TOKYO, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- A nonpartisan group of around 100 Japanese lawmakers visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Friday during its autumn festival, with the visit coming a day after a Cabinet minister was heavily criticized for going to the war-linked shrine.

The group included lawmakers from both houses of parliament from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Party for the People, and the Japan Innovation Party.

As to those visiting the notorious shrine who are members of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet, State Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Kanji Kato, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Shinichi Nakatani, and Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Defense Kazuchika Iwata were in attendance on Friday.

The prime minister himself, while not visiting in person, sent a ritual offering on Thursday to the war-linked shrine, although Seiichi Eto, minister in charge of Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs, visited the shrine in person, becoming the first cabinet member to do so in more than two years.

The controversial Shinto shrine, seen by neighboring countries as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, has long-been a source of diplomatic friction between Japan and its neighbors as it honors convicted war criminals together with the war dead.

Visits and ritual offerings made in person or by proxy to the infamous shrine by Japanese leaders, lawmakers and officials have consistently sparked strong criticism and hurts the feelings of China and South Korea and other countries brutalized by Japan during World War II.