What was the title of Emperor Hirohito’s 1945 radio address announcing the end of the war?

Emperor Hirohito’s 1945 radio address was the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War.

The rescript was recorded and broadcast to the Japanese public at noon on August 15, 1945. Rather than using a simple phrase such as “Japan surrenders,” it stated that Japan had accepted the terms of the Allied declaration. The formal court language and poor sound quality made the message difficult for many listeners to understand.

The address followed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union’s entry into the war against Japan. Hirohito referred to the “new and most cruel bomb” and said that continuing the conflict would bring further destruction.

The recording was made the previous night at the Imperial Palace. Military officers opposed to surrender attempted to prevent the broadcast, but the recordings were hidden and delivered safely to the broadcasting station. The speech became known as the Jewel Voice Broadcast, or Gyokuon-hōsō.