Kawaguchi Tomohiro

Kawaguchi Tomohiro (川口 朋広) is a former truck driver, now as an entrepreneur being the director for Per-Adra, the first Japanese rock climbing shoe maker company. He was a SASUKE Trials Qualifier prior to his appearance in SASUKE.

Kawaguchi first tried to compete in SASUKE 20 through the trials, however he failed to qualify.

He returned to the trials and was one of the eight qualifiers in the SASUKE 21 Trials. In the trials, he cleared the "Final Stage" in 46.64 seconds, and managed to get the #2 qualifying spot, only one second behind Miyagi Takuya.

During the tournament, he showed great speed, clearing most of the obstacles quickly. However, after he cleared the Half-Pipe Attack, he moved too quickly, lost his balance, and went off the course. He participated in the SASUKE 22 Trials, and successfully became one of the seven qualifiers for SASUKE 22.

In the tournament, he wore #78 but his run was digested. It is shown that he made it to the Slider Jump and was able to touch the net. However, he was unable to hold on and back flipped into the water. He did not compete in SASUKE 23.

He returned in SASUKE 24 wearing #47. He breezed through the First Stage, and despite taking two attempts on the Half-Pipe Attack, he became the first person to clear with an impressive 16.10 seconds remaining. In the Second Stage, he flew up the Salmon Ladder, but he rushed his dismount on the Unstable Bridge and fell back into the water in a similar fashion to Urushihara Yuuji in SASUKE 23. He returned in SASUKE 25 and received #67 in the lottery. While his run was all cut, he was shown to have failed the Circle Slider as he couldn't get both hands on the ring. He missed SASUKE 26. Then in SASUKE 27, he failed the Rolling Escargot and was cut from broadcast.

Returning in SASUKE 30 after missing the previous two tournaments, he passed the first stage with over 21 seconds remaining, then became the second competitor that tournament to clear the Second Stage, doing so for the first time. In the Third Stage, he became only the second person (after Morimoto Yūsuke) to clear the Crazy Cliffhanger, and went on to clear the stage, becoming the first man in the post-Monster 9 period to reach the Final Stage, and being only the sixth person since SASUKE 4 to clear the stage in their first attempt at the stage. However, he was slow to climb up the Spider Climb as he kept slipping on the walls (which did not seperate after 15 seconds, interestingly) and timed up at the Tsuna Nobori at 15 meters.

He returned back in SASUKE 31. He was able to clear the First Stage again without any trouble. Then he became one of the 8 to clear the second stage. In the third stage, he made it past the first 3 obstacles and everybody was expecting to make it back to the final stage. However to the shock of everyone, he went out on the Crazy Cliffhanger. He is the first person to have failed the Crazy Cliffhanger after clearing it before.

He then competed in the third international competition for American Ninja Warrior. In his run for the Second Stage, he made it to Roulette Row, but failed the dismount due to having too much momentum. He did however do the best out of the three who ran the Second Stage of Team Japan. The heat however, was won by Drew Drechsel who completed the stage. His Third Stage run however, ended early when he slipped on the Doorknob Grasper and ended up not only doing the worst in his heat, but doing the worst out of everyone who ran the Third Stage that day. It was said that he fell on the the obstacle because he didn't know that the last two doorknobs spin.

He then competed in SASUKE 32. He cleared the First Stage that had taken out notable competitors with over 20 seconds remaining, and also cleared the mildly revamped Second Stage with 15.59 seconds remaining and little trouble. However, prior to and during his run conditions had been wet. This did not seem to hinder his performance on the Drum Hopper Kai which he completed with little trouble, however he failed the first transition of the Flying Bar surprisingly - ending the tournament with no Third Stage clears as he was the last man standing.

In SASUKE 33, Kawaguchi was given the number 99 - his highest number to date. However, he was unable to live up to expectations after a failed transition to the sandbag took place during the Double Pendulum. This result saw Kawaguchi eliminated in the First Stage for the first time since SASUKE 27.

In SASUKE 34, now given the number 98, Kawaguchi exacted his revenge on the Double Pendulum as he completed the First Stage. He also completed the Second Stage with 6 seconds remaining. In the Third Stage, he completed the first half of the stage, and on the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger, he completed the first transition, unfortunately he failed the obstacle as he went for the second transition to the moving ledge.

For SASUKE 35, Kawaguchi reverted back to number 99. After a 4.80 second clear of the First Stage, the one-time Final Stager sufffered from problems during the Second Stage's Backstream, due to swallowing water. Despite losing valuable time, Kawaguchi recovered from his blip to scrape through with 0.18 seconds remaining. The Third Stage saw 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.

For SASUKE 36, Kawaguchi was confirmed as the #99 competitor. After a 7.60 seconds clear of the First Stage, he then completed the Second Stage with 12.26 seconds left. However, in the Third Stage, he shocked many when he went out on the first transition in the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger. This was due to too much momentum on his swing.

In SASUKE 37, Kawaguchi wore #99 once more. He started fast, however he shockingly timed out on the Soritatsu Kabe. Mainly due to the bad weather.

Despite many expecting Kawaguchi to exact revenge on the Soritatsu Kabe, especially since it was dry and was in perfect condition, he would shockingly fail the obstacle again in SASUKE 38.

Prior to SASUKE 39 he promised he would retire from SASUKE if he failed the First Stage again. During the tournament, he would start off strong, however similar to SASUKE 37 it had begun raining and resultantly he ended up timing out on the Soritatsu Kabe (now the Ni Ren Soritatsu Kabe once more) for the third tournament in a row due to the rain. He later stated that due to the rain, he would not retire yet.

Trivia

 * He is one of the few competitors that has never competed with a bare torso in their competition, others include Shiratori Bunpei, Yamamoto Shingo, and Okuyama Yoshiyuki, all of whom have notably reached the Final Stage. This includes his attempts on the Backstream, because he always wears a swimming suit for the Second Stage specifically.
 * He has changed jobs frequently between his competitions, he began with driving concrete trucks, and by the time he had success from SASUKE, he became a climbing shoes designer and became an entrepreneur. Based on external sources, it was shown that he was also in the process of opening a Per-Adra associated Climbing Gym in Yokohama, officially opened in March 19, 2022 at 10:30am JST.
 * In its opening day, various fellow competitors visited the gym such as Morimoto Yūsuke, Araki Naoyuki, Matsuda Daisuke, and Kanno Hitoshi.
 * He is the oldest Single member in Shin-Sedai, other Single members are Morimoto Yusuke and Sato Jun.
 * He has worn #99 four times, the highest number since Morimoto's first Kanzenseiha.
 * In a recent two-part interview, Kawaguchi mentions the Sidewinder, Dragon Glider, Quad Steps, Flying Bar, and Backstream as the top five obstacles he dislikes attempting in SASUKE.
 * In a recent interview, Kawaguchi mentions the Cliffhanger as his favorite obstacle to attempt in SASUKE.