Sendai opened up a five-point gap at the top of the league following chasing Nagoya Grampus' 1-1 draw at Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

Shingo Akamine opened the scoring three minutes into first-half stoppage time with his fourth goal of the season before late goals from Kunimitsu Sekiguchi, Yoshiaki Ota and Jiro Kamata wrapped up the win.

Ryota Moriwaki rescued a point for Sanfrecce deep into stoppage time after Marcus Tulio Tanaka had put Nagoya ahead.

Jubilo Iwata moved ahead of Sanfrecce into third with a 1-0 win at home to Yokohama F. Marinos.

Consadole Sapporo suffered their sixth defeat in seven games after surrendering a two-goal lead at home to Kawasaki Frontale in a 3-2 loss.

Koji Yamase piled misery on Sapporo with the winner two minutes from time.

Bo-Kyung Kim scored a brace and his fifth goal of the season but could not stop the Kashima Antlers coming from behind to defeat his Cerezo Osaka 3-2.

Sagan Tosu moved up to fifth with a 1-0 win at home to Albirex Niigata while Omiya Ardija defeated Urawa Reds 2-0 in other results.