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Police acknowledged security flaws on Saturday in the Japanese city of Nara where former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated, as a motorcade carrying his body arrived at his home in the capital Tokyo.

Mourners gathered at his residence and at the scene of Friday's tragedy in the western city of Nara, where Japan's longest-serving modern leader was gunned down in a rare act of political violence while making a campaign speech.

Police arrested a 41-year-old man immediately after Abe was shot at close range with a homemade gun. The local police force manning the campaign event said on Saturday that there had been shortcomings in the security arrangements.

"We can't deny that there were problems with the security plan given how things ended," Nara prefectural police chief Tomoaki Onizuka told a news conference.

"I feel a grave sense of responsibility," he said, adding that police would analyse what exactly went wrong and implement any necessary changes.

Dignitaries in Japan often travel with modest security details focused mainly on direct physical threats rather than by heavily armed personnel braced for firearms attacks seen in places such as the United States.  

On Friday, Nippon Television quoted Nara police as saying Abe was protected at the rally by one armed specialised police officer and some other local officers. Nara police declined to say how many police officers were handling Abe's security.