The six-member Japanese leadership council that debated surrender in 1945 was commonly called the Big Six. Its formal name was the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War.
The council included the prime minister, foreign minister, army minister, navy minister, army chief of staff, and navy chief of staff. Because the six members were divided over whether to accept the Potsdam Declaration, the body became central to the final decision to end the war.
The Big Six initially split three to three over surrender terms. Emperor Hirohito’s intervention broke the deadlock, and Japan accepted the Allied conditions. The council’s name should not be confused with the later Allied “Big Three,” the leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union.