TOKYO — Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday sent a ritual offering to the controversial Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, seen by some as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, as the nation marked the 78th anniversary of the end of World War II, a ruling lawmaker said.

Economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, meanwhile, visited the Shinto shrine, marking the fourth consecutive year that a Cabinet member has offered prayers at Yasukuni on the anniversary of Japan's surrender in the war.

Kishida sent the "masakaki" offering to the shrine, a source of diplomatic tension with China and South Korea. The prime minister, who heads a dovish faction within the conservative ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is likely to eschew an in-person visit as he has done previously.

Yasukuni shrine honors the souls of the country's more than 2.4 million war dead, but Japanese wartime leaders convicted as war criminals in a post-World War II international tribunal are also enshrined there.

Among high-ranking politicians, LDP policy chief Koichi Hagiuda paid his respects at Yasukuni, as well as a cross-party group of lawmakers that visit regularly.

Takaichi, known for her hawkish views on security matters, told reporters after visiting the shrine that she offered her condolences to those who lost their lives "for a national policy."

Past visits to the shrine by prime ministers, such as the assassinated Shinzo Abe, and other lawmakers have drawn sharp criticism from China and South Korea, where memories of Japanese militarism before and during the war run deep.

Japan invaded a vast swath of China before the end of World War II and ruled the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

In December 2013, Abe, who was known as a security hawk, paid a visit to the shrine, angering Beijing and Seoul, while the United States, Tokyo's key security ally, said it was "disappointed" by Abe's actions because the move exacerbated "tensions with Japan's neighbors."

With the apparent aim of avoiding confrontation, recent prime ministers have sent offerings to the shrine for its biannual festivals during the spring and fall, as well as for the anniversary of the 1945 end of World War II.

In 1978, Yasukuni added 14 Class-A war criminals, including wartime Prime Minister Gen. Hideki Tojo, to the enshrined deities, stirring controversy at home and abroad. Tojo was executed by hanging for crimes against peace.

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