KUNOICHI 2017 Summer

KUNOICHI 10 (officially,「KUNOICHI2017夏」) was officially announced during the broadcast of SASUKE 33 by TBS, and the second KUNOICHI tournament in 2017. This was the second tournament after Komiya Rie's and Kadoi Satomi's kanzenseiha. In addition, it was also held in the same location as KUNOICHI 9, thus making this the second tournament to be held indoor. The broadcast aired on Sunday, July 2, 2017 at 7pm (19:00) JST.

Although it was the tenth KUNOICHI tournament, unlike in SASUKE 10 (when the competitors were given the start position from #901 to #1000 to celebrate the tenth SASUKE tournament commemorating 1000 attempts), due to there were only 50 competitors competed in this tournament and the previous tournament, only the start position numbers were just like as usual (#1 to #50). Nevertheless, there may not have any changes with the start positions even if there are 1000 attempts on the courses.

Applications
TBS officially released the application on March 26th, 2017 on their official website. The application deadline was May 31st, 2017, and auditions were held in early June.

Filming
The taping date took place on June 17th, 2017 as per normal. All stages have completed filming on schedule.

Format
Based on the pictures found online and the director Masato Inui himself, it was confirmed that this tournament has returned to its predecessor, with a four-stage format used from KUNOICHI 3 to KUNOICHI 7. To coincide with the previous tournament's color-based stage names, the returning Third Stage was referred to as the BLACK Stage.

Summary
In the RED Stage, there is a time reduction of 30 seconds to make the course tougher. Two SASUKE obstacles were introduced in this tournament: the Shaking Bridge (renamed from the Yureru Hashi) and Double Pendulum. This time, both the Fish Bone and the Double Pendulum eliminated a lot of competitors, notably for the Double Pendulum, where some competitors failed to grab the bar in this tournament. Nevertheless, six competitors cleared, one more from the last tournament.

However in the BLUE Stage, the whole stage changed drastically by implementing a time limit of 75 seconds, and the number of obstacle was reduced to 5. Two classic SASUKE obstacles made their debut in this tournament: the Goren Hammer and the toned-down Wall Lifting. Saiki Reika, the first competitor who cleared the RED Stage, ultimately timed out by spending all of her time trying to lift the pole through the stoppers at the Slide Walk. In addition, 2 competitors also timed out in various obstacles in this stage, leaving only three clears to take on the new added stage.

The BLACK Stage, which was renamed from the Third Stage, was introduced. Some SASUKE obstacles such as the classic Propeller Untei, Arm Bike, and Pipe Slider were introduced. No time limit was imposed in this stage, just like the BLUE Stage in the previous tournament, competitors could go in their own pace. While AYA failed at the modified version of the Cliffhanger, Izumi Hikari and Watanabe Kana, both breeze through the RED and BLUE Stage, found themselves in a difficult position at the Pipe Slider, while trying to dismount to the platform (with the bar kept sliding backward). Both of them gassed out and failed the Pipe Slider, leaving the Final Stage untouched for the very first time since KUNOICHI 7.

Obstacles
① Rolling Hill ローリングヒル

② Pipe Hold パイプホールド

③ ^Shaking Bridge シェイキングブリッジ

④ Fish Bone フィッシュボーン

⑤ ^Double Pendulum ダブルペンダラム

⑥ Soritatsu Kabe そり立つ壁

⑦ Cannon Ball キャノンボール

Time Limit: 110 seconds

^ Denotes New Obstacle

* Denotes Modified Obstacle

Obstacles
① Slide Walk スライドウォーク

② Spider Walk スパイダーウォーク

③ ^Goren Hammer 5連ハンマー

④ Reverse Conveyor リバースコンベア

⑤ ^Wall Lifting ウォールリフティング

Time Limit: 75 seconds

^ Denotes New Obstacle

* Denotes Modified Obstacle

Obstacles
① ^Propeller Untei プロペラ雲梯

② ^Arm Bike アームバイク

③ Sponge Bridge スポンジブリッジ

④ *Cliffhanger クリフハンガー

⑤ ^Pipe Slider パイプスライダー

^ Denotes New Obstacle

* Denotes Modified Obstacle

Obstacles
① ^Spider Climb スパイダークライム (8m)

② Tsuna Nobori 綱登り (7m)

^ Denotes New Obstacle

* Denotes Modified Obstacle