SASUKE 38

SASUKE 38 (officially,「SASUKE2020」) was announced by TBS on Twitter, on August 7, 2020. It was the seventh tournament after Morimoto Yūsuke's kanzenseiha. It aired on December 29, 2020 at 7pm JST with a time slot of approximately four hours, as a collaboration with the alcoholic beverage company KIRIN. The logo of the company was displayed on a red banner hanged on the side of the Final Stage tower.

Applications
The application was released on August 7, 2020 on their Official Website and Inui Masato's Twitter. The deadline for the applications was on August 31, 2020. Due to the circumstances brought out by the COVID-19 pandemic, the selection of participants was different compared to previous tournaments, as no foreign competitors were invited to compete (due to travel restriction caused by the pandemic).

Filming
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the taping dates were not announced to the public and were filmed discretely without audience except the family members of the competitors, with all four stages taking place at Midoriyama Studio City. According to official merchandise on TBS's store page for SASUKE, filming took place from October 31 to November 2, 2020.

Preventive measures were taken during filming:
 * Each of the competitors have to be tested negative via a PCR test being paid by the production.
 * Only five competitors on the course at one interval and the course would be sanitized and disinfected every interval, including the muddy water.
 * Each personnel from the production would have their temperature monitored at all times during filming with infectious disease specialists.

Summary
The First Stage was changed with a new third obstacle, the Silk Slider, which replaced the Wing Slider due to the latter being a hassle to clean because of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The time limit was also increased by two seconds, to 90 seconds for normal competitors and by seven seconds for female competitors, to 135 seconds. This signified the sixth tournament to have a time limit difference and the first time in SASUKE history to do so in three consecutive tournaments. Despite there being no modifications to the Dragon Glider, the obstacle took out a large number of notable competitors such as Nagasaki Shunsuke and Darvish Kenji, as well as three of the four All-Stars competing (Yamada Katsumi, Nagano Makoto, and Yamamoto Shingo). Takeda Toshihiro was disqualified for skipping the last step on the Fish Bone, shockingly by narrowing missing out to break a record of oldest First Stage clear via external information with courtesy of Paravi. Nevertheless, 14 competitors cleared the First Stage, including two rookies (Kajihara Hayate who participated Sports Danshi, a successor of Pro Sportsman Number 1 and Sugeta Rinne), as well as Iwamoto Hikaru, who cleared the First Stage for the first time in six tournaments, Morimoto Yūsuke, who avenged his previous Soritatsu Kabe failure and Satō Jun achieved a record for clearing the First Stage tenth tournament in a row.

The Second Stage saw the first instance in which the previously skipped-over Rolling Log that had been introduced in SASUKE 37, was attempted. The time limit was raised by five seconds compared to the previous tournament to accommodate this. Even though only one obstacle was introduced, the difficulty of the stage rose exponentially compared to SASUKE 36 as the obstacle not only took longer time to complete for most competitors, but also resulted in competitors trying to regain senses prior to the Salmon Ladder Nobori, as well as them making several errors due to dizziness. The time limit, despite being higher, was highly stringent, with three time outs that included Urushihara Yuuji, who nearly became the oldest competitor to clear the Second Stage at age 42 and Hioki Masashi, who failed to reach the Third Stage for the first time since SASUKE 33. Likewise, the dizziness caused several Salmon Ladder fails. Yamamoto Keitaro failed the Second Stage for an unprecedented fifth time without ever clearing it, where he was the only direct victim of the Rolling Log and Matachi Ryo who struggled on the transition to the top rung on the Salmon Ladder Nobori. Nevertheless, five competitors cleared the Second Stage, including two Black Tigers, Satō Jun, who tied Takeda Toshihiro's record of seven consecutive Second Stage clears, former finalist Tada Tatsuya, and the previous champion, Morimoto Yūsuke.

The Third Stage saw no modifications with the exception of the Cliffhanger Dimension, where the ledges were now in fully functional, with the second ledge moving by one meter, ten centimeters more than its introduction. With the rain pouring down on the course, three competitors failed on the obstacle, all of whom managed to clear at least the first transition. Tada Tatsuya, who managed to clear the obstacle previously in its halted form, fell foul to the final transition, while Satō Jun failed the obstacle for a record sixth time without clearing. Yamamoto Yoshiyuki cleared on both transitions, however his right hand slipped as he made his way to the green resting bar and he fell off right at the end of the ledge. Isa Yoshinori failed on the Flying Bar, where he successfully landed both transitions, however the final transition saw the right side of the bar on the edge of the cradle, leading to the bar slipping off as he built up momentum to dismount. Morimoto Yūsuke was the only competitor to clear the Cliffhanger Dimension, and following this he cleared the Third Stage and advanced to the Final Stage for the fourth time, the second most in SASUKE history after Nagano Makoto's five Final Stage appearances.

Despite the drizzle that began prior to the Final Stage, a reminiscent of SASUKE 8, Morimoto went quicker than ever on the Final Stage's Spider Climb, and despite making a few errors on the Salmon Ladder Jūgo Dan, with his skills on the Tsuna Nobori, he kept up the pace and managed to complete the Final Stage with 2.52 seconds left, becoming only the second person ever after nine years to achieve kanzenseiha twice since Urushihara Yuuji in SASUKE 27. In addition, he broke the trend of the bib #100 never having been able to achieve kanzenseiha (with Nagano wearing #99 in SASUKE 17 when he achieved kanzenseiha, after five straight tournaments of wearing #100), a feat that took 23 years to achieve.

Obstacles
① Quad Steps クワッドステップス

② Rolling Hill ローリングヒル

③ ^Silk Slider シルクスライダー

④ Fish Bone フィッシュボーン

⑤ Dragon Glider ドラゴングライダー

⑥ Tackle タックル

⑦ Soritatsu Kabe そり立つ壁

Time Limit: 90 seconds (135 seconds for female and/or over-50 competitors.)

^ Denotes New Obstacle

* Denotes Modified Obstacle

Obstacles
① Rolling Log ローリングログ

② Salmon Ladder Nobori サーモンラダー 上り

③ Salmon Ladder Kudari サーモンラダー 下り

④ Spider Walk スパイダーウォーク

⑤ Spider Drop スパイダードロップ

⑥ Backstream バックストリーム

⑦ Reverse Conveyor リバースコンべアー

⑧ Wall Lifting ウォールリフティング

Time Limit: 105 seconds

^ Denotes New Obstacle

* Denotes Modified Obstacle

Obstacles
① Flying Bar フライングバー

② Sidewinder サイドワインダー

③ Planet Bridge プラネットブリッジ

④ *Cliffhanger Dimension クリフハンガーディメンション

⑤ Vertical Limit バーティカルリミット

⑥ 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 Salmon Ladder Jūgo Dan サーモンラダー15段 (7m)

③ Tsuna Nobori 綱登り (10m)

Time Limit: 45 seconds

Online Promotion
The SASUKE Kensui Challenge (SASUKE懸垂チャレンジ) was an online challenge that took place before SASUKE 38 on SASUKE's official Twitter. This challenge requires competitors from this tournament to do as many pull-ups as they can within 30 seconds. After they attempt the challenge, they will nominate another competitor to do the challenge. They must accomplish a total of 1,229 pull-ups, with the number being a direct reference to the air date of SASUKE 38, which is December 29, 2020.

This challenge started on November 23, 2020 and the 1,229 pull-up goal was accomplished on December 26, 2020 with Yamada Katsumi's contribution to the cause.