What was the formal document signed aboard USS Missouri to end Japan’s war?

The formal document signed aboard USS Missouri was the Japanese Instrument of Surrender.

The instrument recorded Japan’s complete surrender to the Allied powers and required Japan and its armed forces to carry out the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. It was signed in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, with Japanese representatives signing before General Douglas MacArthur and the Allied representatives.

The document was prepared for the ceremony by MacArthur’s staff. The Japanese copy contained a notable signing-line error involving Canada’s representative, Colonel Lawrence Moore Cosgrave. Because Cosgrave signed in the wrong position, Allied General Richard K. Sutherland corrected the titles by hand and initialed the changes.

The Instrument of Surrender is different from Hirohito’s Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War, which was the recorded announcement broadcast to the Japanese public on 15 August. The broadcast communicated the decision; the instrument created the formal record of the military surrender. The documents are now held by the U.S. National Archives.