A hearse bearing Abe’s body made its way past several landmarks before arriving at the Kirigaya funeral hall in the Shinagawa ward of Tokyo.

The private funeral, which was only open to friends and close family, took place at the Zojoji temple earlier.

The 67-year-old was shot dead last Friday while delivering a campaign speech in Nara in southern Japan.

Across Tokyo, flags are flying at half-mast and outside the temple, a long line of mourners stretched over two blocks, many of them carrying bouquets of flowers.

Some stood with their heads bowed in prayer, some were in tears and others shouted “Thank you Abe” or “Goodbye Abe” as the motorcade drove past.

The late prime minister’s widow and chief mourner, Akie Abe, sat in the front seat of the hearse which carried Abe’s body.

Many mourners told the BBC that Abe gave them a sense of safety and security – one woman said that during the early days of Covid, she felt the Abe-led government had dealt with the crisis effectively.

The hearse went past the headquarters of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and made its way to the prime minister’s residence, where Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other lawmakers received the motorcade.

It then passed by the parliament building, where Abe first entered as a lawmaker in 1993, before arriving at the funeral hall.

Abe was Japan’s longest-serving post-war prime minister and one of its most influential politicians.

Police said the gunman targeted him due to grievances he had with a religious group that he believed Abe was a part of.

The attack sent shockwaves through a nation where incidences of gun violence are extremely rare.

A vigil held on Monday evening drew hundreds of dignitaries as well as thousands of ordinary Japanese citizens who came to lay flowers.

“I came here to offer flowers because I think he gave the Japanese something to be proud about,” said Emi Osa.

Abe was delivering a campaign speech in support of a candidate for Japan’s upper house election when he was shot twice.

Footage of the attack showed the gunman, 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, using a makeshift weapon made of metal and wood and held together by duct tape.

Abe suffered two bullet wounds to his neck and damage to his heart during the attack. He was said to be conscious and responsive in the minutes after the attack, but doctors said no vital signs were detected by the time he was transferred for treatment.

Police are still investigating what the gunman’s motives were and whether he acted alone.

The shooting left Japan, a country unaccustomed to gun crimes and political violence, profoundly shaken. On average, there are fewer than 10 gun-related deaths in the country each year.

Guns are extremely difficult to acquire, and mandatory training, extensive background checks and psychological evaluation are required before permits are granted.

Abe’s death drew an outpouring of shock from prominent world leaders, with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemning the shooting as a “despicable attack”.

US President Joe Biden called Prime Minister Kishida to express his “outrage, sadness and deep condolences”, and called the assassination “a tragedy for Japan”.

Members of the Unification Church are sometimes referred to by a pejorative colloquialism derived from the name of the group’s founder — the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who considered himself to be the second coming of Christ.

Japanese police have said that Yamagami told them he was motivated by animosity toward the religious group he blamed for his mother’s financial ruin, while a Tokyo-based representative confirmed on Sunday that Yamagami’s mother was a member of the church.

Abe did not belong to the Unification Church, but he did give paid speeches at church-related events, and Unificationists formed a reliable voting bloc for Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party.

Abe appeared at an event hosted by an organisation affiliated with the church last September where he delivered a speech praising the affiliate’s work towards peace on the Korean peninsula, according to the church’s website.

Yamagami believed Abe had promoted the religious group to which his mother made a “huge donation”, Kyodo news agency has said, citing investigative sources.

Tomihiro Tanaka, president of the Japan branch of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church, told reporters at a briefing in Tokyo that Yamagami’s mother was a member of the church. He did not give her name.

Tanaka declined to comment on her donations, citing the ongoing police investigation.

The church has agreed to cooperate with police investigations.

Yamagami’s mother first joined the church around 1998 but stopped attending in a period between 2009 and 2017, Tanaka said.

About two to three years ago she re-established communication with church members and in the last half year or so has been attending church events at a frequency of about once a month, he said.

The Unification Church was founded in South Korea in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon, a self-declared messiah and strident anti-communist. It has gained global media attention for its mass weddings where it marries thousands of couples at a time.

Moon, who spoke fluent Japanese, launched an anti-communist political campaign in Japan from late 1960s and built relations with Japanese politicians, according to the church’s publications.

Moon died in 2012. The church has about 600,000 members in Japan, out of 10 million globally, Tanaka said.