Former J. League and Asian club champions Gamba Osaka secured promotion back to the first division after one season in the second tier on Sunday after their 4-0 thrashing of Roasso Kumamoto was coupled with a 0-0 draw between Vissel Kobe and Kyoto Sanga.
Gamba demolished Kumamoto courtesy of goals from Yasuhito Endo, Daiki Niwa, Takashi Usami and Akihiro Sato, but they were made to wait to learn their fate ahead of a late kickoff between their Kansai rivals.
Kyoto kept alive its slim hopes of taking one of the two automatic promotion spots by holding second-placed Kobe, which with a win could have also gone back up at the first attempt after relegation last season.