The ongoing History of SASUKE/Ninja Warrior

SASUKE is a Japanese sports entertainment television special where 100 competitors attempt to complete four obstacle course stages. An edited version, Ninja Warrior, is screened in the United States by G4, in the United Kingdom by Challenge and Virgin 1, in Greece by Skai TV, in New Zealand by C4, in Italy by GXT, in Finland by JIM and in France by W9.

SASUKE airs on the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) between Japanese television drama seasons. Each 3-hour special covers an entire competition, and as of 2008 there have been 21 competitions, approximately one new special per season (twice per year), since September 26, 1997. The show is produced by Monster9 and is one of the spin-offs of Kinniku Banzuke (translated in English as "Muscle Ranking"). Until the 10th Competition in the fall of 2002, SASUKE was broadcast as a special part of the Kinniku Banzuke series but became an independent program when that series was discontinued. The 1st Competition in 1997 was held indoors, marking the only time SASUKE did not take place outside at the TBS Midoriyama (Green Mountain) Studios.

Through an interview or audition as well as trial rounds to test physical ability, the field of applicants (which can sometimes reach 1000) is narrowed to 100 who will be allowed to compete in the 1ST Stage. The course consists of four stages of increasing difficulty that the competitors must complete. The 1ST Stage, 2ND Stage and FINAL Stage have timelimits but the 3RD Stage is so difficult it has no timelimit...if you make it, you make it. Competitions generally start in the daytime, and progress through the obstacles, regardless of weather conditions (some competitions have seen snow) into the darkness, until they are over. For the purposes of fairness, in the 18th Competition, a 1200-meter run was held before the event. This run determined the competitors' numbers.

Each competition is taped prior to the air date and broadcast as a 3-hour show edited for time. The 21st Competition aired September 17th, 2008 on TBS in Japan. G4 aired the 21st Ninja Warrior Competition on November 12th, 2008 as a part of NINJAFEST 3.

SASUKE is presumably named after the most famous ninja in Japanese lore: Sarutobi Sasuke.

The COMPETITORS
Most competitors are amateurs. Just doing a roll call of the SASUKE ALL-STARS reveals that: Mister Sasuke (KATSUMI Yamada) has had many jobs, TAKEDA Toshihiro and YAMADA Koji are fire fighters, NAGANO Makoto is a fisherman, SHIRATORI Bunpei is a government worker, AKIYAMA Kazuhiko was a crab fisherman and is now a massage therapist and last but certainly not least YAMAMOTO Shingo started out as a gas jockey and is now a district manager.

The TEAM SPIRIT
Apparently during the earlier SASUKES there was a greater degree of competition and even "bad blood" between competitors. But watching any SASUKE from 14 or so onward reveals a great deal of camaraderie between the competitors. Even a relative newcomer like Levi Meeuwenberg can be seen getting coaching and encouragement from the more experienced without a hint of animosity. No doubt the fact that the course is so hard contributes to this "band of brothers" type mentality.

The REWARD
The prize money if you completed SASUKE 1-17 was ¥2,000,000 or about ($20,000.00 US) which was hardly enough to cover all the expenses travelling back and forth to SASUKE twice a year. SASUKE was redesigned after Competition 17 to make the course more difficult so from SASUKE 18 onward the prize money was increased to ¥4,000,000 (or $40,000.00 US).

There have been several programs related to SASUKE. KUNOICHI, perhaps the most well-known spin off, is a version of SASUKE restricted to female competitors only and consisting of obstacles focused more on balance and speed. There have also been special competitions for children and the elderly.

• Wikipedia - Kunoichi - Official Website
• Wikipedia - Kinniku Banzuke
• Wikipedia - Viking - Official Website
• Wikipedia (in Japanese) - Pro Sportsman No. 1

Sources:
SASUKE Stages Wikipedia (EN),
SASUKE/Ninja Warrior Wikipedia (EN),
SASUKE Wikipedia (JP)