Urawa won the J-League title for the first time last season and completed a domestic double by beating Gamba in the Emperor's Cup final.

But Gamba fired an early warning to the Reds in the traditional J-League curtain raiser with Brazilian striker Magno Alvez scoring the first hat-trick in the competition's history.

"It's nice to finally beat the Reds," Gamba manager Akira Nishino told reporters. "Hopefully we can continue in the same vein in the J-League and the hard work will pay off."

Magno Alvez opened the scoring with a sharp left-foot drive after 31 minutes and Takahiro Futagawa added a second just before halftime with a low shot from the edge of the box.

Magno Alvez struck again midway through the second half and the Brazilian completed his hat-trick from an acute angle in the 86th minute.

"It's nice to be a part of history," said Magno Alvez. "But it's a victory for the team. We lost three times to the Reds last year so it's a good omen for this season."

Urawa, who beat Gamba in the same fixture last year, looked out of form following heavy defeats by Salzburg and Bayern Munich in a pre-season tournament in Austria last week.

"It all started to go wrong after their first goal," Reds boss Holger Osieck said. "It is very tough result to swallow."