Japanese champions Kashima Antlers thumped JEF United Chiba 4-1 to maintain their perfect start at the top of the J-League on Saturday.

Japanese international forward Yuzo Tashiro opened the scoring in the 16th minute and Brazilian striker Marquinhos struck his fifth goal in five games ten minutes later.

Ryuta Sasaki and Shinzo Koroki also scored for Kashima before Seiichiro Maki pulled one back with a penalty in injury time.

"Everybody of our team moves quickly in a moment right now and everybody works hard devoting himself to the team. I think that brought stability to the team," said Kashima's Brazilian coach, Oswaldo Oliveira.

"Our next game is the Asian Champions League. I think recovery from fatigue will be the main factor. I've told my players to recover as quickly as possible. The game against Beijing Guoan is very important to get past the group round."

Kashima have 15 points after their fifth win in five games, two clear of Nagoya Grampus, who beat Yokohama Marinos 2-0.

Gamba Osaka sit in third place on 10 points after beating Shimizu S-Pulse 2-0, ahead of Yokohama and Urawa Red Diamonds, with nine points.

Asian club champions Urawa came from behind to beat Jubilo Iwata 2-1 with Yuki Abe and Marcus Tulio Tanaka scoring in the 71st and 79th minutes.

"We got off to a very bad start. We lost a goal within a few minutes and we were 0-1 down at half-time for a second game in a row, so we had to take the offensive in the second half," said Urawa's German coach Gert Engels.

"Although we've played three games with only two days off between and everybody has been tired, my players did a very good job. I'm very happy about it," he added.

In other games, FC Tokyo edged past Consadole Sapporo 1-0, Omiya Ardija beat Oita Trinita 2-0, and Kyoto Purple Sanga defeated Kawasaki Frontale 1-0.