Domingues put the hosts in front in the eighth minute from Akihiro Hyodo's pass and then helped fellow Brazilian Jorge Wagner double Kashiwa's lead in the 66th minute.

Reysol defender Ryoichi Kurisawa ran down the right and fed Domingues who in turn found Wagner unmarked on the left side of the box and he fired home.

Marinos midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura hit the post late in the second half and Masashi Oguro appeared to pull a goal back for the visitors in stoppage time but the forward was ruled offside.

"It was a tough game between the top two teams in the league, as I had expected, but we scored goals when we needed to and also did what we had to do," said Kashiwa boss Nelsinho

"Moreover, our players had a good attitude in this important six-pointer."

With the win Kashiwa improved to 41 points, one ahead of Marinos.

A minute's silence was observed before kick-off for former Japan defender Naoki Matsuda, who died at the age of 34 on Thursday. All players and officials also wore black armbands as a mark of respect for Matsuda, who played 16 years at Marinos before moving to Matsumoto Yamaga.

In Kawasaki, Hiroshi Kiyotake scored the opener and set up Shu Kurata's goal as Cerezo Osaka edged Kawasaki Frontale 2-1.

Midfielder Kiyotake headed home Masaki Chugo's corner in the 11th minute before delivering a fine through-ball for Kurata to score nine minutes before the break.

Kawasaki pulled a goal back in the 64th minute when Kyohei Noborizato scored from close range.

Elsewhere, Kashima Antlers downed Montedio Yamagata 3-1 at home.

Forward Yuya Osako won the free-kick which led to Takuya Nozawa's opener in the 16th minute before tapping in a Yasushi Endo pass from close range eight minutes later.

Yamagata cut the deficit in the 49th minute through Tetsuro Ota but Toru Araiba rifled home in the 58th minute for the former J. League champions.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima won 2-0 at Ventforet Kofu and moved up to fifth place thanks to Tadanari Lee's penalty and Hisato Sato's skillful lob.

In Niigata, Brazilian Michael scored twice to lead hosts Albirex Niigata to a 4-0 win over Shimizu S-Pulse and in Urawa, Yoshito Okubo converted a penalty in stoppage time to give the visiting Vissel Kobe a 3-2 win over Reds.

Kobe had taken a 2-0 lead through Takayuki Yoshida's two goals in the first-half but Urawa hit back after the break with strikes from substitutes Tatsuya Tanaka and Mazzolla.