Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday sent offerings to a controversial war shrine for the first time since taking office this month, a news report said.

Kishida sent a "masakaki" tree to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo to celebrate its two-day Autumn festival that runs through Monday, according to Japan's Kyodo news agency.

It marked the first time Kishida has sent an offering to the shrine, seen as a symbol of the country's past militarism, since he took office earlier this month, though he stopped short of visiting in person.

Yasukuni Shrine honors Japanese war dead, including 14 Class-A criminals from World War II. Japanese politicians' visits to the shrine have angered South Korea and China, which suffered from Japanese aggression in the early part of the 20th century. (Yonhap)