Urushihara Yuuji

Urushihara Yuuji (漆原裕治) is a shoe salesman who has attempted SASUKE 20 times. In just his fourth attempt, he beat all the obstacles and became the third person and first non-SASUKE All-Star to achieve Kanzenseiha. He is a member of Shin-Sedai and is also an Unlimited Cliffer. Urushihara was the first champion in SASUKE history to have cleared all four stages twice, having performed the feat for the second time in SASUKE 27. This would eventually be matched by Morimoto Yūsuke in SASUKE 38.

Qualifying Troubles[]

Urushihara had been trying to get on SASUKE since 2003. He competed in the SASUKE 13 Trials, but failed the Jump Hang, eventually placing 62nd. He also competed (again unsuccessfully) in the SASUKE 19 and SASUKE 20 trials. Before SASUKE 21, he competed in the SASUKE ATTACK course at the BUG IN MIKI Festival, a course set up with several SASUKE obstacles with the last one being the Shin-Cliffhanger. Urushihara and fellow Unlimited Cliffer Tomino Keita completed the course, while none of the SASUKE All-Stars did. Urushihara had the faster time of the two, thus was awarded a berth in SASUKE 21.

Early Tournaments[]

In SASUKE 21, he wore #72. Although his run was fully cut during the TBS broadcast, parts of it were shown on a SASUKE Maniac episode. In his run, he showed great speed. On the Flying Chute, he was able to grab onto the rope, but didn't get enough swing and rushed the dismount, falling into the water.

He returned in SASUKE 22 after going through the SASUKE Trials and earning a spot to compete. He wore #77 and completed the First Stage with the fastest time of the day, 7.51 seconds remaining. In the Second Stage, his training at Muscle Park paid off, as he beat the Salmon Ladder with little trouble. While he had some trouble lifting the last wall of the Wall Lifting obstacle, he still completed the Second Stage with 19.27 seconds left. In the Third Stage, his training especially paid off, as he was able to fly through most of the obstacles. When he made it to the Gliding Ring, he attacked the obstacle perfectly and became the first person to clear it, thus becoming the first person to reach the redesigned Final Stage. In the Final Stage, he showed great speed on the Heavenly Ladder, reaching the G-Rope with 28 seconds left. Unfortunately, he struggled there, and came up half a meter short of winning. After this failure, he spent most of his training rope climbing.

Because of his near-Kanzenseiha, he was granted #99 in SASUKE 23. While it was clear he was under a lot of pressure, he was able to clear the First Stage despite stumbling on the Half-Pipe Attack and Soritatsu Kabe. In the Second Stage, he was able to clear the first few obstacles. Unfortunately, he went out on a new obstacle, the Unstable Bridge, when he failed to get a solid landing when dismounting from the obstacle.

Kanzenseiha[]

After his failure, he built a replica of the Unstable Bridge (and also his Rope Climbing skill) to train on and returned for SASUKE 24, receiving a high Start Position, #93. He blazed through the First Stage with 24.35 seconds left, the fastest time of the day. It should be noted that he forgot to unhook the Tarzan Rope.

In the Second Stage, he exacted his revenge on the Unstable Bridge but began to run low on time on the redesigned Balance Tank. He powered through the final obstacles and finished with 6.55 seconds to spare.

In the Third Stage, he cleared all the obstacles for a second time. Despite the Gliding Ring sliding back at the end of the track, he recovered and became just the fourth person to clear the Third Stage on multiple occasions.

Five cleared the Third Stage that day, which had not happened since SASUKE 3. Third in the running order, Urushihara saw the first two competitors fall short of the goal. When his attempt came, he blazed through the Heavenly Ladder in record time but began to struggle on the transition to the G-Rope. He finally regained footing at the bottom of the rope with 21 seconds left. Putting his long hours of Rope Climb training to good use, he powered up the rope. With ten seconds left on the clock, he picked up his pace.

He defeated the Final Stage with 3.57 seconds remaining and became the third person to achieve Kanzenseiha, joining SASUKE All-Stars Akiyama Kazuhiko and Nagano Makoto, who both failed the First Stage that day and were there to witness his victory. With him being the third to attempt out of the five finalists in the stage, he is the only person to not be the Last Man Standing while achieving Kanzenseiha.

Kanzen Renewal[]

After his Kanzenseiha, he was granted the coveted #100 in SASUKE 25. He again cleared the First Stage with little trouble, but it was evident he was pressured by the number. This resulted in him failing the Double Salmon Ladder in an odd and unlikely fashion. When trying to complete the obstacle at the transition point from the first rung-set to the second, Urushihara tried to aim for a higher rung rather than jump to a level one. In doing this, the left side of the bar instead missed the higher rung, causing the right side to latch onto one of the other rungs, leaving Urushihara hanging onto the pole vertically, essentially rendering completion of the obstacle impossible. His foot grazed the water after a while after and his day was over.

In SASUKE 26, he once again wore #100. Throughout his run, he was sloppy, again due to the pressure of the number. On the Rolling Escargot, he nearly lost his footing and had to stop the obstacle halfway to re-adjust. On the Jumping Spider, he was too short on the walls and dove back to the trampoline, giving himself a rare second chance at the obstacle; he completed it on his second attempt. Now in a time crunch, he was forced to rush through the remainder of the course. On the Half-Pipe Attack, he failed to land properly on the mat, but held onto the rope for another try, a mistake he made multiple times in the past. Desperate to complete the obstacle quickly, he landed awkwardly on the mat, lost his balance and hopped backwards into the water. This was his first fail on the First Stage since his debut in SASUKE 21, and, at the time, his worst performance on the course overall.

Second Kanzenseiha[]

In SASUKE 27, he wore #99 despite being the current Grand Champion. Nevertheless, the starting position change may have been what he needed mentally as he would clear the First Stage in a much more fluid run than the previous tournament. He also conquered the Double Salmon Ladder which he previously failed in SASUKE 25, clearing the Second Stage with time to spare. Despite never attempting any of the obstacles of the Third Stage outside of replicas, he continued his perfect streak of clearing the stage (although there was a small scare when he transitioned to the wooden ladder after clearing the Chain See-Saw), making it three for three. On the Final Stage, Urushihara once again put his Rope Climb training to use as he achieved Kanzenseiha with 6.71 seconds remaining, becoming not just the fastest to complete the Final Stage, but also the first person to achieve Kanzenseiha twice.

SASUKE RISING and Afterwards[]

In SASUKE 28, he wore #88, due to the All-Stars' Retirement Special that day preventing him from another #100. He was one of only five to clear the redesigned First Stage, his speed and strength evident as he blazed through the course with 21.37 seconds remaining. In the Second stage, he cleared the first four obstacles with ease, but after the Backstream, he seemed to be very tired. He crossed the Passing Wall with a slower pace but still cleared with 13.56 seconds left. In the Third Stage he cleared the Rumbling Dice easily, but struggled massively on the Iron Paddler. Urushihara, despite taking more than a minute on the obstacle, still cleared it, showing a profound amount of strength and determination. He then spent more than 30 seconds resting for the Crazy Cliffhanger, showing how difficult the Iron Paddler can be, even for the toughest competitors. On the Crazy Cliffhanger he struggled while gaining momentum on the third ledge and fell on the transition to the opposite side, having his first ever Third Stage failure.

Ιn SASUKE 29, his First Stage run was digested, but it was shown that he cleared with 10.33 seconds left. In the Second Stage his pace was faster than that of any other competitor, completing the Spider Walk with 45 seconds still remaining. He nearly made it near the end of the Backstream that he had trained specifically for, however was pushed back by the water jets causing him to rise to the surface for air. He was too fatigued to attempt it again and timed out there, even requiring the aid of a Lifeguard to help him out. In SASUKE 30, he was digested again, but was shown to have cleared the First Stage. In the Second Stage he got his revenge on the Backstream, but still wasted nearly 20 seconds trying to cross it, leaving him too exhausted and with too little time for the Wall Lifting. He attempted to force himself under the first wall, but got stuck and timed out after getting under.

In SASUKE 31, he managed to blaze through the first four obstacles, but he struggled on the Tackle, spending 20 seconds trying to push it before timing out on the Soritatsu Kabe due to exhaustion, like many that day. After he timed out on the obstacle, he tried to go over the Soritatsu Kabe multiple times, with no hope of completing it due to exhaustion. He would attempt it over and over again until he was stopped by production staff due to the fact that he could get hurt. Failures kept happening as in SASUKE 32, he made it through the first four obstacles with ease, but shocked everybody when he failed at the brand new obstacle, Double Pendulum, where he tried to transit to the red sandbag a few times but failed the transition. It was his first time failing the First Stage twice in a row. To make things worse, in SASUKE 33, he started off quickly though the Quad Steps but slipped on the first cylinder of the Rolling Hill and fell there, marking his third consecutive First Stage failure and his worst performance in his career.

In SASUKE 34, he declared that he would retire if he failed the First Stage for the fourth straight time, fortune favors the bold as he cleared the First Stage easily for the first time since SASUKE 30 and became emotional. In the Second Stage, he cleared the first few obstacles with ease, however he lost time at the Backstream when he chose to go around the water jets and as a result he was running low on time and energy as he struggled on the Reverse Conveyor, timing out just as he finished the obstacle. Despite completing the First Stage in the previous tournament, history repeated itself in SASUKE 35, he cleared the first six obstacles with ease, including the new Dragon Glider, but eventually timed out on the Soritatsu Kabe due to the reduced time limit and exhaustion even after putting adhesive spray on his shoes. After his run, he tried to scale the wall one more time and cleared. If the time limit remained the same or extended, he would have cleared that day.

In SASUKE 36, now 40 years old, despite wasting time on the Tackle, he still cleared the First Stage and becoming one of the few to clear the First Stage in their 40's. In the Second Stage, the jets on the Backstream almost pushed him, but powered through. He took a little time to rest before the Reverse Conveyor, before he got revenge and cleared it with two seconds to spare, for the first time since SASUKE 28. In the Third Stage, he almost fell in the Sidewinder but managed to get through. He also cleared the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger, being the oldest to clear it, and also the oldest to attempt the next obstacle, the Vertical Limit, where he was able to make the successful transition to the third ledge and even had a grip but he didn't leave enough space for both of his hands to move and fell into the water below.

He competed once more in SASUKE 37 wearing #96. He cleared the First Stage once more with 5.80 seconds left. In the Second Stage, he powered through and despite going at a brisk pace, cleared with 13.83 seconds left. In the Third Stage, he completed the first three obstacles with ease. On Cliffhanger Dimension, he completed it to break his own record of oldest to clear a Cliffhanger version. On the Vertical Limit, he was able to make the transition to the third ledge and successfully beat it despite getting sapped of energy. On the Pipe Slider, as his fourth Final Stage attempt and third Kanzenseiha awaits, he made a simple yet deadly mistake, as when mounted from the resting bars, the left side of the bar was pushed off the track, making the bar falling in a vertical position, dragging Urushihara down with it, in a similar way to his fall in the Double Salmon Ladder in SASUKE 25. If this didn't happen, he would be the oldest competitor to have ever reached the Final Stage at age 41, beating Okuyama Yoshiyuki's record of attempting the final at 39 in SASUKE 24.

He returned in SASUKE 38, wearing #99. Even though he almost gave a shock by grabbing the Silk Slider very low, he cleared the First Stage with 12.56 seconds remaining. His pace in the Second Stage is rather slow. Although the Rolling Log did not seem to hinder his pacing as it did many others that day, he took too much time on the Backstream and timed out before reaching the button, about 0.5 seconds late. Moments after lying down on the floor, he got up and said he's not tired at all. Had he cleared in time, he would've been the oldest competitor to attempt the Third Stage at age 42.

He wore #99 once again in SASUKE 39, but due to the rain, he struggled on the Tackle, taking around 20 seconds to complete it and resultantly he shockingly failed the Ni Ren Soritatsu Kabe. Despite the setback, he returned strong in SASUKE 40, wearing #3999. He avenged his failure in the previous tournament by clearing with 11 seconds left. Then in the Second Stage his run was digested, but he managed to also clear that stage with less than a second, making it back to the Third Stage, and breaking the record for oldest competitor to reach the Third Stage. On the third stage he yet again broke his own record as the oldest competitor to clear a version of the Cliffhanger by once again clearing the Cliff Dimension. He was pumped by the time that he made it to the Vertical Limit and he once again failed the obstacle, going out on the transition from the second ledge to the third ledge, once again falling just short of reaching the final stage.

Returning in SASUKE 41, he wore #97. Once again, he showed no troubles on the first two stages, even breaking his own record for the oldest competitor to reach the Third Stage, now being 45. On the Third Stage, he put up another strong effort despite his age, beating the first three obstacles, but sadly was unable to repeat his feat in the previous tournament of hanging onto the third ledge on the Cliff Dimension, as he failed to get a grip onto the third ledge, being one of ten people to fail the Cliffhanger that tournament. This marked only the second time where he failed a Cliffhanger, with his first being SASUKE 28.

American Ninja Warrior: USA vs Japan[]

Urushihara competed in American Ninja Warrior: USA vs. Japan as a part of Team Japan with the nickname: The Grand Champion. He competed in the second heat of Stage Two where he had to make past the Metal Spin to win the heat but he shockingly failed the Double Salmon Ladder where he missed the fourth rung on the first ladder (making it the first time he had failed the obstacle since SASUKE 25) losing the heat. He then competed on Stage Three against James McGrath where Urushihara made it to the Floating Boards where he failed the transition to the second board but he reached it two seconds slower than James and lost the heat. In the next competition, he was replaced by Morimoto Yūsuke.

Ninja Warrior France: Clash of Nations[]

In 2023, Urushihara Yuuji participated alongside Kawaguchi Tomohiro, Morimoto Yūsuke, Yamamoto Yoshiyuki & Oshima Ayano on Team Japan of Ninja Warrior France: Clash of Nations, the first installment of Ninja Warrior France's international special post-season tournament. This would mark his first appearance on an international Ninja Warrior special tournament since American Ninja Warrior: USA vs. Japan. In his heat, he made it all the way to the fifth obstacle, the Warped Wall but couldn’t make it up in his three attempts and earned four points for Team Japan at the end.

SASUKE World Cup[]

It was announced on July 10th that he was gonna be the captain of Team Japan Blue for the first ever SASUKE World Cup, marking his third appearance in an international ninja competition. He ran the 5th Heat in the 1st Stage, finishing it in 107.87 seconds, being 3rd in that heat, gaining 50 points for Japan Blue, eventually slotting them into 3rd overall after the 1st Stage as well. He would then run in the final heat of the 3rd Stage, and once again put up an impressive performance, but much like his SASUKE 41 run, he was unable to get a firm grip on the third ledge of the Cliff Dimension, failing it once again and getting 90 points for Japan Blue. Unfortunately, this was just not enough to allow Japan Blue to advance to the Final Stage, as they were narrowly edged out by Morimoto Yūsuke in Japan Red with a margin of just 20 points, ultimately eliminating Japan Blue from the competition with them finishing 3rd overall.

Trivia[]

Urushihara is one of only five competitors to progress the furthest of any competitor two tournaments in a row, the others being Morimoto Yusuke, Drew Drechsel, Lee En-Chih and Nagano Makoto.
Urushihara, Morimoto Yūsuke, and Miyake Ayako are the only competitors who achieved multiple Kanzenseiha in Japan (SASUKE for Urushihara and Morimoto, KUNOICHI for Miyake)
From SASUKE 22 to 27, every time Urushihara attempted the Third Stage, he never failed it.
Urushihara failed the Soritatsu Kabe in SASUKE 31 for the first time in his career, becoming the last Grand Champion to fail the obstacle.
Urushihara, Takahashi Kenji, Kanno Hitoshi, Takeda Toshihiro, Morimoto Yūsuke, and Yamamoto Shingo share the record for the most Salmon Ladder variations attempted, at 5.
- In addition, everyone except Takeda completed the most Salmon Ladder variations, also at 5.
Urushihara was the first competitor to pass the Gliding Ring.
From SASUKE 12, Urushihara became one of the only six people to beat the Third Stage on his first appearance (along with Shiratori Bunpei, Matachi Ryo, Hashimoto Kōji, Kawaguchi Tomohiro, and Rene Kaselowsky).
Urushihara Yuuji is one of the only seven people to make it to the Final Stage more than once (along with Omori Akira, Yamamoto Shingo, Nagano Makoto, Matachi Ryo, Morimoto Yūsuke, and Tada Tatsuya).
Urushihara and Hashimoto Kōji are the only Shin-Sedai who has never attempted the Drum Hopper.
Urushihara has the most remaining time in the Final Stage of any Grand Champion (6.71 seconds), achieved in SASUKE 27.
Urushihara is the only competitor to achieve Kanzenseiha without wearing #100 previously (only applies to his first Kanzenseiha in SASUKE 24).
- However, Urushihara is the first Champion to wear #100 the tournament after his victory (also only applies to his first Kanzenseiha in SASUKE 24), as Akiyama Kazuhiko and Morimoto Yūsuke were absent the tournament after their respective victories and Nagano Makoto wore #96 in the competition after his Kanzenseiha. This would eventually be matched by Morimoto in SASUKE 39.
Urushihara has worn #100 the fewest times out of any person to achieve Kanzenseiha, at only twice, in SASUKE 25 and 26; Akiyama Kazuhiko has worn it thrice, Morimoto Yūsuke has worn it eight times, and Nagano Makoto worn it for a record 15 times.
Urushihara and Komiya Rie are the only two to not be the Last One Standing while achieving Kanzenseiha.
Urushihara has the lowest number being the Last Man Standing (#77 in SASUKE 22).
Urushihara lost his father at age seven and lived with his mother since then.
It was revealed that his struggles on the Backstream was due to an incident where he almost drowned in the sea during childhood. He developed a fear to water since then and trained intensively in high school to overcome it, but he still considers himself as a bad swimmer.
Urushihara is the only Grand Champion to have never failed the Metal Spin.
Urushihara is one of the few competitors that cleared the First Stage in their 40's, as he completed the stage in SASUKE 38 at the age of 42. The others are Shiratori Bunpei (41 in SASUKE 21), Okuyama Yoshiyuki (43 in SASUKE 29), Nagano Makoto (42 in SASUKE 30), Takahashi Kenji (41 in SASUKE 34), and Takeda Toshihiro (42 in SASUKE 34).
At the age of 44, Urushihara is the oldest person to ever clear a version of the Cliffhanger (Cliff Dimension), beating Okuyama Yoshiyuki who was 39 when he cleared the Shin-Cliffhanger.
Urushihara has attempted five of the different versions of the Cliffhanger, tied with Takahashi Kenji for the most in a career.
- Out of those five versions, Urushihara has completed four of them at least once (Shin-Cliffhanger in SASUKE 22 & SASUKE 24, Ultimate Cliffhanger in SASUKE 27, Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger in SASUKE 36, and Cliffhanger Dimension in SASUKE 37.
- This also makes Urushihara hold the record for the most Cliffhanger versions cleared at four, with Takeda Toshihiro, Matachi Ryo, and Morimoto Yūsuke following behind with three each.
He is the only Grand Champion to never clear the Pipe Slider.
Urushihara completed the Second Stage at the age of 45, beating Suzuki Yusuke's and his own record set in SASUKE 40.
Urushihara has made it the furthest out of any competitor over 40, reaching the Vertical Limit Kai in both SASUKE 36 and 40 and the Pipe Slider in 37, respectively.
Urushihara has a YouTube account and currently has more than 44,000 subscribers. His videos feature his training in SASUKE and vlogs about his personal life. He would also guest fellow SASUKE competitors such as Hioki Masashi, Matachi Ryo, Yamamoto Shingo, Takahashi Kenji, Nagasaki Shunsuke, Mori Wataru, and Suzuki Yusuke, even at some point the director Inui Masato.
In 2017, he participated in the show Ultimate Beastmaster for its first season. In episode four, he was eliminated at Level Three.
He is the only competitor to have achieved Kanzenseiha and be digested after achieving it (SASUKE 29 and 30).
He has the shortest tournament span between his first Kanzenseiha in SASUKE 24 and his second Kanzenseiha in SASUKE 27, with three tournaments.
- Internationally, he has the fifth shortest tournament gap between two Kanzenseiha, ahead of Morimoto Yusuke but behind Clément Gravier.
On both tournaments where he achieved Kanzenseiha, he managed to break one obstacle during each of the tournaments:
- On SASUKE 24, he forgot to unhook the Tarzan Rope from the stand that holds it, resulting in the stand getting yanked into the water as Urushihara attempted to swing.
- On SASUKE 27, when trying to jump the bar up the second half of the track on Bar Glider, he managed to snap the wire off the side of the bar.
Out of any pair of competitors that have both cleared the First Stage, Urushihara and Matachi Ryo tie for the record of failing the same obstacle in the same tournament more than any other pair of competitors, having done so five times. The other pair is Kanno Hitoshi and Yamamoto Shingo.
In a two-part interview, Urushihara mentions the Flying Chute, Sidewinder, Tackle, Rolling Log, and Backstream as the top five obstacles he dislikes attempting in SASUKE.
In the same interview, Urushihara mentions the Cliffhanger as his favorite obstacle to attempt in SASUKE.

SASUKE Results[]

SASUKE	#	Result	Notes
21	72	Failed Flying Chute (First Stage)	All-Cut. Shown on a SASUKE Maniac episode.
22	77	Failed G-Rope (Final Stage)	Time Out. 22.1 metres up. Last Man Standing.
23	99	Failed Unstable Bridge (Second Stage)
24	93	Kanzenseiha	03.57 seconds left.
25	100	Failed Double Salmon Ladder (Second Stage)	His foot skimmed the water.
26	100	Failed Half Pipe Attack (First Stage)
27	99	Kanzenseiha	6.71 seconds left. Last Man Standing. First competitor to achieve Kanzenseiha twice.
28	88	Failed Crazy Cliffhanger (Third Stage)	First Third Stage Failure.
29	99	Failed Backstream (Second Stage)	Time Out. Had to be aided by Lifeguard while exiting the pool.
30	2993	Failed Wall Lifting (Second Stage)	Time Out.
31	99	Failed Soritatsu Kabe (First Stage)	Time Out.
32	89	Failed Double Pendulum (First Stage)
33	89	Failed Rolling Hill (First Stage)
34	99	Failed Reverse Conveyor (Second Stage)	Time Out.
35	95	Failed Soritatsu Kabe (First Stage)	Time Out.
36	95	Failed Vertical Limit (Third Stage)
37	96	Failed Pipe Slider (Third Stage)	Derailed the bar.
38	99	Failed Wall Lifting (Second Stage)	Time Out. Third Wall.
39	99	Failed Ni Ren Soritatsu Kabe (First Stage)	Time Out. Second Wall.
40	3999	Failed Vertical Limit (Third Stage)
41	97	Failed Cliff Dimension (Third Stage)	Second Transition.