Goals from Brazilian striker Washington and former Feyenoord midfielder Shinji Ono gave Holger Osieck's side the three points, allowing them to open up a one-point gap over Reysol at the summit after six games.

"We dominated the first half, didn't let Reysol come into the game and scored our goals during that period, which was important to us," said Osieck.

"Reysol came forward in the second half, but apart from that, I am content with how we played today."

After a hard-fought opening, Reds started to stamp their authority on proceedings after the first quarter and by the 27th minute they had taken the lead.

Yuichiro Nagai latched on to a long ball from Marcus Tulio Tanaka before cutting back to Washington, who headed home the opener from a tight angle.

Six minutes before the break, Reds doubled their advantage when Makoto Hasebe's ball forward found Ono and he rounded goalkeeper Yuta Minami to score.

Playing without Olympic team members Tadanari Lee and Minoru Suganuma, Reysol still managed to put Reds under pressure and in the 49th minute Brazilian midfielder Alceu went close to halving the deficit, while Franca and Tatsuya Yazawa also tested goalkeeper Ryota Tsuzuki.

"If you give Reds any space, you will be beaten," said Kashiwa manager Nobuhiro Ishizaki.

"They have a lot of power up front, but we don't. We might have been different with our Olympic players with us."

Elsewhere, Kawasaki Frontale scored two goals in two second-half minutes to beat Shimizu S-Pulse 2-1 at home.

Shimizu went ahead in the 33rd minute through Shinji Kurosaki but the hosts replied in the 62nd minute when substitute forward Masaru Kurotsu stole the ball from Shimizu goalkeeper Yohei Nishibe and slotted home the equaliser only three minutes after coming onto the pitch.

Brazilian forward Juninho hit the winner in the 64th minute, combining with compatriot Magnum to score.

In the day's other game, Oita Trinita were held to a scoreless draw by FC Tokyo.