TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made a ritual “masakaki” tree offering to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Monday, when the war-related shrine’s two-day autumn festival started.

Kishida is expected to refrain from visiting the Shinto shrine during the festival.

Yasukuni Shrine is regarded as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism, especially in the neighboring countries of China and South Korea, as it honors Class-A war criminals along with the war dead.

Among members of the Kishida cabinet, economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visited the shrine on Monday. After the visit, Takaichi told reporters, “I offered my gratitude to the souls of those who died for national affairs.”

Health minister Katsunobu Kato made a masakaki offering the same day, while industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura paid a visit to the shrine on Friday, prior to the festival.

At a press conference Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the government believes the ritual offering by Kishida was made in his capacity as a private individual and the act is therefore not something the government should comment on.

Kishida sent a masakaki offering to the shrine during its autumn festival in October last year and its spring festival in April this year.

On the Aug. 15 anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II, the prime minister made a “tamagushi” ritual offering to the shrine.

JIJI Press