What was Japan’s official wartime surrender document called in September 1945?

Japan’s official wartime surrender document was called the Japanese Instrument of Surrender.

The document was signed aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. It formally recorded Japan’s acceptance of the terms set out by the Allied powers and ordered Japanese forces to cease hostilities and surrender.

Mamoru Shigemitsu signed first for the Japanese government, followed by General Yoshijirō Umezu for Imperial General Headquarters. Douglas MacArthur then signed for the Allied powers, followed by representatives of the United States and eight other Allied nations.

The document should not be confused with the Potsdam Declaration. The declaration, issued on July 26, 1945, demanded Japan’s surrender and set out Allied terms. The instrument was the later document that formally executed Japan’s surrender. The Treaty of San Francisco, signed in 1951, was a separate postwar peace treaty that ended the state of war between Japan and many Allied countries.