The Brazilian opened the scoring in the 11th minute when he diverted Koji Nakata's shot into the back of the net.

He then headed home 15 minutes later for his and Kashima's second before completing the scoring in the 58th minute after playing a one-two with Felipe Gabriel before firing home.

The win lifted Kashima onto 43 points, five behind Nagoya who were held to a 1-1 draw by Yokohama F Marinos.

Takashi Amano opened the scoring for Yokohama in the 23rd minute but Nagoya equalised three minutes into the second half through Mu Kanasaki.

Third-placed Cerezo Osaka suffered their fourth defeat of the season with a 3-2 loss at Gamba Osaka.

The hosts raced into a two-goal lead in the first 12 minutes with strikes from Takashi Usami and Sota Nakazawa.

Cerezo drew level with two goals in three minutes from Takashi Inui and Carlos Amaral early in the second half but Michihiro Yasuda's 68th-minute effort secured the win for Gamba.

Cerezo trail Kashima by three points and are level with Shimizu S-Pulse, who drew 1-1 with Urawa Reds.

Elsewhere, a first-half Juninho hat-trick helped Kawasaki Frontale to an emphatic 6-1 victory at Shonan Bellmare while Jubilo Iwata edged FC Tokyo 2-1 and Sanfrecce Hiroshima drew 1-1 with Vissel Kobe.