KUNOICHI 2017 Spring

After 8 years of hiatus since KUNOICHI 8, the show was rebooted and renewed for KUNOICHI 9 (officially, 「KUNOICHI2017」), which took place at the Makuhari Messe Convention Hall instead of Midoriyama Studio City, making it the first KUNOICHI tournament to ever take place indoor. This was also the first tournament after Komiya Rie and Kadoi Satomi's kanzenseiha. It was announced quietly on December 7, 2016 and aired on February 12 at 6:30 PM JST, coincidentally airing the same day of the second taping day of SASUKE 33.

The logo for KUNOICHI was also changed, as rather than the "女" (pronounced as on'na in Japanese) kanji from the first 8 KUNOICHI tournaments, it featured the silhouette of a kunoichi (Japanese female ninja), bearing resemblance to a fictional character, Kekko Kamen.

Format
Similar to KUNOICHI 1 and KUNOICHI 2, this tournament was reduced to three stages, with the RED and BLUE Stage replaced with the traditionally-named First and Second Stage, adopting a color-based name stage. However, only 50 women have attempted the course instead of the usual 100, likely due to insufficient amount of applicants. Multiple SASUKE obstacles were integrated into this tournament, including a heavily toned-down Rolling Hill, the Soritatsu Kabe, and the Spider Walk.

Summary
In the RED Stage, the time limit rose up by 20 seconds from KUNOICHI 8, making it the longest time limit in KUNOICHI history. Interestingly, there were only two returning competitors, Watanabe Mika (previously known as Izumi Mika) and Mizuno Yūko, from prior tournaments. Several obstacles were integrated from SASUKE, but it was a grueling and brutal new original obstacle that was the most dangerous, as it took out half of the competitors who attempted it, including Mizuno Yuko; the Fish Bone. In addition, the Jump Hang and Soritatsu Kabe caused competitors headaches. In the end, only 5 competitors cleared the RED Stage.

In the BLUE Stage, there was no time limit imposed due to it being more of a hybrid between the original Second and Third Stage. The Daichoyaku, an obstacle that had begun the stage in the first eight KUNOICHI tournaments, was replaced by the Slide Walk, while many more SASUKE obstacles were integrated as well (including the Spider Walk and a toned-down version of the Cliffhanger, making the stage also tested female competitors' upper-body strength). The first competitor to clear the RED Stage, Izumi Hikari, cleared with ease. For the other competitors though, the Sponge Bridge, which had been moved to the Second Stage in the previous tournament and renamed from the Tourenban, eliminated them all.

The Final Stage was made similar to the version from KUNOICHI 3, having a 35 second time limit, which also introduced a classic SASUKE obstacle, the Tsuna Nobori (7 meters in height), and replacing the Climbing Board from KUNOICHI 8. Izumi Hikari was close to kanzenseiha, and was just approximately 2 meters to reach the top, but being timed out.

Obstacles
① ^Rolling Hill ローリングヒル

② ^Pipe Hold パイプホールド

③ ^Fish Bone フィッシュボーン

④ ^X Bridge エックスブリッジ

⑤ ^Jump Hang ジャンプハング

⑥ ^Soritatsu Kabe 反り立つ壁 (Navi: そり立つ壁)

⑦ ^Cannon Ball キャノンボール

Time Limit: 140 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 ^Reverse Conveyor リバースコンベア

④ ^Slant Edge スラントエッジ

⑤ *Sponge Bridge スポンジブリッジ

⑥ ^Cliffhanger クリフハンガー

⑦ *Waver Bridge ウェーバーブリッジ

^ Denotes New Obstacle

* Denotes Modified Obstacle

Obstacles
① *Sayū Hashigo 左右はしご (8m)

② *Tsuna Nobori 綱登り (7m)

Time Limit: 35 seconds

^ Denotes New Obstacle

* Denotes Modified Obstacle