Hioki Masashi

Hioki Masashi (日置 将士) is an electronics store worker and a regular competitor of SASUKE, being one of the show's best competitors since the RISING Era. Well established as a devoted family man, as his family usually support him on the sidelines, Hioki is one of the show's most consistent competitors, but he is also one of a handful of competitors to show consistent struggles with recent Cliffhanger variations, particularly ones involving 180 degree jumps.

First appearing during the SASUKE 21 Trials, he would fail the Jump Ring. In the SASUKE 22 Trials he failed the Final Hurdle. He was finally able to compete in SASUKE 25 by qualifying through the SASUKE 25 Audition and winning the 50-meter dash.

In the tournament, he performed well by scaling the Soritatsu Kabe on his second try and making it to the new Circle Slider. On the Circle Slider, he didn't get enough height to the ring and fell into the water.

He returned in SASUKE 26. Although his run was all cut, it is known that he timed out on the Soritatsu Kabe, despite completing it in the previous tournament.

Hioki also competed in SASUKE 27, where he was shown in a digest failing the Giant Swing. Although he was able to grab the swing and even make the landing, he did not have enough momentum needed to make it up the incline, causing him to lose his balance and fall back into the water.

After a one tournament hiatus, he returned for SASUKE 29. For the first time ever, he cleared the First Stage, doing so with only 2.84 seconds left. In the Second Stage, he started off quickly; however, on the Unstable Bridge, he moved hand by hand instead of lunging both forward simultaneously and had trouble landing, which cost him almost 20 seconds. He eventually timed out on the Backstream like many that day.

In SASUKE 30, he cleared the First Stage with 5.7 seconds left. On the Second Stage, he managed to clear the stage for the first time with a close 2 seconds still left on the clock. In the Third Stage, Hioki had an amazing save on the new Drum Hopper; however, he failed the transition to the 4th ledge on the Crazy Cliffhanger.

He returned for SASUKE 31, where he put in an exciting performance. In the First Stage, he was relatively slow and took time to rest on the Soritatsu Kabe. He narrowly became the first to clear with 0.1 seconds left. He was the first to attempt the Second Stage, and also the first to clear. But in the Third Stage, history repeated itself when he failed the Crazy Cliffhanger for the 2nd straight time.

In SASUKE 32, he once again wore the #31, hoping to be the first to clear the First Stage. This didn't happen however as he had a surprising fail on the new Double Pendulum when he wasn't able to reach the bar, similar to the fail he had on the Circle Slider at SASUKE 25. This was his second earliest fail, after SASUKE 27.

SASUKE 33 saw a return to form for Hioki, who wore #45 for this tournament. Hioki cleared the First Stage with 5.91 seconds remaining, and made a valiant effort in the Second Stage, but eventually timed out on the modified Reverse Conveyor.

In SASUKE 34, Hioki managed to clear the First Stage with ease with a career high 25.49 seconds left. He also was able to redeem himself on the Second Stage. In the Third Stage, he failed on the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger.

He returned in SASUKE 35, wearing #60. He became the first person to beat the new Dragon Glider by using the reverse-grip technique and went to beat the First Stage with 11.38 seconds left and then went on beat the Second Stage with 16 seconds left. On the Third Stage, despite struggling to cope with the coldness, he beat the Flying Bar and Sidewinder, but he was defeated on the new Planet Bridge.

He returned in SASUKE 36, wearing #71. Before the competition, he hurt his right foot during training, and had to undergo physical therapy in order to be able to compete. Despite his foot recovering from being swollen, he cleared the First Stage with 8.03 seconds left and then went on to beat the Second Stage with 13.11 seconds left. On the Third Stage, although he suffered coldness again, he once again cleared the Flying Bar and Sidewinder. This time, he cleared the Planet Bridge and even the first jump on the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger, but he was unable to hold on the second moving ledge. This is arguably Hioki's strongest performance but as of SASUKE 39, this is the furthest Hioki has been.

He once again competed in SASUKE 37, wearing #60. He cleared the First Stage with 3.38 seconds left, despite a small stumble on the modified Fish Bone. He then went on to clear the Second Stage as well. However, on the Third Stage, he failed the first jump on the modified Cliffhanger Dimension.

In SASUKE 38, he wore #57 and completed the First Stage with relative ease. In the Second Stage however, he was one of many to be disoriented by the Rolling Log and as a result he nearly slipped on the Spider Walk. Although he managed to catch himself, this ended up taking too much time and he timed out on the Wall Lifting before he could lift the final wall.

He returned in SASUKE 39, this time wearing #59. He moved through the first half of the First Stage at a relatively fast pace, reaching the Dragon Glider with about 68 seconds remaining. And although he struggled a bit on the Tackle, Hioki still scaled the Ni Ren Soritatsu Kabe with relative ease, clearing the First Stage with 14.39 seconds left. On the Second Stage, he took revenge over his time out in SASUKE 38, clearing the Second Stage with 16.75 seconds left, which was the third fastest clear time behind Kajihara Hayate and Yamamoto Yoshiyuki. On the Third Stage, Hioki impressivly became only the second competitor (after Kajihara Hayate) to clear the new obstacle of the Stage, the Swing Edge. On the,now moving, Cliffhanger Dimension however, he failed the jump to the second ledge yet again, with his right hand missing the second ledge entirely.

Trivia

 * He and Sato Jun are the only two Shin Sedai to attempt the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger and not clear the second transition, ironically enough, the closest both competitors came to clearing this variant happened at the same tournament, SASUKE 36.
 * Along with Takahashi Kenji and Sato Jun, Hioki has failed to clear any variant of the Cliffhanger for a record tying 6 times in his career. Takahashi is the only one of the trio that has cleared a cliffhanger but he has also failed every Cliffhanger he has attempted once (failed in SASUKE 7, SASUKE 16, SASUKE 18, SASUKE 25, SASUKE 29 and SASUKE 31.) with the exception of the Crazy Cliffhanger in which he failed it twice. Sato has failed the Ultra Crazy variant four times and the Dimension variant twice. In the case of Hioki - as of SASUKE 39 - he has failed the last three variants of the Cliffhanger twice each.
 * Hioki has never failed the Second Stage by falling into the water, having always timed out.
 * He is the only competitor that has ever failed the Planet Bridge.
 * Because of his bib numbers being relatively low, on three occasions did he become the first First Stage clear of a tournament, during SASUKE 31, 33 and 35.
 * He is the only Shin Sedai to clear the Swing Edge.
 * Despite being one of the shows most consistent competitors ever, he has never worn a bib number in the 80's and has only worn a bib number in the 90's once in SASUKE 25 where he wore 92 (however, this was as a result of a lottery for that tournament.) This is due to the fact that TBS intentionally gave him a lower number to spread out the stronger competitors.