Japan PM Takaichi sends offering to war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in autumn rite
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A wooden plaque (left) bearing the name of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is seen beside a “masakaki” tree that she sent to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Oct 17.
PHOTO: AFP
- Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sent a ritual offering to Yasukuni shrine at the start of its autumn festival. The shrine is seen by neighbours as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism.
- Yasukuni honours war dead and 14 Class-A war criminals, including Hideki Tojo. Past visits by Japanese leaders have caused strong criticism from China and South Korea.
- Takaichi is unlikely to visit during the festival, a source said. Her stance comes as Japan-China ties remain strained, while Japan-South Korea relations have improved.
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TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Oct 17 sent a ritual offering to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, regarded by Japan’s neighbours as a symbol of the country’s past militarism, at the start of its three-day autumn festival.
Takaichi, known as a conservative who routinely visited the Shinto shrine before becoming premier a year ago, is unlikely to visit the shrine during the festival, a source close to her said, amid strained relations with China and relatively stable ties with South Korea.
Takaichi sent a “masakaki” offering of evergreen twigs to the shrine for the biannual event in her capacity as prime minister, following the practice of her predecessors.
Later on Oct 17, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing deep disappointment and regret over Takaichi’s offering to the shrine, despite improving bilateral ties fostered by dialogue between the leaders of the two countries.
The Chinese Embassy in Tokyo said Beijing “strongly condemns the negative moves” by Japan regarding the Shinto shrine, claiming that homage paid by the Japanese leader paves the way for the country’s “remilitarisation”.
Meanwhile, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Minoru Kiuchi visited the shrine on Oct 17. Kiuchi made a similar offering, as did House of Representatives Speaker Eisuke Mori and Senate President Masakazu Sekiguchi.
“I offered my heartfelt condolences and paid homage to the spirits of heroes who gave their precious lives for the nation and renewed my pledge to renounce war,” Kiuchi told reporters after the visit.
A cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers plans to visit the shrine on Oct 19.
The Shinto shrine honours Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by a post-World War II international tribunal, along with millions of war dead, and has long been a source of diplomatic friction with China and South Korea.
Even while serving as a minister, Takaichi had visited the shrine during its spring and autumn festivals and on Aug 15, the anniversary of Japan’s 1945 surrender in the war, but she has refrained from doing so since becoming prime minister on Oct 21, 2025.
During the anniversary in 2026 marking the end of the war, Takaichi bowed twice, clapped twice and bowed once again towards the Yasukuni Shrine, in an apparent act of Shinto worship from a distance, after arriving at the venue for the government-sponsored memorial ceremony across the road.
The last Yasukuni visit by a sitting Japanese prime minister was in December 2013 by the late Shinzo Abe, Takaichi’s political mentor.
Yasukuni enshrined 14 Class-A war criminals, including wartime prime minister Hideki Tojo, who was executed in 1948 for crimes against peace, in 1978.
Past visits to the shrine by Japanese politicians have sparked harsh criticism from neighbouring Asian countries. Japan invaded large parts of China before WWII and colonised the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
Tensions between Tokyo and Beijing continue after Takaichi said in November 2025 that an attack on Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by China, could prompt Japan’s Self-Defence Forces to act in support of the United States.
Meanwhile, Japan and South Korea have improved their ties in recent years following progress on the issue of alleged wartime forced labour, resuming the practice of reciprocal visits between their leaders in 2023. KYODO NEWS