Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has sent a ritual offering to the controversial Yasukuni war shrine.

Kyodo News said on Sunday that Kishida sent the "Masakaki" offering under his title as prime minister earlier in the day to mark the beginning of the shrine's spring festival.

Kishida has not visited the shrine in person since taking office in October 2021 and instead sent ritual offerings for biannual festivals in the spring and fall.

The prime minister will reportedly not visit the shrine during the spring festival either, which will be held until Tuesday.

The Yasukuni shrine honors the country's more than two-point-four million war dead, including 14 convicted Class-A war criminals.

Past visits to the shrine by prime ministers and other lawmakers have drawn sharp criticism from neighboring South Korea and China, which consider it to be a symbol of Japan's past militarism.