What was the official document signed aboard USS Missouri that recorded Japan’s surrender in 1945?

The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the official document signed aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.

The instrument recorded Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allied powers and formally ended hostilities between Japan and the Allies. Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijiro Umezu signed for Japan. Douglas MacArthur then signed for the Allied powers, followed by representatives from the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.

The document implemented Japan’s acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration, which had demanded Japan’s surrender and outlined broad postwar conditions. It was not itself a comprehensive peace treaty. The later Treaty of San Francisco, signed in 1951, formally ended the state of war between Japan and many Allied countries and restored Japanese sovereignty in 1952.

The ceremony produced Allied and Japanese copies. The documents are preserved in national archives and remain central artifacts of World War II history.