Soritatsu Kabe

Soritatsu Kabe
Yamamoto Shingo on the Soritatsu Kabe in SASUKE 5
G4 Name	Warped Wall
SASUKE Competitions
Stage	First Stage
First	SASUKE 5
Last	SASUKE 27
Total	22 Competitions
First Attempt	SASUKE 5, Akimoto Kōzo
First Clear	SASUKE 5, Yoshinaga Katsumi

The Soritatsu Kabe (そり立つ壁), called the Warped Wall on English broadcasts, is one of the oldest and more difficult obstacles in SASUKE history. Introduced in SASUKE 5, the Soritatsu Kabe has been in every SASUKE tournament since then with the exception of SASUKE 18 where the Great Wall took its place. Its function is simple: Competitors must scale a concave quarter-pipe by running up and grabbing the top of the wall. However, this has proven to be one of the most difficult obstacles in history as every one of the SASUKE All-Stars and most top competitors have failed there. Aside from Yamamoto Shingo, the All-Stars have all failed here at least once.

The Soritatsu Kabe is one of the most iconic obstacles in the show's history, showing up everywhere from Muscle Park to several American Ninja Challenge events, including both American Ninja Warrior tournaments. Many competitors (including four of the All-Stars) have built this in their backyards to help train. However in American Ninja Challenge/Warrior versions, there are three differences from the SASUKE version. First, the wall is just 14 feet tall (4.26 meters). Secondly, competitors have just three attempts to complete it (due to the fact that as the clock counts up in ANW, there is no way to time out). A subtle third difference is that any competitor who slipped off the side of the wall would be disqualified (as opposed to being allowed to try again, see below.).

Interestingly, if the competitor went off the obstacle, as Takeda Toshihiro did in SASUKE 7, they would be allowed to climb back up to the obstacle and try again without disqualification, meaning that there is no possible way to fail here other than running out of time.

SASUKE 5-17 version

A drawing of the original Soritatsu Kabe.

In the original version of the obstacle, competitors had 2.7m to run in order to scale a 4.3m high wall. Many competitors found that in order to have success on the obstacle, competitors would need to run up and jump at their highest point in order to reach the top. In SASUKE 13, the producers added in the Neshireta Kabe to the course. This made the Soritatsu Kabe slightly easier as competitors were able to use the landing platform of the Neshireta Kabe to get more speed into the Soritatsu Kabe, making reaching the top easier. Also in SASUKE 16, there is a long runway after the Reverse Fly which the competitor can use to gain more speed making it very easy. As a proof, no one failed there in that tournament. Also, starting in SASUKE 13, the producers would remove a piece off the top of the wall for competitors under the age of 17, over the age of 50, and female competitors. This made the wall about half a meter shorter. The Soritatsu Kabe proved to be very tough in SASUKE 8 due to the heavy rains that day. This made competitors grip on the obstacle very low. The Soritatsu Kabe also became particularly tricky in SASUKE 15. Due to the extreme heat, competitors became very winded by the time they reached the Soritatsu Kabe, causing several time outs of top competitors.

Competitors' Success Rate

• All results based on the TBS broadcast and external information found

SASUKE	Clears	Attempts	Percentage
5	5	10	50%
6	7	11	63.64%
7	11	17	64.71%
8	8	13	61.53%
9	7	10	70%
10	9	10	90%
11	13	17	76.47%
12	15	16	93.75%
13	11	14	78.57%
14	15	18	83.33%
15	11	17	62.5%
16	22	22	100%
17	14	20	73.68%
Total*	157	254	62.06%

• NOTE: In a special before SASUKE 15, the completion percentage was said to be (from SASUKE 5 to SASUKE 14) 110 clears out of 192 attempts for a percentage of 57.2%. It is unknown how competitors did in each specific tournament, so only the total number is counted with this information.

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Shin-SASUKE Version

Hirata Atsushi on the Soritatsu Kabe in SASUKE 19.

The Soritatsu Kabe was brought back in SASUKE 19 after being replaced by the Great Wall in SASUKE 18. This new version of the obstacle was harder, as the height was raised to 4.5m (20cm higher than the original). This proved to be a problem for SASUKE All-Stars Shiratori Bunpei and Takeda Toshihiro as they failed there several times in SASUKE 19 before finally beating it with little time left.

A tester demonstrating the Soritatsu Kabe in SASUKE 24.

From SASUKE 22 to SASUKE 24, competitors were able to use the small landing next to the Soritatsu Kabe to help get them more speed going into the wall similar to how the Neshireta Kabe would do the same for the Soritatsu Kabe in SASUKE 13-15.

This version was eventually replaced by the Ni Ren Soritatsu Kabe seen below, but returned in SASUKE 31.

Competitors' Success Rate

• All results based on the TBS broadcast and external information found

SASUKE	Clears	Attempts	Percentage
19	12	16	75%
20	13	18	62.5%
21	22	28	78.57%
22	23	26	88.46%
23	33	35	94.28%
24	16	20	80%
25	16	22	78.95%
26	14	16	93.33%
27	30	36	85.71%
31	?	?	?
Total	175	208	84.16%

Ni Ren Soritatsu Kabe

Ni Ren Soritatsu Kabe
Ni Ren Soritatsu Kabe, SASUKE 28
SASUKE Competitions
Stage	First Stage
First	SASUKE 28
Last	SASUKE 30
Total	3 Competitions
First Attempt	SASUKE 28, Someya Koki
First Clear	SASUKE 28, Someya Koki

In SASUKE 28, there were 2 walls instead of 1, and the obstacle was called the Ni Ren Soritatsu Kabe (2連そり立つ壁) literally "Double Warped Wall". The first wall is 4.0m tall and the second wall is equivalent to the Shin-SASUKE version (4.5m). This obstacle took down Nagano Makoto, who hadn't failed the Soritatsu Kabe since SASUKE 8, in both competitions it has been present in. It should be noted Nagano had badly injured his hamstring during his second attempt. It also took down notable competitors such as Nakayama Kinnikun and Tomoyuki. After SASUKE 30, the first wall was removed to make room for the Tackle, thus reverting the obstacle back to its Shin-SASUKE version.

Competitors' Success Rate

• All results based on the TBS broadcast and external information found

SASUKE	Clears	Attempts	Percentage
28	7	12	58.82%
29	22	26	84.62%
30	33	38	90.18%
Total	62	76	82.66%