What Allied document did Japan accept when Emperor Hirohito announced the end of the war?

Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration when Emperor Hirohito announced the end of the war.

The declaration was issued on July 26, 1945, by the United States, the United Kingdom, and China. It set out terms for Japan’s surrender and warned that rejecting them would bring “prompt and utter destruction.” The Soviet Union joined the declaration after entering the war against Japan.

Its terms called for Japan’s armed forces to surrender unconditionally, Japan’s disarmament, the removal of wartime militarism, and the limitation of Japanese sovereignty to specified home islands. It also promised that Japan would not be permanently destroyed as a nation if it accepted the terms.

Hirohito’s broadcast used formal language and referred to accepting the Allied declaration rather than plainly saying “surrender.” That indirect wording, combined with the broadcast’s difficult classical Japanese, caused confusion among some Japanese listeners.