Takahashi Kenji (高橋 賢次) owns a one-man delivery company, Kong Express. Because of this, he is sometimes called Kong Takahashi. He is regarded as one of SASUKE's most powerful competitors. In his 15 attempts, he has cleared the First and Second Stages 7 times and the Third Stage once. He also holds the record for the most Second Stage clears/Third Stage attempts for a non-all star, only surprassed by the three all-stars Nagano Makoto (10 times), Yamamoto Shingo (11 times) and Takeda Toshihiro (13 times).
The Early Days
According to the Japanese SASUKE Wiki article, he first took part in SASUKE 5, where he was cut from broadcast. He was also cut from SASUKE 6.
His first broadcast attempt was SASUKE 7, his third appearance. There, he was one of eight to complete the First Stage that day and advanced all the way to the Third Stage's Cliffhanger where he was undone by the third ledge. He then took an eight-competition hiatus.
Return Engagement
After his long break, he returned in SASUKE 16. He blazed through all the obstacles until he was once again fell short at the Cliffhanger. He would return in SASUKE 18 where he was one of only six to defeat the redesigned First Stage and one of three to defeat the all-new Second Stage. But yet again, he failed the Shin-Cliffhanger when he could not complete the jump to the third ledge.
After these three failures, Takahashi suffered a series of First Stage setbacks. In SASUKE 19, he was one of many to fail the Jumping Spider. He defeated it in SASUKE 20 but eventually failed the Flying Chute. In SASUKE 21, he failed the Jumping Spider yet again, and in SASUKE 22, he finally made it all the way to the Rope Ladder before timing out but was cut from the broadcast.
SASUKE Rebirth
At SASUKE 23, he went at a much faster pace and completed the First Stage with time to spare. In the Second Stage, he was the first to defeat the new Unstable Bridge and as a result he was the first to clear Stage Two. In the Third Stage, he reached the Shin-Cliffhanger, but attacked it with a different strategy. He used his long
Takahashi Kenji reaching over the gap of the Shin-Cliffhanger (SASUKE 23). He is the only person to ever successfully do so.
armspan to grab the third ledge rather than jump to it. He is the only competitor to complete the Shin-Cliffhanger without jumping. This unorthodox strategy, which some refer to as the Kong Cross, allowed him to easily complete the obstacle. After clearing three obstacles that were new to him, he fell just short of the finish mat on the final obstacle, the Gliding Ring.
In SASUKE 24, Takahashi again performed exceptionally. He cleared the First Stage with 24.06 seconds remaining, and on the Second Stage he swiftly defeated the new Salmon Ladder and Unstable Bridge combination, and easily defeating the stage with 32.11 seconds remaining, the fastest time in that tournament by far. In the Third Stage, he focused his energy and beat the Gliding Ring that he failed in the previous tournament and beat Stage Three for the first time ever. In the Final Stage, he scaled the Heavenly Ladder rather quickly, but on the G-Rope his safety rigging tangled up and he timed out about halfway up the rope.
In SASUKE 25, Takahashi received a low start position in the lottery, #40. During the tournament, he beat the First Stage and Second Stage again. In the Third Stage, he was the first to attempt and beat the new Roulette Cylinder, Doorknob Grasper and Floating Boards. He eventually failed the Ultimate Cliffhanger while attempting the transition from the first ledge to the second ledge.
In SASUKE 26, he shocked many when he slipped off the Rolling Escargot that had claimed many strong competitors including one All-Star and one Shin Sedai. This was the first time he failed the First Stage since his series of First Stage fails from SASUKE 19 to 22. Because the broadcast time of this tournament was much shorter, his run was digested along with Kanno Hitoshi's failure of the same obstacle (although G4 aired both of their runs in full).
In SASUKE 27, he again was digested in the First Stage due to the numerous clears, this time failing the new Spin Bridge obstacle. He also received his lowest known start position in this competition, #15.
Although present in SASUKE 28, he did not compete for unknown reasons. In SASUKE 29 he managed to clear the 1st and 2nd Stage with ease. He started off well, showing unbelivable speed and power on the Iron Paddler by speeding through the obstacle in just 3 seconds. However, he failed the transition to the 2nd ledge in Crazy Cliffhanger due to bad placement of his right hand on the ledge.
To date, he has a 100% completion percentage on the Second Stage (7 attempts) and has the best time of that stage in all tournaments except SASUKE 23, when he was one second slower than Levi Meeuwenberg.
Results
| SASUKE | # | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Failed Rolling Maruta (First Stage) | All Cut. External Information. | |
| 6 | Failed Soritatsu Kabe (First Stage) | All Cut. Time Out. External Information. | |
| 7 | 46 | Failed Cliff Hanger (Third Stage) | Touched down with one foot, but lost his balance and fell back into the water. Digested on G4. |
| 16 | 66 | Failed Cliff Hanger (Third Stage) | |
| 18 | 98 | Failed Shin-Cliff Hanger (Third Stage) | Last Man Standing. |
| 19 | 84 | Failed Jumping Spider (First Stage) | |
| 20 | 1988 | Failed Flying Chute (First Stage) | |
| 21 | 85 | Failed Jumping Spider (First Stage) | Digest. |
| 22 | 80 | Failed Rope Ladder (First Stage) | All Cut. Time Out. |
| 23 | 84 | Failed Gliding Ring (Third Stage) | |
| 24 | 94 | Failed G-Rope (Final Stage) | 20m up. Twisted up the G-Rope and got the safety wire tangled, causing him to stop. |
| 25 | 40 | Failed Ultimate Cliff Hanger (Third Stage) | |
| 26 | 96 | Failed Rolling Escargot (First Stage) | Digest. |
| 27 | 15 | Failed Spin Bridge (First Stage) | Digest. |
| 29 | 87 | Failed Crazy Cliffhanger (Third Stage) | Failed Transition to 2nd Ledge. |