the very beginning of the wall climb and had to withdraw from the competition.

2007

The first SASUKE of 2007, entitled 新SASUKE 2007春[2] (New SASUKE 2007 Spring) was aired in Japan on Wednesday March 21st, 2007 on Tokyo Broadcasting System from 6:55 PM to 9:48 PM JST. Due to the completion of the course in 2006 by Makoto Nagano, SASUKE has been overhauled and the new course has many new obstacles, including a completely new first stage. The names of the first stage obstacles in order are: Rope Glider, Log Grip, Pole Maze, Jumping Spider, Bungee Bridge, Great Wall, Flying Chute and Tarzan Rope.

Participants

One particular point of interest is the broad spectrum of participants. Most are amateur athletes hailing from Japan, although some national television personalities and Olympians from other countries - most notably gymnast Paul Hamm and his brother Morgan Hamm - take part in the competition from time to time. Others dress up in costumes or bring mementos of their work with them (such as a hang glider or ramen pot) - the large majority of these entrants often get eliminated on the first few obstacles.

SASUKE All-Stars

A group of competitors have been deemed the SASUKE All-Stars by TBS for their success in the tournament. They are frequently seen consorting together during the competitions, as well as encouraging and supporting each other. They include:

• Toshihiro Takeda -- A 31 year old (in 2007) fire rescue worker from Ibi District, Gifu Prefecture. He has reached a level of fame both in SASUKE and in his career that he became the poster boy for Japan's firefighting recruitment drive for 2006. Takeda has passed the first stage in all except the 10th competition where he fell on the Jump Hang. He has never reached the Final Stage, the only one of the All-Stars not to do so, and has failed at the end of the final third stage obstacle, the Pipe Slider, twice.
  
• Shingo Yamamoto -- A 33-year-old (in 2007) oil company employee from Tokyo, he is the only person to have competed in every SASUKE competition. He always competes in his gas station uniform shirt and cap (always with Esso branding). He has reached the Final Stage twice, but his second appearance in the 7th competition was cut short when he dislocated his shoulder seconds after beginning the Spider Climb. Much note is made of his career and personal successes, including his promotions at the Hasegawa service station, where he started as a gas jockey in the first competition and was announced as a district manager at the 17th; his marriage, after the 5th; and the building of his home in Tokyo, complete with a SASUKE training course.
  
• Makoto Nagano -- a 35-year-old (in 2007) fisherman living near Kagoshima and the second man to complete the course. He spends 300 days a year at sea, captaining the ship 28^th Konpira Maru. He uses his boat to train himself. Clips of him training are shown frequently during the broadcast and include him doing sit-ups off the side of the boat, handstands on the top mast, and hanging off a bridge crossing it like the Cliff Hanger obstacle. After failing to scale the warped wall in the 7th and 8th competitions, Nagano made it to the third stage and failed on the pipe slider in the 9th. He failed the jump hang in the 10th competition, and since then has reached the third stage in every competition except the 15th, where he went out on the Metal Spin. He has reached the final stage more than any other competitor (4 times; in the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 17th competitions) and finally completed it in the 17th competition.
  
• Bunpei Shiratori -- a 40-year-old (in 2007) health-services government employee from Inba Village, Chiba Prefecture, who became a track and field athlete in his youth. In 2005, his height and weight were recorded as 5'9" and 145 lbs. During the 15th competition Bunpei suffered from heat exhaustion but still came back to complete the first stage, and made it all the way to the Bridge of Destiny in stage 3. He has built a full-sized model of the course in his backyard known as the Shiratori Shrine.
  
• Katsumi Yamada -- 41-years-old (in 2007) from Harima, Hyōgo Prefecture, he is known as Mister SASUKE. Yamada, once thought to be the most likely to complete the entire course, is particularly notable for his unusual devotion to the Ninja Warrior competition; many times he has sworn to retire from the tournament only to resurface again, at one point even alienating his family in the process. After failing on the pipe slider in the 10th competition, he never returned to the third stage. Since being disqualified in the 12th competition on the second stage, he has never completed the first stage. He trains to the point that he has no full-time job.
  
• Kazuhiko Akiyama -- a 34-year-old (in 2007) massage therapist and former crab diver from Kitami, Hokkaidō. He was the first competitor to beat the Final Stage, doing it on his first try in the 4th competition. He has had varying levels of success since, primarily due to failing eyesight. Before becoming a crab diver, entering his family business, he was in the Japan Self-Defense Forces where he took up Greco-Roman wrestling. He did not compete in the 18th tournament.

The SASUKE All-Stars all met at the Shiratori Shrine before the 17th competition in October 2006 and trained together. They then went bungee jumping together to test their courage. The All-Stars were featured in a TBS special aired a week after the 17th Competition.

Japanese comedians

Several Japanese comedians have taken part in SASUKE over the years. Some of them include Koriki Choshu (18th competition), Masaki Sumitani (AKA Razor Ramon Hard Gay), Yoku Hata and Kinni-kun Nakayama. In early competitions Nakayama reached stage two twice, but failed on the spider walk the first time and ran out of time the second. Following that he had a string of failures on the bridge of blades, warped wall, and wall climb.

Japanese entertainers

Over the years, several Japanese or Japan-based entertainers have taken part in SASUKE such as Kane Kosugi and his brother Shane (sons of Sho Kosugi), Naoki Iketani (brother of Olympic gymnast Yukio Iketani), Hiromichi Sato (host of several NHK children's programs), Kenjirou Ishimaru (actor and announcer) and Masaki Nomura (actor).

Several professional wrestlers have also competed including Minoru Suzuki and Hiroshi Tanahashi. K-1 mixed martial artist Genki Soudou has also competed.

Athletes

As well as the Hamm brothers, other athletes to have tried SASUKE include American decathlete Paul Terek, Bulgarian gymnast Jordan Jovtchev and Japanese trampolinists Daisuke Nakata and, from Ibaraki Prefecture, Shunsuke Nagasaki. Shunsuke has won several medals in the Trampoline World Cups [3][4][5][6] and Doha Asian Games [7]. The Japanese announcer has stated that Shunsuke wishes to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Shunsuke also has a younger brother who made his debut in the 18th competition, Takamasa Nagasaki. Takamasa is also a trampolinist like his brother, and made it to the Second Stage in his first try.

Other notable competitors

Some other participants notable for their success in SASUKE include Shinji Kobayashi (a garbage man) and Hiroyuki Asaoka (an elementary school teacher known as the SASUKE Sensei). The only woman to have completed the first stage is former Super Sentai stuntwoman Chie Nishimura.

The youngest competitor to pass the First Stage, Kota Honma, was 16 during the 17th competition. He was also the youngest to participate in Sasuke at 13 in the 13th competition. Before him, Shunsuke Nagasaki held the record at 17. Kota has built a model of the full Sasuke course. He has also demonstrated his hobby of box-juggling on the First Stage starting platform. Before the 17th competition, Kota trained six days a week with his track and field team at school.

Tien Dinh, a background dancer for Ashanti that appeared on the Soul Train Music Awards was once featured on the show in 2004.

Broadcast

Currently, the program can be seen in the United States as Ninja Warrior on the G4 channel every weeknight at 6:30 and 10:30 EST and each Tuesday at midnight EST.[8] There have also been occasional marathons of the program on weekends. The play-by-play commentary and interviews with participants are subtitled in English while the introduction and player profiles have been dubbed by voice actor Dave Wittenberg. Each episode is a 30-minute portion of the Japanese broadcast. Currently, the only competitions aired are the 6th through the 17th.

Results

The following is a list of the people who managed to reach at least the third stage, when known, in each competition. If there is more than one person in a given competition the results go in order of who went the farthest first. All air dates are of the Japanese broadcast on TBS.

1st Competition (Aired September 26, 1997)
No. 92 Katsumi Yamada - Failed Hammer Dodge - 2nd Stage
No. 07 Shingo Yamamoto - Failed Hammer Dodge - 2nd Stage

2nd Competition (Aired September 27, 1998)
No. 89 Tanaka Hikaru - Failed Final Stage
No. 20 Shingo Yamamoto - Failed Pipe Slider - 3rd Stage

3rd Competition (Aired March 13, 1999)
No. 89 Katsumi Yamada - Failed Final Stage
No. 13 Shingo Yamamoto - Failed Final Stage

4th Competition (Aired October 16, 1999)
No. 86 Kazuhiko Akiyama - Final Stage (Finished)
No. 100 Katsumi Yamada - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage

5th Competition (Aired March 18, 2000)
No. 98 Shingo Yamamoto - Failed Pipe Slider - 3rd Stage

6th Competition (Aired September 9, 2000)
No. 99 Katsumi Yamada - Failed Pipe Slider - 3rd Stage
No. 83 Yoshiaki Hatakeda - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 93 Toshihiro Takeda - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage
No. 98 Kane Kosugi - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage
No. 97 Shane Kosugi - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage

7th Competition (Aired March 17, 2001)
No. 97 Shingo Yamamoto - Failed Final Stage (dislocated shoulder)

8th Competition (Aired September 29, 2001)
No. 91 Kane Kosugi - Failed Final Stage
No. 59 Jordan Jovtchev - Failed Final Stage

9th Competition (Aired March 16, 2002)
No. 61 Makoto Nagano - Failed Pipe Slider - 3rd Stage
No. 97 Toshihiro Takeda - Failed Globe Grasp - 3rd Stage
No. 71 Daisuke Nakata - Failed Globe Grasp - 3rd Stage
No. 98 Shingo Yamamoto - Failed Rumbling Dice - 3rd Stage

10th Competition (Aired September 25, 2002)
No. 1000 Katsumi Yamada - Failed Pipe Slider - 3rd Stage
No. 961 Naoki Iketani - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 940 Daisuke Nakata - Failed Globe Grasp - 3rd Stage
No. 954 Hiroyuki Asaoka - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage

11th Competition (Aired March 21, 2003 [9])
No. 96 Makoto Nagano - Failed Final Stage
No. 74 Shinji Kobayashi - Failed Pipe Slider - 3rd Stage
No. 61 Naoki Iketani - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 98 Shingo Yamamoto - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 95 Daisuke Nakata - Failed Globe Grasp - 3rd Stage
No. 97 Toshihiro Takeda - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage
No. 99 Kazuhiko Akiyama - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage

12th Competition (Aired October 1, 2003)
No. 100 Makoto Nagano - Failed Final Stage (by .11 seconds)
No. 77 Bunpei Shiratori - Failed Final Stage
No. 72 Hiroyuki Asaoka - Failed Final Stage
No. 95 Toshihiro Takeda - Failed Pipe Slider - 3rd Stage
No. 97 Kazuhiko Akiyama - Failed Pipe Slider - 3rd Stage
No. 91 Jordan Jovtchev - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 96 Shingo Yamamoto - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 70 Manabu Satou - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 01 Yasushi Yamada - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 92 Masāki Kobayashi - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage

13th Competition (Aired April 6, 2004)
No. 100 Makoto Nagano - Failed Final Stage
No. 99 Bunpei Shiratori - Failed Pipe Slider - 3rd Stage
No. 98 Toshihiro Takeda - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 97 Masāki Kobayashi - Failed Curtain Cling - 3rd Stage
No. 90 Naoki Iketani - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage

14th Competition (Aired January 4, 2005)
No. 68 Shinji Kobayashi - Failed Devil's Swing - 3rd Stage
No. 100 Makoto Nagano - Failed Jumping Bars - 3rd Stage
No. 97 Toshihiro Takeda - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 91 Jordan Jovtchev - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 80 Hiroyuki Asaoka - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 98 Shingo Yamamoto - Failed Curtain Cling - 3rd Stage
No. 81 Naoki Iketani - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage
No. 87 Masāki Kobayashi - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage
No. 76 Terukazu Ishikawa - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage
No. 88 Kosuke Yamaguchi - Failed Rumbling Dice - 3rd Stage

15th Competition (Aired July 20, 2005)
No. 96 Toshihiro Takeda - Failed Devil's Swing - 3rd Stage
No. 94 Bunpei Shiratori - Failed Bridge of Destiny - 3rd Stage
No. 70 Yasushi Yamada - Failed Jumping Bars - 3rd Stage
No. 65 Shunsuke Nagasaki - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 93 Morgan Hamm - Failed Curtain Cling - 3rd Stage
No. 95 Shingo Yamamoto - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage

16th Competition (Aired December 30, 2005 [10])
No. 96 Bunpei Shiratori - Failed Pipe Slider - 3rd Stage
No. 91 Yasushi Yamada - Failed Pipe Slider - 3rd Stage
No. 100 Makoto Nagano - Failed Devil's Swing - 3rd Stage
No. 95 Jordan Jovtchev - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 98 Toshihiro Takeda - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 89 Shunsuke Nagasaki - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 66 Kenji Takahashi - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 90 Naoki Iketani - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage

17th Competition (Aired October 11, 2006 [11])
No. 99 Makoto Nagano - Final Stage (Finished)
No. 87 Shunsuke Nagasaki - Failed Final Stage (Youngest to reach the final stage (19 years old))
No. 91 Toshihiro Takeda - Failed Pipe Slider - 3rd Stage
No. 86 Paul Terek - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 67 Yuta Adachi - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage
No. 81 Bunpei Shiratori - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage
No. 98 Shingo Yamamoto - Failed Body Prop - 3rd Stage
No. 96 Daisuke Nakata - Failed Arm Rings - 3rd Stage

18th Competition (Aired March 21, 2007 [12])
No. 96 Makoto Nagano - Disqualified on Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 97 Shunsuke Nagasaki - Failed Cliff Hanger - 3rd Stage
No. 98 Kenji Takahashi - Failed Cliff Hanger- 3rd Stage

Related programs

• SASUKE also has a women's version known as KUNOICHI which has begun airing in the United States as Women of Ninja Warrior. To date, only one woman, Ayako Miyake, has achieved total victory. She is also the only one to complete it three times in a row.
• Special Old People and Children editions of SASUKE have aired. It appears to have been only one stage being shown over a number of episodes. Around 8 competitors per episode were shown. The course was practically the same for each edition, however the Old People course was slightly tougher featuring steeper inclines and treadmills.
• The show Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course which airs on ESPN2 is also produced by Monster9 for Fuji TV and also features many of the same competitors as SASUKE.
• Executive producer Ushio Higuchi has also co-created Muscle Musical [13], a live athletic and comedy-oriented performance featuring SASUKE competitors. Its popularity in Japan and, recently, the United States has resulted in it securing a long-term run at the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.[14]
• Every January 1st TBS also airs the Pro Sportsman No.1 competition which is produced by Monster9. Several people who have competed on SASUKE have participated in this competition which is a series of events contested by celebrities and professional athletes. In 2007 Paul Terek took the title of Pro Sportsman No. 1.
• On Odaiba island [15], Monster9 has built Muscle Park [16], an indoor theme park based on events from SASUKE and other Muscle Ranking-related programs. Some well-known SASUKE participants such as Yamada Katsumi have made live appearances there. [17]
• From April 2007 Monster9 has begun airing episodes of Muscle Channel[18], a show to promote Muscle Park and the Muscle Musical as well as 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[19] and Shunsuke Nagasaki[20].

See also

• Japanese Wikipedia SASUKE article
• Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course

External links

• 新SASUKE 2007春 (New Sasuke 2007 Spring) - Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS)
• SASUKE2006秋 (Sasuke 2006 Autumn) - Tokyo Broadcasting System
• SASUKE2005・冬 (Sasuke 2005 Winter) - Tokyo Broadcasting System
• Diagrams of the course with measurements - Tokyo Broadcasting System
• 11th Sasuke (2003) - Tokyo Broadcasting System
• Ninja Warrior - G4
• G4 press release for its premiere of Ninja Warrior
• G4 announces new episodes and a new schedule for Ninja Warrior starting Mar 19, 2007
• Ninja Warrior at IMDb